Data Center Selection Analyst - Path Forward Returnship
The Path Forward Returnship program at Cloudflare is a 16- week paid returnship for experienced professionals returning to the workforce after taking time off for caregiving. The program is open to women and men who have at least 5 years of professional experience and have been out of the paid workforce for at least two years to focus on caring for a child or other dependent. If you meet these criteria, we welcome you to apply.
At Cloudflare we are excited to be part of the Path Forward program because we appreciate the skills you can offer, the perspective you provide, and the contributions you will make. This program offers you a chance to revamp your skills, update your resume with new experience, and make connections with other women and men transitioning back to the workforce. It also offers support through Path Forward, a nonprofit organization on a mission to empower people who’ve been focused on caregiving transition back to the paid workforce.
About the department
We are seeking a Data Center Selection Analyst returner to join the team as we work to improve the quality and unit cost and grow the size and number of our points of presence, and help us understand where on the map Cloudflare’s infrastructure needs to go next. Drawing on your previous experiences and learning from our team throughout the program, you will help us unlock efficiency within our vendor partner portfolio by understanding how to structure contracts to follow demand, keeping abreast of unique market dynamics and insights that help us negotiate, and managing vendor partner relationships to know where to invest and partner further with existing or new partners.
Who You Are:
- A relationship builder who can expertly explain complex issues to multiple stakeholders
- A team player who enjoy learning from and collaborating with others
- A great communicator with strong written and verbal skills
- A self-starter who feels a sense of ownership over your work
- Organized and enjoys the bustle of being busy with multiple projects at a given time
- Results-oriented and able to meet deadlines
- A problem-solver who is confident enough to say when you may need help/able to identify when you don’t know something
The Data Center Site Selection team is part of Cloudflare’s global Infrastructure (INF) team. The INF team grows and manages Cloudflare’s global data center/PoP footprint, enabling Cloudflare’s tremendous growth with compute, network, and data center infrastructure, utilizing an extensive range of global partner vendors.
What you get to do in this role:
- Learn the ins and outs of the team and its challenges over the course of the 16-week program
- With support from your team and managers, own deals end to end involving new and existing data center/colocation partners and sites to support Cloudflare’s infrastructure growth including planning, RFP, commercial negotiation and execution
- Help establish and conduct scheduled QBR and other vendor management activities with top category partners
- Work cross-functionally with data center operations teams, capacity planning, network strategy and security teams to understand requirements and project timelines
- Expert point of contact for internal business customers & external colocation partner vendors as needed
- Contribute information to annual data center budget for effective tracking and benchmarking of infrastructure costs
- Review colocation spend & invoices for management approval and work with AP team to ensure timely vendor partner payments
Basic Qualifications
- 5+ years experience within a fast moving enterprise technology organisation or cloud services, software or colocation company
- Business fluent in Spanish required (Portuguese a plus)
- Demonstrated experience in commercial negotiation
- Experience living/working/conducting business in another country a plus
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience required
You Can Expect:
- Mentorship, training and support throughout the program
- The chance to build upon your previous skills and learn new things at a growing company