Senior Systems Engineer, SDKs, Terraform, & Code Generation

Cloudflare • San Francisco, CA

9d

About The Position

Cloudflare’s API Experience team builds tools and standards that make its API dependable and easy to use. The team maintains SDKs and the Terraform provider, builds code generation tooling, and is developing API versioning. The Senior Systems Engineer will improve the experience developers have with Cloudflare’s APIs, emphasizing clear interfaces, predictable behavior, useful errors, and upgrades that preserve customer code. The role works across languages and teams, supports internal engineers shipping better APIs, and responds directly to customers, using their feedback to shape improvements.

The position owns projects from design through release and ongoing maintenance. It also contributes to API versioning, compatibility, and governance practices that help Cloudflare’s APIs evolve without leaving customers behind. The description notes that applicants who reach the offer stage may be asked to attend an in-person interview at a Cloudflare office or hub. The role may require access to information protected by U.S. export control laws; an offer may be conditioned on authorization to receive controlled software or technology without export-license sponsorship.

Requirements

• At least 5 years of experience building large-scale software applications.
• Deep Go expertise, including experience building and maintaining production software.
• Fluency in languages such as TypeScript and Python, and understanding what makes a library feel natural in each.
• Experience building, maintaining, or contributing to a Terraform provider.
• Experience shipping SDKs or client libraries, including testing, releases, dependency management, and backward compatibility.
• Well-reasoned opinions about API design and developer tooling, with the ability to listen, explain tradeoffs, and make practical decisions.
• Strong technical judgment, including the ability to untangle complex problems, set a clear direction, and lead projects from early design through delivery.
• A track record of helping junior engineers grow through feedback, mentoring, and opportunities to take ownership.
• Experience using AI and automation to improve engineering workflows, with judgment to identify where they add value and verify output quality.

Nice To Haves

• Experience versioning an API, building schema-driven code generators, or establishing API governance.
• Experience managing containerized workloads at scale using Kubernetes, Docker, or similar orchestration platforms.
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and automated testing strategies for infrastructure.
• Contributions to open-source systems software projects or active participation in the broader systems engineering community.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain SDKs, the Terraform provider, and the code generation tooling behind them.
• Develop API versioning and compatibility practices that allow the API to evolve without leaving customers behind.
• Improve API governance through consistent schemas, clear standards, and checks that catch problems before release.
• Support internal teams and work directly with customers to investigate issues and turn recurring friction into lasting improvements.
• Own projects from design through release and ongoing maintenance.
• Help junior engineers grow through thoughtful feedback, mentoring, and opportunities to take ownership.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed