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Cloudflare is seeking a Principal Engineer to work on edge CDN proxy services and products, with a focus on customer speed improvement, caching systems, and origin connectivity. This is a hands-on technical leadership role where you will guide small groups of engineers while remaining deeply involved in building products and operating services that make Cloudflare the fastest content delivery platform globally.
You will work on high-performance, large-scale systems that power millions of websites and Internet properties. The role combines individual technical contribution with mentorship and leadership responsibilities, requiring you to balance hands-on engineering work with guiding team direction and delivery. You'll collaborate across teams, maintain clear communication upward and laterally in the organization, and ensure customer needs drive product decisions.
Cloudflare's mission is to help build a better Internet. The company operates one of the world's largest networks, protecting and accelerating Internet applications without requiring hardware installation or code changes. The culture emphasizes iteration, AI-native problem-solving, and curiosity over bureaucracy. You'll be part of a team that values spotting normalized problems and creating solutions using the latest tools.
The company is known for its commitment to Internet freedom through initiatives like Project Galileo (supporting journalism and civil society organizations), the Athenian Project (protecting election infrastructure), and 1.1.1.1 (a privacy-centric public DNS resolver).
**Requirements:**
- At least 5 years of hands-on engineering experience
- Proven experience operating high-performance and large-scale software systems
- Demonstrated experience leading teams of engineers to deliver projects
- Track record of managing multiple concurrent projects with competing priorities
- Detailed knowledge of HTTP and transport protocols
- Strong cross-functional collaboration skills with clear communication across and upward in an organization
- Customer-focused mindset with experience building what customers need
