Principal Software Engineer: Distributed Systems (Config, Test, & Deployment)

ABOUT THE ROLE We're seeking a highly skilled Principal Software Engineer to lead our Distributed Systems team at Cloudflare. As a Principal Software Engineer, you will play a critical role in shaping the technical direction of our Intent Management organization, which is responsible for making safe change the easy button. You will own the technical coherence of a platform that spans globally distributed key-value storage, progressive release and configuration delivery, and the testing and health-mediation systems that prove change is safe. WHAT YOU'LL DO As a Principal Software Engineer, you will work at the seams that matter most by translating what Cloudflare's Edge and control-plane platforms need into the primitives our teams build. You'll move fluidly between writing production code, designing new systems, and reviewing the proposals of other senior engineers. You will also help us work out how best to integrate Large Language Models (LLMs) into our processes and systems. You will be working alongside experienced engineers who have presented at top industry conferences and will deliver on key Health Mediated Deployment projects that are being tracked through senior leadership of Cloudflare up to the founders. WHAT YOU'LL NEED To be successful in this role, you will need: - 10+ years of software engineering experience with a demonstrated history of leading complex, organization-wide technical initiatives that delivered measurable improvements to system performance, reliability, security, developer productivity, or engineering culture. - Strong track record of technical leadership and influence without direct authority, including driving consensus on technical decisions across multiple teams, mentoring senior engineers, and establishing architectural patterns that are widely adopted across an organization. - Experience designing, building and managing high volume, global scale software applications. - Expertise in at least one modern strongly-typed programming language. - Knowledge of API design standards, patterns and best practices. - Experience working with top-tier LLMs to plan, write, test, and deploy software. BONUS POINTS - Strong interpersonal and communication skills with a bias towards action. - Experience with scaling and simplifying high scale Configuration Management systems. - Familiarity with Google’s Prodspec and Annealing systems. - Experience with Kubernetes. - Experience with RocksDB or similar data stores. - Experience with health checking and probe platforms at significant scale. - Public evidence of technical leadership such as conference talks on distributed systems or security, widely-read technical blog posts, significant open source contributions, or published architectural patterns that have been adopted by the broader engineering community. WHY REMOTE As a remote employee, you will have the flexibility to work from anywhere in the world. You will be part of a global team that values collaboration, innovation, and continuous learning. You will have the opportunity to work on complex and challenging projects that will help shape the future of the Internet. BENEFITS - Competitive compensation package - Comprehensive health insurance - Flexible schedule - Education stipend - Life insurance - Equipment stipend - Opportunities for professional growth and development