Network Deployment Engineer

Cloudflare is seeking a Network Deployment Engineer to focus on the buildout and expansion of its 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 the 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.

• Provision, configure, monitor, and maintain physical hardware, networking devices, and software in both greenfield deployments and brownfield migrations.
• Perform remote server administration using IPMI/BMC out-of-band management tools for provisioning, troubleshooting, and firmware updates.
• Build scripts using Python and other tools to eliminate repetitive toil; actively leverage and develop agentic AI tools to reduce administrative overhead.
• Direct remote hands and field contractors on rack-and-stack installations, optical cross-connects, cable management, power (AC/DC), and cooling requirements.
• Provide technical leadership to remote contractors and junior team members during on-site deployments.
• Create and maintain standardized SOPs, MOPs, runbooks, and visibility metrics for operational consistency.
• Partner with Infrastructure Planning, SRE, and Network Engineering teams on global expansion projects.

• 5+ years of hands-on experience in Data Center Operations, Network Engineering, Linux System Administration, SRE, or DevOps.
• In-depth knowledge of physical power/cooling, optics (CWDM/DWDM), cable standards, and remote 'lights-out' management (IPMI/BMC).
• Strong grasp of network protocols, topologies, and design, with experience troubleshooting physical and logical network connectivity.
• Proficient in writing Python or Bash scripts to automate operational tasks.
• Experience using or building agentic AI tools for workflow efficiency is required.
• Hands-on experience with configuration management tools such as SaltStack, Ansible, Puppet, or Chef.
• Proven capability to manage global vendors, anticipate blockers, spot failure patterns, and write precise MOPs/SOPs.

• 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.
• Multi-lingual capabilities and experience managing infrastructure across diverse international regions.
• Linux certifications (RHCSA/RHCE) or programming experience in Go.

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. This role is eligible to participate in Cloudflare's equity plan. Benefits include 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, short and long term disability insurance, life & accident insurance, 401(k) retirement savings plan, employee stock participation plan, flexible paid time off covering vacation and sick leave, and leave programs including parental, pregnancy health, medical, and bereavement leave.

Limited travel required. Applicants who progress to the offer stage may be asked to attend an in-person interview within one of the Cloudflare Offices or Cloudflare Hubs. This position may require access to information protected under U.S. export control laws, and any offer may be conditioned on authorization to receive such information without sponsorship for an export license.