Principal Customer Solutions Engineer

Title: Principal Customer Solutions Engineer Location: Distributed; Hybrid

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.

Job Location: Munich, Germany/ Remote, Germany

About Us

At Cloudflare, we have our eyes set on an ambitious goal: to help build a better Internet. Today the company runs one of the world’s largest networks that powers trillions of requests per month. Cloudflare protects and accelerates any Internet application online without adding hardware, installing software, or changing a line of code. Internet properties powered by Cloudflare have all 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 recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Technology Pioneer and named to Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top Company Cultures list.

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 at Cloudflare. Come join us! 

Job Description

As a Principal Customer Solutions Engineer (CSE), you will serve as the primary technical advisor for a select group of Cloudflare’s most complex, high-scale global enterprises. You will act as the bridge between our customers’ engineering teams and Cloudflare’s product portfolio and roadmap, translating intricate business requirements into scalable technical solutions. You will bring deep architectural expertise, hands-on technical leadership, and advanced troubleshooting skills to ensure the seamless integration, performance, and security of Cloudflare’s services within the customer's ecosystem.

You will work closely with the Customer Success Managers (CSMs) and other teams at Cloudflare, from Sales and Product to Engineering and Customer Support. Customer success will drive you through the entire organization as you seek out and implement scalable solutions for your customer’s needs.

Responsibilities

As a critical member of the Account Team you will serve as a trusted technical advisor, help expand existing business, and ensure the success of our customers:

• Primary responsibilities will be to deliver a timely and organized onboarding for customers, ensure customers see the full value in Cloudflare's products, and advise on technical best practices.
• Be part of the regional account teams and work closely with CSMs on supporting the regional book of business.
• Ensure customer retention and expansion through relationship building and participation in periodic account reviews to contribute your expertise on technical topics.
• Provide customers with clear proactive technical guidance and expertise across all our products.
• Collaborate with Customer Support, Engineering, and other teams to assist with technical escalations.
• Proactively identify opportunities for expansion for existing customers.
• Contribute towards the success of the CSE organization through knowledge-sharing activities such as contributing to internal and external documentation, answering technical Q&A, and helping iterate on best practices.
• The role requires 20-40% travel to attend meetings with customers, attend conferences, and other industry events, and to collaborate with your Cloudflare teammates.

Experiences might include a combination of the skills below:

• At least 10 years of prior experience in technical post-sales roles in cybersecurity or internet technology. 

• Fluency in German AND English.

• Bachelor or comparable degree in the IT field highly desirable, Master degree is a plus.

• Deep understanding of how the internet works and the desire to expand that knowledge. For example:

• Layers and protocols of the OSI model, such as TCP/IP, TLS, DNS, HTTP

• Reverse and forward proxies and the applications of both

• Security aspects of an internet property, such as Firewalls, WAFs, Bot Management, Rate Limiting, (M)TLS, Zero Trust

• Performance aspects of an internet property, such as Speed, Latency, Caching, Video Streaming, HTTP/2, TLSv1.3

• Enjoying the adventure of troubleshooting and solving technical problems.

• Understanding why Cloudflare plays an increasingly important role on today’s internet.

• Demonstrated experience with a scripting language (e.g. Python, JavaScript, Bash) and a desire to expand those skills.

• Technical curiosity and passion: Cloudflare is at the cutting edge of internet technology, and our CSEs are viewed as subject-matter experts. It’s incumbent on us to stay up to date with Cloudflare’s specific products and with industry trends.

• Ability to manage a project, work to deadlines, and prioritize between competing demands.

Bonus!

• Understanding of, or experience with, regulatory requirements such a PCI DSS, HIPAA, and SOC-2

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.