Network Deployment Engineer

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 • Atlanta, US • Austin, US • Denver, US • New York, US Applications will be accepted until November 01, 2026. Role summary In this role, you will focus on the buildout and expansion of our global network infrastructure across 700+ datacenter locations. You will work closely with Cloudflare’s Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) team, Network Engineering team, and various global partners—including hardware vendors, datacenter providers, and ISPs—to aggressively scale and maintain our physical footprint. This is a highly visible position requiring a strong blend of physical networking knowledge, datacenter infrastructure expertise, basic data analysis, and proactive project coordination. Role Responsibilities • Provisioning & Deployment: Provision, configure, monitor, and maintain physical hardware, networking devices, and software in both greenfield deployments and brownfield migrations. • Remote Datacenter Operations: Perform server administration remotely using IPMI/BMC out-of-band management tools for server provisioning, troubleshooting, and firmware updates. • Automation & AI Workflows: Build scripts using Python and other tools to eliminate repetitive toil. Actively leverage and develop agentic AI tools to reduce administrative overhead. • Vendor & Contractor Management: Direct remote hands and field contractors on rack-and-stack installations, optical cross-connects, cable management, power (AC/DC), and cooling requirements. • Technical Guidance: Provide technical leadership to remote contractors and junior team members during on-site deployments, walking them through configurations and quality control. • Documentation & Process Improvement: Create and maintain standardized SOPs, MOPs, runbooks, and visibility metrics to ensure operational consistency across all global regions. • Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with Infrastructure Planning, SRE, and Network Engineering teams on global expansion projects. Limited travel required. Role Requirements Must-Have Skills • 5+ years of hands-on experience in Data Center Operations, Network Engineering, Linux System Administration, SRE, or DevOps. • Datacenter Infrastructure: In-depth knowledge of physical power/cooling, optics (CWDM/DWDM), cable standards, and remote "lights-out" management (IPMI/BMC). • Networking Foundations: Strong grasp of network protocols, topologies, and design, with experience troubleshooting physical and logical network connectivity. • Automation & Tooling: Proficient in writing Python or Bash scripts to automate operational tasks. Experience using or building agentic AI tools for workflow efficiency is required. • Configuration Management: Hands-on experience with tools such as SaltStack, Ansible, Puppet, or Chef. • Operational Drive: Proven capability to manage global vendors, anticipate blockers before execution, spot failure patterns, and write precise MOPs/SOPs. Nice-To-Have Skills • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, MIS, or equivalent practical experience. • Familiarity with network NOS platforms: Juniper Junos, Cisco IOS/NX-OS, Arista EOS, SONiC, Ciena, or Nokia/Infinera. • Core internet routing knowledge (BGP, Anycast) and load balancing concepts (Nginx, HAProxy). • Basic program management experience using JIRA, Excel, or Google Sheets to track multi-region rollouts. • Multi-lingual capabilities and experience managing infrastructure across diverse international regions. • Linux certifications (RHCSA/RHCE) or programming experience in Go. Bonus Points • Professional level network certification(s) (JNCIP, CCNP, etc) or higher. • Linux certifications. Experience with continuous / rapid deployment. • Experience working in a 24/7/365 mission-critical service environment (on-call rotation required) • Knowledge of the OSI-model and experience isolating network, hardware and software issues. Compensation Compensation may be adjusted depending on work location. • For Colorado based hires: Estimated annual salary of $114,000 - $157,000 • For New York City, Washington, Washington D.C. based hires: Estimated annual salary of $126,000 - $173,000. Equity This role is eligible to participate in Cloudflare's equity plan. Benefits Cloudflare offers a complete package of benefits and programs to support you and your family. Our benefits programs can help you pay health care expenses, support caregiving, build capital for the future and make life a little easier and fun! The below is a description of our benefits for employees in the United States, and benefits may vary for employees based outside the U.S. Health & Welfare Benefits • Medical/Rx Insurance • Dental Insurance • Vision Insurance • Flexible Spending Accounts • Commuter Spending Accounts • Fertility & Family Forming Benefits • On-demand mental health support and Employee Assistance Program • Global Travel Medical Insurance Financial Benefits • Short and Long Term Disability Insurance • Life & Accident Insurance • 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan • Employee Stock Participation Plan Time Off • Flexible paid time off covering vacation and sick leave • Leave programs, including parental, pregnancy health, medical, and bereavement leave What Makes Cloudflare Special? We’re not just a highly ambitious, large-scale technology company. We’re a highly ambitious, large-scale technology company with a soul. Fundamental to our mission to help build a better Internet is protecting the free and open Internet. Project Galileo: Since 2014, we've equipped more than 2,400 journalism and civil society organizations in 111 countries with powerful tools to defend themselves against attacks that would otherwise censor their work, technology already used by Cloudflare’s enterprise customers--at no cost. Athenian Project: In 2017, we created the Athenian Project to ensure that state and local governments have the highest level of protection and reliability for free, so that their constituents have access to election information and voter registration. Since the project, we've provided services to more than 425 local government election websites in 33 states. 1.1.1.1: We released 1.1.1.1 to help fix the foundation of the Internet by building a faster, more secure and privacy-centric public DNS resolver. This is available publicly for everyone to use - it is the first consumer-focused service Cloudflare has ever released. Here’s the deal - we don’t store client IP addresses never, ever. We will continue to abide by our privacy commitment and ensure that no user data is sold to advertisers or used to target consumers. Sound like something you’d like to be a part of? We’d love to hear from you! Please note that applicants who progress to the offer stage of the interview process may be asked to attend an in-person interview within one of the Cloudflare Offices or Cloudflare Hubs. More details about this will be available at that stage of the interview process. This position may require access to information protected under U.S. export control laws, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations. Please note that any offer of employment may be conditioned on your authorization to receive software or technology controlled under these U.S. export laws without sponsorship for an export license. Cloudflare is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all people and place great value in both diversity and inclusiveness. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to their, or any other person's, perceived or actual race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, family care status, or any other basis protected by law. We are an AA/Veterans/Disabled Employer. Cloudflare provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please tell us if you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job. Examples of reasonable accommodations include, but are not limited to, changing the application process, providing documents in an alternate format, using a sign language interpreter, or using specialized equipment. If you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job, please contact us via e-mail at [email protected] or via mail at 101 Townsend St. San Francisco, CA 94107.