Director, Engineering - Edge Linux Networking

Fastly – Director, SW Engineering – Edge Linux Networking

Fastly helps people stay better connected with the things they love. Fastly’s edge cloud platform enables customers to create great digital experiences quickly, securely, and reliably by processing, serving, and securing applications as close to end‑users as possible – at the edge of the Internet. The platform is designed to be programmable and support agile software development. Fastly’s customers include GitHub, Yelp, Paramount, and JetBlue.

Posting Dates

Open Date: April 23, 2026

Anticipated Close Date: May 7, 2026 (may close early due to volume of applicants)

What You’ll Do

• Define and drive the long‑term strategy for Edge Linux Networking, aligning it with the company’s broader goals.
• Lead, mentor, and coach a diverse team of kernel developers, architects, network, and site reliability engineers to deliver new systems and support existing ones.
• Co‑develop new solutions across kernel, XDP, and user agents to support the Linux operating system.
• Prioritize the team’s roadmap based on cross‑functional and product needs and help unblock the team.
• Collaborate with engineering and operations teams to improve performance, automation, and efficiency.
• Cultivate a positive and productive engineering culture, attracting and retaining exceptional talent and nurturing their professional growth.
• Support teams during rapid growth and organizational maturation using change‑management techniques and ensuring technical and operational alignment.
• Set the right balance between urgency and quality by implementing clear, repeatable engineering processes and best practices.

What We’re Looking For

• 5+ years leading engineering teams and managing engineers at all career levels.
• 10+ years of domain‑relevant software engineering experience with a focus on low‑level systems.
• 5+ years of experience in Linux kernel development and subsystem maintenance (e.g., resolving kernel rebase issues).
• Expertise in network data path and deployment methodologies.
• Experience with Linux x86-64 / AMD64 kernel development, rebasing, and troubleshooting.
• Experience maintaining Linux distributions (Ubuntu, Red Hat, etc.).
• Experience with OCI containers (Docker).
• Experience in large‑scale fleet management and release techniques.
• Strong product and business orientation, with the ability to connect technical investments directly to revenue and growth outcomes.
• Excellent communication and cross‑functional leadership skills, with executive presence to influence at the C‑suite level.
• Experience fostering inclusive, collaborative, and high‑accountability engineering cultures.

We’ll Be Super Impressed If You Have Experience In Any Of These

• Scaling engineering organizations through rapid growth and transformation phases.
• Experience with acute incident response, including addressing security vulnerabilities.
• Implementing IETF RFC specifications, particularly transport protocols.
• Experience in distributed systems and highly available environments.

Work Hours

Required availability during core business hours and occasional nights and weekends as needed for on‑call rotation.

Work Locations & Travel Requirements

• San Francisco, CA
• Denver, CO
• New York, NY

Fastly embraces a largely hybrid model for most roles, allowing employees flexibility to split time between office and home. Preference for hybrid near a local office, though exceptionally qualified remote candidates in the US and Canada may be considered. Travel is required as needed, usually to San Francisco, CA or other office locations.

Salary

Estimated US salary range: $246,550 – $295,860. Starting salary may vary based on experience, skills, qualifications, and location. Eligibility for equity and discretionary bonus programs.

Benefits

Fastly offers a comprehensive benefits package that starts on the first day of employment. For US employees: medical, dental, and vision insurance; family planning, mental health support, Employee Assistance Program; life, disability, and accident insurance; flexible vacation policy; up to 18 days of accrued paid sick leave; 401(k) with company match; Employee Stock Purchase Program; 11 paid local holidays and 12 paid company wellness days for 2026.

Why Fastly?

• Huge impact – a small company with a big reach, supporting customers with a large user base and many open‑source initiatives.
• Commitment to diversity and inclusive environment, encouraging employees to bring authentic selves to work.
• Passionate workforce that values variety of interests and encourages employees to pursue personal passions.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Fastly is committed to ensuring equal employment opportunity and providing employees a safe and welcoming work environment free of discrimination and harassment. 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 a 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, applicants should contact the Recruiter or the Fastly Employee Relations team at or .

Fastly collects and processes personal data submitted by job applicants in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Please see our privacy notice for job applicants.

Application Process

All job applications must be submitted through our official careers site at

Contact

For questions about the role or application, reach out to recruiting.fastly.com via email or contact the Fastly Employee Relations team at the above email address.

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