Senior Customer Engineer, Named - Portland, OR

The Customer Engineer (CE) is the core driver of Cloudflare's technical go-to-market strategy: a trusted technical advisor and primary architect of the customer journey. The role bridges technical strategy and business value, guiding enterprise clients from initial pre-sales technical validation through onboarding, deployment architecture, and full lifecycle expansion. The CE reports to a Customer Engineering Leader and operates as a quota-carrying technologist, using AI-augmented workflows to focus on architectural design and measurable business outcomes.

Responsibilities

Lead technical discovery and validation with Account Executives, mapping customer infrastructure (DNS, CDN, Zero Trust, Network Security, Workers) to Cloudflare architectures; Define scope, success criteria, and evaluation plans for Proof of Concepts (PoCs) and Technical Validations; Deliver technical presentations, architectural diagrams, and demonstrations; Address technical objections, security compliance questions, and architectural requirements during the sales cycle; Oversee technical onboarding and implementation without executing it, acting as primary executive and engineering contact for the customer; Design migration and onboarding blueprints; Monitor customer health scores and telemetry to reduce deployment risk; Carry a variable quota tied to new business and account growth; Drive adoption, retention, and cross-sell/up-sell opportunities; Lead technical Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs); Act as trusted technical advisor across the customer lifecycle; Automate routine tasks using AI agents, LLMs, and internal platforms; Partner with the Enablement Team to design and govern technical resources and SOPs

Requirements

Experience in a customer-facing technical role, such as Solutions Engineering, Customer Engineering, Professional Services, Sales Engineering, Technical Account Management, or Forward Deployed Engineer; Ability to white-board, design, and articulate complex enterprise network and security architectures clearly; Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate deeply technical concepts into business outcomes for engineers and C-level executives; Proven track record of operating in a quota-carrying or revenue-aligned environment, with understanding of SaaS metrics, business value translation, and enterprise sales cycles; Exceptional presentation and stakeholder management skills; Depth in at least four technical areas: Internet fundamentals, Security, Performance, AI Proficiency, Coding/Scripting, Developer Platform Fluency; Undergraduate or graduate degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field; Travel up to 20–50%

Nice to have

Track record of creating and delivering technical enablement (workshops, code samples, documentation, developer onboarding); Experience with LLM orchestration, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architectures, and model-access controls; Understanding of regulatory requirements such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, and SOC 2; Background from hyperscalers, digital natives, distributed systems environments, or startups

Benefits

Competitive base salary; Variable compensation structure; Eligibility for Cloudflare's equity plan; 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; Short and Long Term Disability Insurance; Life & Accident Insurance; 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan; Employee Stock Participation Plan; Flexible paid time off covering vacation and sick leave; Leave programs including parental, pregnancy health, medical, and bereavement leave