Principal Software Engineer, R2 Storage

Position Title: Principal Software Engineer, R2 Storage

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 all have web traffic routed through its intelligent global network, which gets smarter with every request. As a result, they see significant improvement in performance and a decrease in spam and other attacks. Cloudflare was named to Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top Company Cultures list and ranked among the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company.

We realize people do not fit into neat boxes. We are looking for curious and empathetic individuals who are committed to developing themselves and learning new skills, and we are ready to help you do that. We cannot complete our mission without building a diverse and inclusive team. We hire the best people based on an evaluation of their potential and support them throughout their time e join us!

Emerging Technologies & Incubation (ETI) at Cloudflare is where we build and launch bold new products. We leverage Cloudflare’s unique global network and edge to deliver innovative tools and solutions, solving problems at a scale impossible for most organizations. Join us to work on the bleeding edge.

The R2 team builds Cloudflare’s object storage platform, offering developers durable, reliable storage seamlessly integrated with our Developer Platform (e.g., Workers). We own foundational infrastructure operating at massive scale, powering critical workloads across Cloudflare’s global network. This involves designing and maintaining distributed systems for high throughput, strong consistency, durability, and a growing number of developer features.

You’ll join a highly motivated and collaborative team that owns the full R2 stack, tackling complex distributed systems problems with a focus on global reliability and performance.

• Set the technical direction for some of our most critical and complex infrastructure projects.
• Drive large‑scale architectural decisions that span multiple teams and services.
• Design and implement systems that operate reliably under heavy load and at massive scale.
• Lead technical investigations and break down ambiguous problems into clear plans of action.
• Collaborate closely with engineers across teams, product managers, and infrastructure stakeholders to align goals and deliver on timelines.
• Be a key contributor to our roadmap helping shape the future of R2s architecture, performance, and reliability.

• Experience setting the architecture and technical direction for large, cross‑team, and cross‑functional engineering efforts.
• Strong systems‑level programming skills.
• A deep understanding of distributed systems concepts such as consistency, consensus, data replication, and partition tolerance.
• Proven experience building and maintaining high‑throughput, low‑latency systems.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; ability to explain technical decisions clearly and drive alignment.
• Comfortable operating in fast‑paced environments with tight deadlines and evolving priorities.
• Experience with storage systems, networking, or large‑scale cloud infrastructure is a strong plus.

Compensation may be adjusted depending on work location.

• For New York City, Washington, and California (excluding Bay Area) based hires:
  Estimated annual salary of $230,000 - $281,000
• For Bay Area‑based hires:
  Estimated annual salary of $234,000 - $286,000

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

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