Staff Network Engineer, Backbone

What You’ll Do:

The Backbone & Edge team is responsible for the engineering and operational excellence of CoreWeave’s global backbone network. As a Staff Network Engineer, you will drive the design, deployment, automation, and reliability of our backbone infrastructure while partnering closely with Architecture, Data Center Engineering, and other networking teams to deliver scalable, resilient, and highly available connectivity.

As a Staff Engineer, you’ll lead complex technical initiatives, influence engineering standards, and help define the long-term evolution of one of the industry’s fastest-growing AI cloud networks. You will play a key role in scaling our backbone infrastructure through automation, operational excellence, and mentorship while solving some of the most challenging networking problems at global scale.

In this role, you will:

• Provide technical leadership for the design, deployment, operation, and continuous improvement of CoreWeave’s global backbone and edge network
• Lead large-scale backbone expansion projects, including new PoP deployments, backbone upgrades, capacity expansions, and network modernization initiatives
• Drive the operational strategy for backbone engineering by improving network reliability, resiliency, scalability, and service availability
• Lead the investigation and resolution of complex routing, optical, and transport issues across multi-vendor production environments, serving as a technical escalation point during critical incidents
• Architect and develop automation solutions for network provisioning, configuration management, monitoring, validation, and operational workflows using Python, Ansible, APIs, and Infrastructure-as-Code practices
• Establish engineering standards, operational best practices, and change management processes that improve consistency and reduce operational risk
• Partner closely with Backbone Architecture to translate long-term network designs into scalable, operationally sound implementations
• Drive capacity planning, performance optimization, and reliability initiatives across the global backbone infrastructure
• Mentor and develop engineers through technical leadership, design reviews, incident reviews, and knowledge sharing
• Lead post-incident reviews and drive long-term corrective actions that improve operational maturity across the organization
• Collaborate across Infrastructure, Compute, Data Center, and Software Engineering teams to deliver reliable, scalable networking solutions that support CoreWeave’s AI platform
• Participate in an on-call rotation as a senior technical escalation resource for critical backbone incidents

Who You Are:

• Proven experience (typically 10+ years) designing, operating, and evolving large-scale backbone, service provider, hyperscale cloud, or content provider networks
• Demonstrated experience leading technical initiatives across complex production environments with measurable impact on network reliability, scalability, and operational efficiency
• Deep expertise operating large-scale backbone networks utilizing technologies and protocols such as SR-MPLS, IS-IS, BGP, Segment Routing, and EVPN
• Strong understanding of backbone network architecture, resiliency, capacity planning, traffic engineering, and operational best practices
• Extensive experience troubleshooting complex routing, optical transport, and distributed networking issues across multi-vendor environments
• Proven experience designing and implementing network automation solutions using Python, Ansible, APIs, Git, CI/CD pipelines, and modern Infrastructure-as-Code methodologies
• Experience with Nokia SR OS, Juniper Junos, and other carrier-grade network operating systems
• Strong systems-level understanding of Linux, networking, and automation platforms
• Demonstrated ability to influence technical direction across multiple engineering teams without direct organizational authority
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to present technical concepts to engineers, architects, and executive stakeholders
• Passion for mentoring engineers, raising engineering standards, and fostering a culture of operational excellence
• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Telecommunications, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience

Preferred:

• Experience operating hyperscale cloud, AI, or large content provider backbone networks
• Experience with optical transport technologies and DWDM platforms such as Ciena
• Experience designing highly available global backbone architectures
• Familiarity with network source-of-truth platforms such as NetBox and modern network observability platforms
• Experience building large-scale network automation frameworks and self-service infrastructure
• Experience leading cross-functional infrastructure initiatives involving networking, compute, storage, and data center engineering
• Industry certifications such as CCIE, JNCIE, Nokia SRA, or equivalent are a plus

Wondering if you’re a good fit? We believe in investing in our people, and value candidates who can bring their own diversified experiences to our teams – even if you aren’t a 100% skill or experience match. 

Why CoreWeave?

At CoreWeave, we work hard, have fun, and move fast! We’re in an exciting stage of hyper-growth that you will not want to miss out on. We’re not afraid of a little chaos, and we’re constantly learning. Our team cares deeply about how we build our product and how we work together, which is represented through our core values:

• Be Curious at Your Core
• Act Like an Owner
• Empower Employees
• Deliver Best-in-Class Client Experiences
• Achieve More Together

We support and encourage an entrepreneurial outlook and independent thinking. We foster an environment that encourages collaboration and enables the development of innovative solutions to complex problems. As we get set for takeoff, the organization’s growth opportunities are constantly expanding. You will be surrounded by some of the best talent in the industry, who will want to learn from you, too. Come join us!

The base salary range for this role is $207,000 to $270,000. The starting salary will be determined based on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and market location. We strive for both market alignment and internal equity when determining compensation. In addition to base salary, our total rewards package includes a discretionary bonus, equity awards, and a comprehensive benefits program (all based on eligibility).