Senior Software Engineer - Network Platforms

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, BGP-LS & PCE protocols
• Experience writing packet-processing software (eg, eBPF at TC or XDP, DPDK)
• Experience using AI-assisted development tools (e.g., code completion, codebase analysis, log/data exploration) in a professional setting
• Experience participating in an on-call rotation

Compensation

● For Portugal based hires: Estimated annual salary is between €68,000-91,000€,

• The final offer will be inclusive of time exemption, in alignment with the applicable law and collective bargaining agreements.

Equity

This role is eligible to participate in Cloudflare’s equity plan.