Software Engineer Intern (R&D) - Bengaluru
Cloudflare, Inc.About the role
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.
About Cloudflare's Engineering Teams
Anytime we push code, it automatically affects the millions of Internet properties (powering websites, remote teams, APIs, mobile apps, etc.) running on our global network. Cloudflare's network is one of the largest in the world and spans over 330 cities in more than 125 countries. What's more, Cloudflare operates within 50 milliseconds of 95% of the Internet-connected population globally (for context, the blink of an eye is 300-400 milliseconds!). We are passionate about making the Internet more secure, reliable, and faster for everyone.
Cloudflare’s Engineering teams build and run the software that handles the massive amount of traffic that flows through our network. We also have teams that build the UI and control plane for our software, using modern patterns and libraries in a microservices-based architecture. Technologies include: Typescript/Javascript, Go, Rust, C/C++ and Python.
About the Internship Program
Location: Bengaluru (Work from Office)
Internship Duration - 3-6 months
Join the team helping shape the future of the Internet. We’re building high-performance systems that handle a quarter of the Internet’s traffic. Our work influences open standards (like QUIC, MASQUE, and ECH), involves close collaboration with the IETF, and pushes the boundaries of what's possible in networking and security. You don’t need to be an HTTP or cryptography expert to join — we’re looking for excellent engineers who love tough problems, want to learn deeply, and are excited to contribute to one of the most technically demanding areas of infrastructure.
What you’ll do
The intern will contribute to Bastion, Cloudflare's next-generation Rust-based HTTP proxy that handles tens of millions of requests per second at the edge. They will work on performance analysis, protocol implementation, and migration tooling as the team builds production systems at massive scale. The project may involve measuring HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 performance, developing observability infrastructure like distributed tracing, or creating migration strategies from legacy systems. This work will expose the intern to cutting-edge internet protocols, high-performance systems engineering, and collaboration with standards bodies like the IETF.
- Build and operate systems that terminate HTTP and TLS at Internet scale
- Migrate core infrastructure from NGINX to a next-gen Rust-based proxy
- Measure and improve protocol performance across real-world traffic
- Contribute to open source and industry standards
- Learn from and work alongside some of the leading engineers in this space
You might be a good fit if you:
- Have solid systems programming experience (Rust, C, or similar)
- Thrive in complex technical domains and enjoy learning new things
- Care about building reliable, secure, and performant software
- Are motivated by impact — technical, operational, and on the Internet itself
- Come from a background that’s underrepresented in tech — we value diverse perspectives
What Makes Cloudflare Special?
We’re not just a highly ambitious, large-scale technology company. We’re a
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