Sr. Principal Engineer - Infrastructure Engineering (San Francisco)

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Fastly helps people stay better connected with the things they love. Fastlys edge cloud platform enables customers to create great digital experiences quickly, securely, and reliably by processing, serving, and securing our customers applications as close to their end-users as possible at the edge of the Internet. The platform is designed to take advantage of the modern internet, to be programmable, and to support agile software development. Fastlys customers include many of the worlds most prominent companies, including Vimeo, Pinterest, The New York Times, and GitHub.

We're building a more trustworthy Internet. Come join us.

Posting Open Date: Aug. 15, 2025

Anticipated Posting Close Date*: Sept. 15, 2025

• Job posting may close early due to the volume of applicants.

Senior Principal Engineer - Infrastructure Engineering

Are you ready to define the architecture that keeps Fastlys edge software performant, deployable, observable, and secure across every environment we operate? Our Infrastructure Engineering organization is responsible for the systems that make this possible. As a Senior Principal Engineer, you will set technical strategy, work with standard bodies and lead cross-functional initiatives that scale Fastlys technology stack to support new partnerships with ISPs while upholding stringent reliability and security standards with minimal impact to performance.

As a key member of the Engineering Leadership team at Fastly, you will be hands-on in critical areas of the code and model the highest level of engineering excellence for members of the engineering team. You will also act in concert with the greater network and edge industry to establish standards that grow the internet for new workloads and topologies.

What You'll Do

• Lead full lifecycle projects from architecture & design to deployment in support of Fastlys edge systems.
• Write, test, and deploy C, Rust, and Go code.
• Maintain a broad understanding of how critical systems work together - your work will span everything from scaling our edge platform on different infrastructures, integrating the edge in a variety of environments and collaborating with the industry.
• Design, evolve and implement critical systems and features with a focus on performance, resilience and scalability.
• Anticipate where and when systems will need to be adapted to meet our growth needs
• Articulate technical strategy via design documents
• Sequence the technical building blocks required to enable durable innovation
• Guide, share knowledge, and lead teams toward implementing cross functional systems.
• Enable outcome driven, collaborative discussions utilizing the deep technical knowledge of the teams you work with.
• Mentor and support the professional growth of engineers, fostering a culture of respect, knowledge sharing, innovation, and collaboration within the team.
• Lead by example. Be an active implementer and team member
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams and stakeholders to shape a clear technical roadmap - prioritizing key initiatives and proactively identifying and mitigating risks - to deploy, support, troubleshoot, and deliver features to customers
• Help guide and debug the organization to successfully implement the vision
• Partner with Sr Engineering leaders to build and execute in both internal & open source contexts.

What We're Looking For

• Proven ability to design & implement complex, reliable, and highly efficient systems. Most Senior Principal Engineers at Fastly have at least 12 years of domain relevant engineering experience.
• Recent experience developing complex applications in C, C++, Rust, and/or Go, with an aptitude for learning new languages
• Experience leading development of new technologies that contribute to open source communities or setting standards through IETF, SVTA, or similar bodies
• A demonstrated positive collaboration with external vendors, partners, or customers on complex solutions
• Proven experience building systems that can be easily and reliability operated
• A leader who can balance the benefits from collaboration with the risks of design by committee or autocratic decision-making
• Experience operating business-critical systems with high uptime requirements
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly articulate complex technical concepts for varying audiences and produce clear and comprehensive documentation
• A collaborative mindset with experience working across cross-functional teams, fostering a culture of respect, knowledge sharing and innovation
• Proven ability to mentor and support the growth of engineers, both within a specific area of expertise and more broadly

Well be super impressed if you have experience in any of these:

• Experience developing or maintaining orchestration software for large complex environments
• Understanding of security concerns in multi-tenant systems including QEMU
• Developed or supported in a zero-trust environment including secure boot, attestations
• Experience either developing or supporting Linux Kernel
• Knowledge of network protocols & functions: BGP, TCP, routing, transport
• Passion for modernizing software while ensuring continued functionality

Work Hours

This position will require you to be available during core business hours and occasional nights and weekends as required for on-call rotation.

Work Location(s) & Travel Requirements:

This position is open to Hybrid And Remote Work Locations. The preferred locations for this position are:

• San Francisco, CA
• New York, NY
• Denver, CO

Fastly currently embraces a largely hybrid model for most roles which allows employees flexibility to split their time between the office and home.

There is a strong preference for Hybrid near a local office. However, we may be willing to consider exceptionally qualified remote candidates within the US and Canada.

This position will require travel as required by your role or requested by your manager, usually to San Francisco, CA or other office locations.

SF / LA Fair Chance Ordinance Statement

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Salary

If hired in the US, the estimated salary range for this position is $266,270 to $319,524. If hired in Canada, the estimated salary range is CA$253,638 to CA$304,366.

Starting salary may vary based on permissible, non-discriminatory factors such as experience, skills, qualifications, and location.

This role may be eligible to participate in Fastlys equity and discretionary bonus programs.

Benefits

We care about you. Fastly works hard to create a positive environment for our employees, and we think your life outside of work is important too. We support our teams with great benefits that start on the first day of your employment with Fastly. Curious about our offerings?

We offer a comprehensive benefits package designed to meet your needs. Our offerings may vary depending on the country where you work and are subject to change.

If hired in the US, We offer a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, and vision insurance. Family planning, mental health support along with Employee Assistance Program, Insurance (Life, Disability, and Accident), a Flexible Vacation policy and up to 18 days of accrued paid sick leave are there to help support our employees. We also offer 401(k) (including company match) and an Employee Stock Purchase Program. For 2025, we offer 11 paid local holidays, 11 paid company wellness days.

Why Fastly?

• We have a huge impact. Fastly is a small company with a big reach. Not only do our customers have a tremendous user base, but we also support a growing number of open source projects and initiatives. Outside of code, employees are encouraged to share causes close to their heart with others so we can help lend a supportive hand.
• We love distributed teams. Fastlys home-base is in San Francisco, but we have multiple offices and employees sprinkled around the globe. As a new hire, you will be able to attend our IN-PERSON new hire orientation in our San Francisco office! It is an exciting week-long experience that we offer to new employees to build connections with colleagues across Fastly, participate in hands-on learning opportunities, and immerse yourself in our culture firsthand.
• We value diversity. Growing and maintaining our inclusive and diverse team matters to us. We are committed to being a company where our employees feel comfortable bringing their authentic selves to work and have the ability to be successful -- every day.
• We are passionate. Fastly is chock full of passionate people and were not one size fits all. Fastly employs authors, pilots, skiers, parents (of humans and animals), makeup geeks, coffee connoisseurs, and m]]>