Network Deployment Engineer

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 have web traffic routed through its intelligent global network, which gets smarter with every request, resulting in significant performance improvements and decreased spam and attacks.

About The Department

In this role, you will focus on the build-out and expansion of our global network. You'll work closely with Cloudflare’s SRE (Site Reliability Engineering) team, Network Engineering team, and various vendors and partners (including hardware vendors, datacenter and network providers, and ISPs) to maintain and improve our global infrastructure, and to plan and execute the expansion of our network. You will also develop and implement consistent processes and visibility measurements for effective infrastructure management. This highly visible position requires deep technical understanding of datacenter infrastructure, networking (physical), and basic experience with data analysis and project management.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with internal teams (infrastructure, network engineering, and SRE).
• Create documentation and manage remote contractors for datacenter installations and upgrades, including hardware manufacturers, datacenter and network providers, logistics partners, and other service providers across our 120+ datacenter locations.
• Build rack elevations and work with remote contractors to rack and cable infrastructure globally.
• Coordinate installation of cross-connects globally to support physical network expansion.
• Assist with defining, documenting, and implementing consistent processes across all regions.
• Seek opportunities to introduce cutting-edge technology and automation solutions to improve deployment and maintenance of global infrastructure.

Requirements

• Minimum of 2 years of related data center or Linux systems administration experience.
• Linux/Unix systems administration.
• Basic configuration management tool experience (e.g., Saltstack, Chef, Puppet, or Ansible).
• Network hardware administration.
• Familiarity with day-to-day tasks and projects common in Data Center Operations.
• Ability to write scripts for internal tools.
• Experience running and improving operational processes in a rapidly changing environment.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and interpersonal skills.
• Proactive with proven ability to learn fast and execute on multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Ability to manage MS Excel and Google spreadsheets.
• Comfortable handling basic program management responsibilities (prioritization, planning, scheduling, status reporting) such as JIRA.
• Experience managing remote contractors.
• Must be a team player.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree; technical background in engineering, computer science, or MIS a plus.
• Direct experience executing on datacenter/infrastructure projects with many moving parts.
• Previous experience installing/maintaining datacenter (and other IT) infrastructure and DCIM tools.
• Experience running and improving operational processes in a rapidly changing environment.

Skills

• Multi-lingual; experience working with infrastructure in multiple countries.
• Comfortable with remote “lights-out” and out-of-band access to data center resources.
• Linux certifications.
• Knowledge of the OSI model and experience isolating network, hardware, and software issues.
• Configuration management systems such as Saltstack, Chef, Puppet, or Ansible.
• Scripting or software development experience in Bash, Python, or Go.
• Familiarity with load balancing and reverse proxies such as Nginx, Varnish, HAProxy, Apache.

Pay

Compensation may be adjusted depending on work location.

• For Colorado, Illinois-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.

Benefits

Cloudflare offers a complete package of benefits and programs to support you and your family.

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

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

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 against attacks that would otherwise censor their work, at no cost.
• Athenian Project: In 2017, we created the Athenian Project to ensure state and local governments have the highest level of protection and reliability for free, so constituents have access to election information and voter registration. 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, and we don’t store client IP addresses.