Research Engineer Intern (Fall 2026)

Cloudflare is on a mission to help build a better Internet, and they are seeking a Research Engineer Intern to join their Research Team. The role involves tackling difficult problems in security, privacy, and systems at scale through engineering and data analysis.

What you'll do:

• Cloudflare's Research Team solves difficult problems in security, privacy, and systems at scale
• This involves engineering, data analysis, open source software development, protocol design, implementation of primitives, with lots of measurement alongside
• Successful candidates will be matched to suitable projects in on-going research directions
• We are particularly interested in applications in the following areas: AI, Distributed Systems, Privacy, Trusted Execution Environments
• Interns and internship projects are designed to help maintain the integrity of the Internet, its systems, and its applications
• Some of the fundamental areas we’re investigating focus on include advanced cryptography, hardware isolation, balancing user privacy against notions of identity, network and internetwork observability in a seemingly fragmented world, even applications of formal methods at scale

What they're looking for:

• Evidence of tackling hard or open-ended problems
• Proven track record of peer-reviewed research, open-source software contributions, or standards development, that is commensurate with level of training --- students at all levels are welcome to apply
• Experience clearly communicating research ideas through papers, pre-prints, standards documents, blogs, or similar media
• Ability to work in a systems-level programming language (e.g. Rust, C, Go)
• Passion for debugging and ensuring system reliability
• Familiarity with continuous integration workflows and source control systems (e.g., Gitlab, Github)
• Willing and eager to share knowledge, with the skills to do so
• Knowledge or experience with at least one of the following: Computer networking protocols (TCP/IP, DNS, BGP, QUIC, etc.) and related algorithms
• Knowledge or experience with at least one of the following: Machine learning analysis, ideally in systems or network optimization
• Knowledge or experience with at least one of the following: Authentication protocols, applied cryptography, PKI and SSL/TLS
• Knowledge or experience with at least one of the following: Operating or distributed systems analysis or development
• Knowledge or experience with at least one of the following: Measurement for network and computer systems