Engineering Manager, Cloudflare Hyperdrive

Available Locations: Austin, TX | New York, NY | Seattle, WA About the Team
The Cloudflare Hyperdrive team builds the technology that makes regional databases feel like they are global. Hyperdrive is a core piece of the Cloudflare Developer Platform that accelerates database queries from Cloudflare Workers by pooling connections and caching data at the edge. By eliminating the massive latency overhead of TCP, TLS, and database-specific handshakes, Hyperdrive allows developers to use the databases they already know and love-like PostgreSQL and MySQL-without the "cold start" performance penalties typically associated with serverless environments.
Hyperdrive is integrated directly into the Cloudflare global network and features:

• Global Connection Pooling: Maintains "warm" connections to origin databases across the globe, reducing connection times by up to 90%.
• Intelligent Query Caching: Automatically caches frequently run read queries as close to the user as possible.
• Protocol-Aware Proxying: Features custom-built implementations of database wire protocols (PostgreSQL and MySQL) to parse and optimize traffic in real-time.
• Seamless Integration: Works with existing ORMs and drivers, providing a simple connection string that "just works" for developers.

The team is geographically distributed across North America.
What you'll do
We are looking for an Engineering Manager to lead the Hyperdrive team. You will guide a group of talented systems engineers building the "connective tissue" between the edge and the world's most popular databases. You will play an active part in shaping product features-such as adding support for new database protocols, improving caching logic, and expanding private networking capabilities via Cloudflare Tunnel.
You will ensure the team hits ambitious performance goals and reliability targets. You bring a passion for solving the "distributed data" problem and thrive in a fast-paced environment where you are building low-level infrastructure that scales to millions of requests per second. Most importantly, you have a track record of leading technical teams with empathy, clarity, and a focus on professional growth.
Examples of desirable skills, knowledge and experience

• Strong communications skills - Ability to translate complex systems architecture (like database wire protocols and connection states) into clear team goals.
• Distributed Systems Leadership - Experience leading and hiring teams that build high-availability, low-latency distributed services.
• Navigation of Ambiguity - Hyperdrive solves problems that are often unique to the edge; you are expected to find creative paths to delivery when "standard" solutions don't apply.
• Operational Excellence - Experience overseeing the execution, deployment, and maintenance of critical infrastructure with high predictability.
• Developer-Centric Mindset - Passion for building APIs and tools that developers love, ensuring that Hyperdrive remains easy to adopt and transparent in its magic.
• Technical Mentorship - A track record of hiring, onboarding, and developing engineers. You're as good at explaining the "why" (business value) as you are the "how" (technical implementation).
• Systems Programming Background - At least 4 years of professional experience with Rust, Go, or C++. (Hyperdrive's core logic is heavily rooted in high-performance systems programming).
• Database Fundamentals - Solid understanding of how databases work under the hood, including connection lifecycles, transaction states, and wire protocols.

Bonus Points

• Deep Database Knowledge - Experience with PostgreSQL or MySQL internals, including experience with connection poolers (like PgBouncer) or proxy layers.
• Networking Expertise - Deep understanding of TCP/IP, TLS, and WebSockets (used in Hyperdrive's Tunnel integration).
• Linux/Systems Performance - Experience debugging and optimizing failure modes in large-scale, Linux-based distributed environments.
• Serverless Ecosystem - Familiarity with the Cloudflare Workers ecosystem and the unique challenges of stateful connections in an ephemeral computing world.
• Open Source - Contributions to database drivers, ORMs, or networking libraries.

Compensation
Compensation may be adjusted depending on work location.

• For New York City, New Jersey, Washington, Washington DC, and California (excluding Bay Area) based hires: Estimated annual salary of $190,000 - $261,000

Equity
This role is eligible to participate in Cloudflare's equity plan.
Benefits
Cloudflare offers a complete package of benefits and programs to support you and your family. Our benefits programs can help you pay health care expenses, support caregiving, build capital for the future and make life a little easier and fun! The below is a description of our benefits for employees in the United States, and benefits may vary for employees based outside the U.S.
Health & Welfare Benefits

• 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

Financial Benefits

• Short and Long Term Disability Insurance
• Life & Accident Insurance
• 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan
• Employee Stock Participation Plan

Time Off

• Flexible paid time off covering vacation and sick leave
• Leave programs, including parental, pregnancy health, medical, and bereavement leave