Research Manager

About Us

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.

Available Locations: Austin, TX

About the department

The Cloudflare Research team stands at the nexus of academic inquiry and real-world implementation, operating with a clear mandate: to advance the company's mission to help build a better Internet. We translate public values into tangible, globally-scaled technologies, ensuring the Internet remains secure, private, and accessible.

Cloudflare Research is unique because we don’t just publish papers; we build the protocols and systems that power a significant portion of the web. Our current focus areas include Artificial Intelligence, Cryptography, Privacy, Network Protocols, Measurement and Performance Evaluation, and Distributed Systems. More information about our vision can be found at research.cloudflare.com.

What you’ll do

As a Research Manager, you will lead a world-class group of researchers - ranging from Junior to Mid, to Senior and Principal Researchers - covering the entire Cloudflare research portfolio. Unlike a traditional engineering manager role, your success is measured by the impact and rigor of scientific output as well as its successful integration into our global network.

You will act as a bridge between deep academic exploration and product reality. You will foster an environment where "moonshot" ideas are balanced with the practical constraints of a global edge network. Your leadership will ensure that Cloudflare remains a leader in the IETF, W3C, and other standards bodies, while simultaneously delivering code that improves the lives of millions of users.

Examples of desirable skills, knowledge and experience:

• Proven Leadership: A minimum of 10 years of experience managing high-performing technical or research teams. Experience managing principle-level individual contributors is highly preferred.
• Academic and Industry Fluency: An advanced degree or equivalent industry experience in Computer Science, focusing on one of our core areas (Cryptography, AI, Systems, or Networking).
• Publication Record: Familiarity with the academic lifecycle - understanding how to guide a project from a hypothesis to a peer-reviewed publication or a standard proposal.
• Operational Excellence: Ability to manage "research uncertainty." You can help researchers navigate blockers and pivot when a hypothesis isn't panning out, while still meeting organizational milestones.
• Recruitment: A track record of identifying and hiring top-tier research talent from both academia and industry.
• Communication: Exceptional ability to translate complex theoretical concepts into business value for non-technical stakeholders.
• Technology: Experience working with/for a hyperscaler or SAAS provider on high impact projects

Responsibilities

• Multigenerational Leadership: Manage and mentor a diverse team of Junior, Mid, Senior, and Principal Researchers. You will tailor your management style to support early-career growth while providing high-level strategic partnership to industry-leading Principal scientists.
• Research Strategy & Roadmap: Help define and execute the long-term research agenda for your domain. This will include aligning research initiatives with Cloudflare’s product roadmap, to ensure that today’s experiments become tomorrow’s core features - as well as leading initiatives that define tomorrow and help build a better internet.
• Standards & External Impact: Support the team in contributing to global internet standards (e.g., IETF, W3C, NIST) and maintaining Cloudflare’s presence in top-tier academic conferences.
• Cross-Functional Integration: Partner with Product and Engineering leaders to identify "research-shaped" problems within their stacks and deploy research-led solutions to production.
• Scientific Rigor & Ethics: Ensure all research is conducted with the highest standards of integrity, particularly regarding data privacy and the ethical implications of AI and cryptography.
• Evangelism: Help the team communicate their work to both internal and external audiences, such as through the Cloudflare Blog, white papers, and industry talks to maintain our status as a thought leader in the research community.

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!

This position may require access to information protected under U.S. export control laws, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations. Please note that any offer of employment may be conditioned on your authorization to receive software or technology controlled under these U.S. export laws without sponsorship for an export license.

Cloudflare is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.  We are committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all people and place great value in both diversity and inclusiveness.  All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to their, or any other person's, perceived or actual race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, family care status, or any other basis protected by law. We are an AA/Veterans/Disabled Employer.

Cloudflare provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities.  Please tell us if you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job. Examples of reasonable accommodations include, but are not limited to, changing the application process, providing documents in an alternate format, using a sign language interpreter, or using specialized equipment.  If you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job, please contact us via e-mail at hr@cloudflare.com or via mail at 101 Townsend St. San Francisco, CA 94107.