Staff Hardware Design Engineer

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 GitHub Yelp Paramount and JetBlue.

Were building a more trustworthy Internet. Come join us.

Posting Open Date: April 21 2026

Anticipated Posting Close Date*: May 21 2026

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

Staff Hardware Design Engineer

As a member of the Hardware Engineering team you will be responsible for designing and implementing the hardware infrastructure which runs Fastlys stack. You and the team will work with internal teams and external vendors on the design testing and rollout of the hardware to ensure a highly performant available and scalable infrastructure.

Were looking for a talented Staff Hardware Design Engineer with experience in hardware systems networking and systems engineering for distributed systems that are scalable fault-tolerant and cost-effective. Youll be joining a team responsible for the design of Fastlys underlying hardware infrastructure and ensuring its stability and performance. Youll collaborate with the various software development teams supply chain operations and external vendors/partners. Your key insights and data will drive the architecture and implementation of Fastlys POPs.

What Youll Do:

• Collaborate with software engineering teams supply chain vendors and other leaders or groups to evolve the Fastly hardware infrastructure based on new requirements constraints and/or changing technology.
• Develop specifications RFPs and other related requirements documentation showcasing the Fastly requirements and design principles for the overall life cycle of the platform and infrastructure.
• Play an active role in the hardware selection process by guiding vendors to understand our requirements test early engineering samples of next-gen hardware (on and offsite).
• Identify and drive development for off the shelf semi-custom and custom SKUs where required from partners or vendors to maximize CAPEX efficiency/TCO while balancing system performance.
• Contribute to the hardware engineering team in the implementation of hardware testing firmware and BIOS changes including working with operations on keeping the fleet current
• Collaborate on the testing of hardware - components and system in the lab pre-production environment and in production to make data driven decisions on the hardware architecture and vendors
• Work cross functionally to troubleshoot and triage hardware throughout the full life cycle of the hardware platforms
• Engage application development teams to ensure compatibility and assist in performance evaluation to meet platform requirements and expectations
• Mentor junior engineering developers operations and infrastructure staff
• Assist in vendor quality activities not limited to: First Article Inspections (FAI) site audit and root cause analysis

What Were Looking For (required):

• 8 years of experience with hardware system architecture and associated tradeoffs that include software hardware operational cost and mechanical aspects
• Experience collaborating with a broad range of roles senior leadership stakeholders and vendors/partners
• You are obsessed with detailed and timely documentation on all aspects involved with the hardware and tooling
• Strong foundation of management platforms and tools: console servers IPMI SSH PXE and telemetry systems
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills for both internal and external facing situations

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

• Extensive knowledge and experience of storage and memory subsystems

Experience with firmware development programming bash scripting tooling creation and maintenance

• Experience with CDN hardware and software architecture
• Knowledge in open source operating systems hypervisors and orchestration frameworks
• Background in test automation
• Deep understanding of various CPU architectures

Work Hours:

• This position will require you to be available during core business hours.

Work Location(s) & Travel Requirements:

The preferred hybrid 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 preference for Hybrid near a local office. However we may be willing to consider exceptionally well qualified remote candidates within the US & Canada.

This position may require travel as required by your role or requested by your manager.

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:

The estimated salary range for this position in the US is $195720 to $234864

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 2026 we offer 11 paid local holidays 12 paid company wellness days.

Why Fastly

• We have a huge impact.Fastly is a small company with a big reach. Not only doour customershave a tremendous user base but we also support a growing number ofopen source projects and of code employees are encouraged to share causes close to their heart with others so we can help lend a supportive hand.

• 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 more. We love employees for who they are and what they are passionate about.

Were always looking for humble sharp and creative folks to join the Fastly team. If you think you might be a fit please apply! A fully completed application and resume or CV are required when applying.

All job applications must be submitted through our official careers site at We will never request sensitive information such as your Social Security number bank account or credit card information during the application process. All official communication will come from an @ or @ email address.

Fastly is committed to ensuring equal employment opportunity and to providing employees with a safe and welcoming work environment free of discrimination and harassment. Our employment decisions are based on business needs job requirements and individual qualifications. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age ancestry color family or medical care leave gender identity or expression genetic information marital status medical condition national origin family or parental status physical or mental disability political affiliation protected veteran status race religion sex (including pregnancy) sexual orientation or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws regulations and ordinances.

Consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and federal or state disability laws Fastly will provide reasonable accommodations for applicants and employees with disabilities. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process to perform essential job functions and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment please contact your Recruiter or the Fastly Employee Relations team at or .

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