About The Department
Cloudflare's Infrastructure group is responsible for building our global network. Our Hardware Engineering team helps research, develop, test, and deploy new equipment enabling 20% of the world's internet traffic to be served smoothly. Deployed across 330 cities in 120+ countries, the hardware we select helps improve the security, reliability, and performance of the Internet.
About The Role
We need to make thoughtful infrastructure choices affecting a significant portion of the Internet. Hardware we work with includes servers and components, as well as PDUs and network hardware. As a Hardware Systems Engineer, you will work with colleagues on the Engineering teams, Product and Performance Optimization teams, and Hardware Sourcing teams to design, qualify and maintain Cloudflare's worldwide fleet of servers
What You'll Do
- Work with product teams at Cloudfare to gather product requirements for next generation of servers, and work with silicon vendors to assess performance and select the components (CPU, memory, disk, NIC, GPUs etc)
- Work with ODM partners to specify, design and determine the key performance indicators of Cloudflare's next generation of servers for the fleet
- Qualify the server hardware across EVT/DVT/PVT phases and deploy in Cloudflare production environment
- Collaborate with the Site Reliability Engineering team to onboard and integrate the next generation of servers into provisioning tools and fleet management tools.
- Collaborate with performance team and software teams to optimize software performance on the hardware
- Work with cross-functional teams to deploy firmware updates, triage hardware problem reports, resolve hardware issues, maintain automation tools.
- Communicate your results and updates through blog posts and internal talks
Examples Of Desirable Skills, Knowledge And Experience
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or Computer Science
- Extensive experience with compute design engineering, validation, performance benchmarking, debugging, and deployment used in the data center
- Knowledge of CPU architectures, preferably both x86 and ARM
- Knowledge and experience with server hardware including motherboard designs, CPU architecture, memory & storage technology
- Knowledge of performance benchmarking ; Previous experience in testing, measuring, and/or simulating hardware performance and an understanding of no-stone-left-unturned experimentation
- Knowledge of bash, python and basic Linux task automation
- Knowledge of Redfish, IPMI and server remote management protocols, and experience with firmware updates
- Curiosity and desire to learn about the Cloudflare hardware and products used by 20% of all web sites
- Desire to learn how a diverse server fleet is managed at scale with tools such as traffic management, capacity planning and failover mechanisms
- Desire to learn the tools Cloudflare uses to maintain and monitor our hardware
Bonus Points
- Master's degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or Compute Science
- Experience of performance optimization based on hardware / software codesign
- Experience of kernel development, compiler optimization, or driver development.
- Experience of working with external vendors on server hardware qualification.
- Experience of observability and monitoring tools such as Prometheus and Grafana, as well as the ability to observe trends over time
- Experience with software development tools and processes such as Git, TeamCity and Jira
- Experience in a hyperscale cloud infrastructure role also valuable
- Knowledge of debugging server hardware faults and the ability to engage with our sourcing team and vendors to improve quality
- Knowledge of XPU/accelerator architectures is a plus
Compensation
Compensation may be adjusted depending on work location and level. (Hiring at multiple levels: Junior P2, Mid P3, or Senior P4)
- For San Francisco based hires: Estimated annual salary of $162,000 - $180,000. (Mid Level)
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
Top Skills
What We Do
Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET) is the leading connectivity cloud company on a mission to help build a better Internet. It empowers organizations to make their employees, applications and networks faster and more secure everywhere, while reducing complexity and cost. Cloudflare’s connectivity cloud delivers the most full-featured, unified platform of cloud-native products and developer tools, so any organization can gain the control they need to work, develop, and accelerate their business.
Powered by one of the world’s largest and most interconnected networks, Cloudflare blocks billions of threats online for its customers every day. It is trusted by millions of organizations – from the largest brands to entrepreneurs and small businesses to nonprofits, humanitarian groups, and governments across the globe.
Why Work With Us
Cloudflare employees come from all walks of life. We are mission-driven, and our team is energized by a collaborative, creative environment that celebrates our differences and fosters new ways to grow together.
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Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
We are committed to developing a global team that is distributed with a flexible working approach. Doing this equitably and inclusively is essential to our success. Visit our careers site for more on 'How & Where We Work.'
