Senior Software Engineer - Network Platforms

About Us

At Cloudflare, we are on a mission to help build a better Internet. Today the company runs one of the world’s largest networks that powers millions of websites and other Internet properties for customers ranging from individual bloggers to SMBs to Fortune 500 companies. Cloudflare protects and accelerates any Internet application online without adding hardware, installing software, or changing a line of code. Internet properties powered by Cloudflare all have web traffic routed through its intelligent global network, which gets smarter with every request. As a result, they see significant improvement in performance and a decrease in spam and other attacks. Cloudflare was named to Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top Company Cultures list and ranked among the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company.

At Cloudflare, we’re not looking for people who wait for a polished roadmap; we’re looking for the builders who see the cracks in the Internet that everyone else has simply learned to live with. We value candidates who have the instinct to spot a "normalized" problem and the AI-native curiosity to create a solution using the latest tools. Our culture is built on iteration, leveraging AI to ship faster today to make it better tomorrow, while ensuring that every improvement, no matter how small, is shared across the team to lift everyone up. If you’re the type of person who values curiosity over bureaucracy, and that AI is a partner in solving tough problems to keep the Internet moving forward, you’ll fit right in.

Available Locations: Austin, Texas; Lisbon, Portugal; London, UK

About the role

The Network Platforms team was formed to build and extend network software infrastructure responsible for delivery of traffic through critical paths of Cloudflare's global network. These systems directly impact traffic across Cloudflare's network infrastructure, across numerous products and millions of customers. They are key to Cloudflare's mission to make the internet faster, safer, and more reliable.

What you’ll do

As a member of the team you will build and extend various software systems that carry traffic on critical paths of Cloudflare's network: from the host server linux kernel, to the network hardware dataplane, to the physical interconnect at an adjacent network. You will participate in all stages of the software development lifecycle, from designing and documenting systems, to writing code and automated tests, to planning, managing, and monitoring production software deployments. You will collaborate with engineers across the company, from operations teams to the teams building customer-facing products, ensuring these capabilities match business needs.

Our team at Cloudflare operates under a "Run What You Build" model. This means we are responsible for the health of our systems and actively participate in our team's on-call rotation as part of our operational duties.

What we are looking for

We are looking for smart, innovative team players that have experience in covering Linux kernel network stack development (particularly with eBPF), complex distributed systems, and understanding of internet protocols and technologies. As you’ll be solving problems of massive scale and significance, you are a growth-oriented individual who enjoys being outside of your comfort zone. You are comfortable in a fast-paced but sensible work environment. You value curiosity and empathy and lead with these values.

Role requirements

Systems-level programming experience in Go, Python, Rust, C, or C++

A solid grasp of BGP and internet routing

Relish opportunities to dive into new technologies, and a demonstrated ability to do so

Experience in implementing, deploying, and debugging mission-critical distributed systems

Strong collaboration and communication skills

Willingness to adopt and integrate AI tools and systems into your engineering workflow

Bonus Points

Familiarity vendor switching SDKs

Familiarity with SR-MPLS and sFlow,