Principal Customer Engineer
$20k - $50k • Distributed
Posted 10d ago
Job Location
Distributed
Tech Stack
Remote Work Policy
On-site
Categories
Applied AI Engineer
About the job
Cloudflare is seeking a Principal Customer Engineer to be a trusted technical advisor and architect for enterprise clients. This role is central to our technical go-to-market strategy, bridging technical strategy with business value. You will guide customers from pre-sales validation through onboarding, deployment, and lifecycle expansion. As a quota-carrying technologist within the GTM organization, you will leverage AI-augmented workflows to focus on high-value architectural design and drive measurable business outcomes, rather than administrative tasks. We are looking for builders who are curious, proactive, and eager to use AI to solve complex problems and improve the Internet.
Responsibilities
- Lead technical deep-dive discovery, capture business requirements, and map complex customer infrastructure to Cloudflare architectures.
- Define, scope, and execute technical evaluations for Proof of Concepts (PoCs).
- Deliver tailored technical presentations, architectural diagrams, and demonstrations.
- Address complex technical objections, security compliance questions, and architectural requirements.
- Oversee technical onboarding and implementation, acting as the primary executive and engineering contact.
- Design migration and onboarding blueprints and guide customer engineering teams through configuration best practices.
- Own discovery, demos, onboarding, technical health, risk, and expansion strategy with Account Executives.
- Monitor customer health scores and telemetry to ensure rapid time-to-value and resolve integration bottlenecks.
- Carry a variable quota tied to new business acquisition and account growth.
- Ensure deep platform adoption, retain revenue, and identify cross-sell/up-sell opportunities.
- Lead technical Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) to demonstrate ROI to C-level executives.
- Act as a trusted technical advisor throughout the customer lifecycle, maintaining deep relationships with stakeholders.
- Provide thought partnership on architecture, AI control layers, security posture, and deployment confidence.
- Identify and provide remediation strategies for potential deployment risks or integration bottlenecks.
- Leverage AI agents, LLMs, and internal platforms to automate routine tasks like RFP responses and sandbox provisioning.
- Partner with the Enablement Team to design, build, and govern technical resources.
- Educate internal teams and customers on Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), architectural best practices, and technical guides.
Requirements
- Experience in a customer-facing technical role, such as Solutions Architect, Sales Engineer, or Customer Engineer.
- Deep understanding of core Internet technologies including DNS, CDN, Zero Trust, and Network Security.
- Experience with cloud-native architectures and deployment strategies.
- Familiarity with AI agents and Large Language Models (LLMs) for workflow automation.
- Proven ability to translate technical capabilities into business value and ROI.
- Strong communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills.
- Ability to manage multiple customer engagements simultaneously.
- Experience with technical onboarding, migration, and customer success strategies.
- Quota-carrying experience is a plus.
- Experience with Cloudflare products is a plus.
Benefits
- Opportunity to work on cutting-edge AI technologies.
- Contribute to building a better Internet.
- Work in a culture that values curiosity and innovation.
- Potential for travel up to 20%.