Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE)

Professional Services Consultant

Hybrid

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.

At Cloudflare, we're not looking for people who wait for a polished roadmap; we're looking for the builders who see the cracks in the Internet that everyone else has simply learned to live with. We value candidates who have the instinct to spot a "normalized" problem and the AI-native curiosity to create a solution using the latest tools. Our culture is built on iteration, leveraging AI to ship faster today to make it better tomorrow, while ensuring that every improvement, no matter how small, is shared across the team to lift everyone up. If you're the type of person who values curiosity over bureaucracy, and that AI is a partner in solving tough problems to keep the Internet moving forward, you'll fit right in.

Locations: Austin/TX, Dallas/TX or Atlanta/GA

Role Summary

As a Resident Consultant at Cloudflare, you will serve as a dedicated, on-site strategic advisor for one of our high-growth enterprise accounts in Minneapolis. You will act as the primary technical bridge between the customer's operational needs and Cloudflare's expansive security suite, ensuring their migration from legacy systems is seamless and high-performing. We are looking for a proactive expert who thrives on building deep technical relationships, optimizing complex configurations, and championing our mission to help build a better internet.

Role Responsibilities

• Act as a Trusted Advisor: Serve as the day-to-day technical lead and Cloudflare subject matter expert, providing proactive guidance on operational best practices and industry security standards.
• Optimize Application Services: Take full ownership of tuning, configuration, and policy creation for Application Services to ensure maximum performance and security posture.
• Manage Network Security: Oversee the ongoing health of Network Services, including Magic Transit and DDoS protection, ensuring "set and forget" stability while remaining ready for rapid incident response.
• Drive Migration Excellence: Leverage your deep understanding of Akamai architectures to translate legacy workflows into modern, efficient Cloudflare configurations.
• Strategic Roadmap Alignment: Collaborate closely with the customer to prepare their environment for future expansions into our Developer Platform (Workers) and Zero Trust architecture.
• Technical Documentation: Maintain comprehensive documentation of the customer's unique environment, policy changes, and operational procedures to ensure long-term continuity.

Role Requirements

Must-Have Skills

• 10+ years of experience in a technical customer-facing role such as Solutions Architect, Resident Engineer, Professional Services Consultant or similar, ideally in cloud networking, security, or web infrastructure.
• Cloudflare Transition: At least 3+ years of hands-on experience managing other environments, with a proven ability to map legacy CDN and security features to Cloudflare's ecosystem.
• Application Security Expertise: Deep technical proficiency in configuring WAF policies, Bot Management, and Page Shield to protect complex web applications.
• Network Infrastructure Knowledge: Strong foundational knowledge of BGP, GRE/IPsec tunneling, and DDoS mitigation strategies (specifically relating to services like Magic Transit).
• Communication & Presence: Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to both engineering teams and executive stakeholders.
• Ability to translate customer requirements into practical, scalable solutions that align with Cloudflare's technology stack.
• Prior customer onsite placement experience is a plus.

Nice-to-Have Skills

• Cloudflare Certifications: Valid Cloudflare ASPS or ASPE certifications.
• Modern Web Development: Experience with Serverless computing or Edge functions (Cloudflare Workers/WebAssembly).
• Zero Trust Advocacy: Familiarity with Access, Gateway, and Browser Isolation to assist in the customer's future security evolution.

Compensation Compensation may be adjusted depending on work location. This role is eligible to earn incentive compensation under Cloudflare's Sales Compensation Plan. The estimated annual salary range includes the on-target incentive compensation that may be attained in this role under the Sales Compensation Plan. For Colorado, Hawaii, and Illinois based hires: Estimated annual salary of $167,000 - $230,000 For New York City, New Jersey, Washington, Washington DC, and California (excluding Bay Area) based hires: Estimated annual salary of $184,000 - $253,000 For Bay Area based hires: Estimated annual salary of $192,000 - $264,000 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

What Makes Cloudflare Special?

We're not just a highly ambitious, large-scale technology company. We're a highly ambitious, large-scale technology company with a soul. Fundamental to our mission to help build a better Internet is protecting the free and open Internet.

Project Galileo : Since 2014, we've equipped more than 2,400 journalism and civil society organizations in 111 countries with powerful tools to defend themselves against attacks that would otherwise censor their work, technology already used by Cloudflare's enterprise customers--at no cost.

Athenian Project : In 2017, we created the Athenian Project to ensure that state and local governments have the highest level of protection and reliability for free, so that their constituents have access to election information and voter registration. Since the project, we've provided services to more than 425 local government election websites in 33 states.

1.1.1.1 : We released 1.1.1.1 to help fix the foundation of the Internet by building a faster, more secure and privacy-centric public DNS resolver. This is available publicly for everyone to use - it is the first consumer-focused service Cloudflare has ever released. Here's the deal - we don't store client IP addresses never, ever. We will continue to abide by our privacy commitment and ensure that no user data is sold to advertisers or used to target consumers.

Sound like something you'd like to be a part of? We'd love to hear from you!

Please note that applicants who progress to the offer stage of the interview process may be asked to attend an in-person interview within one of the Cloudflare Offices or Cloudflare Hubs. More details about this will be available at that stage of the interview process.