Principal Manager , ISP/Telco
at Cloudflare
Hybrid
At Cloudflare, we are on a mission to help build a better Internet. Today the company runs one of the world’s largest networks that powers millions of websites and other Internet properties for customers ranging from individual bloggers to SMBs to Fortune 500 companies. Cloudflare protects and accelerates any Internet application online without adding hardware, installing software, or changing a line of code. Internet properties powered by Cloudflare all have web traffic routed through its intelligent global network, which gets smarter with every request. As a result, they see significant improvement in performance and a decrease in spam and other attacks. Cloudflare was named to Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top Company Cultures list and ranked among the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company.
At Cloudflare, we’re not looking for people who wait for a polished roadmap; we’re looking for the builders who see the cracks in the Internet that everyone else has simply learned to live with. We value candidates who have the instinct to spot a "normalized" problem and the AI-native curiosity to create a solution using the latest tools. Our culture is built on iteration, leveraging AI to ship faster today to make it better tomorrow, while ensuring that every improvement, no matter how small, is shared across the team to lift everyone up. If you’re the type of person who values curiosity over bureaucracy, and that AI is a partner in solving tough problems to keep the Internet moving forward, you’ll fit right in.
Location: 🇮🇳 Bengaluru
Team: Integrated Network Strategy
Type: Full-time
Role Summary and Scope
Cloudflare is looking for an exceptional, action-oriented leader to serve as the primary strategic diplomat for our India infrastructure footprint. This role is the critical bridge between our Global Connectivity Cloud and India’s largest Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and telecom operators.
Rather than focusing on the transactional aspects of partnership management—which are handled by our dedicated commercial teams—you will serve as the local Point of Contact (PoC) and high-level envoy. You will provide the "insider guidance" and regional SME (Subject Matter Expertise) necessary to navigate the complex Indian telco landscape, providing critical leverage to our global architecture and commercial teams.
The "AI-First" Mandate: In this role, AI is a tool for strategic mastery. You will be expected to integrate AI into your workflow—utilizing LLMs and predictive analytics to synthesize partner intelligence, monitor regulatory shifts, and automate regional reporting. This allows you to maintain high-level diplomacy while scaling your impact across the broader APAC and MEA regions.
Core Responsibilities (What You'll Drive)
- Strategic & Regulatory Diplomacy: Act as the face of Cloudflare to C-level stakeholders within Indian telcos and, when necessary, engage with regulatory and government officials. You will monitor local regulatory events and ensure Cloudflare’s infrastructure strategy aligns with the evolving Indian legal landscape.
- Technical Advisory on Compliance: Serve as a lead consultant to Telco engineering teams on the technical execution of government directives. You will coach partners on sophisticated content-blocking methodologies (e.g., SNI-based filtering) to ensure compliance while preventing the "over-blocking" of IP addresses that could cause collateral damage to unrelated services.
- Internal SME & Guidance: Serve as the "boots on the ground" expert for our global Architecture and Commercial Negotiation teams. Provide the cultural, regulatory, and technical context required to navigate the Indian market and close complex infrastructure deals.
- Revenue Enablement & Leadership: Provide strategic leverage to adjacent revenue-focused teams. Act as a consultant to Sales and Channel leadership, identifying "win-win" growth opportunities that align with our infrastructure goals.
- Advanced Edge & AI Enablement: Lead the deployment of Edge Compute, Storage, and GPU resources within partner networks to support the next generation of AI workloads in India.
- AI-Augmented Intelligence: Use AI tools to monitor regulatory filings, analyze partner sentiment, and provide data-driven forecasts that inform our global network strategy.
- Crisis Diplomacy: Lead regional representation during severe network incidents or regulatory crises, managing the high-level partner relationship while technical teams drive resolution.
Essential Qualifications & Experience
- Executive Presence & Diplomacy: 15+ years of experience in telecom, infrastructure, or regulatory affairs. You must be a "diplomat" first—capable of navigating complex, long-term institutional and governmental relationships.
- Regulatory Acumen: Deep familiarity with the Indian regulatory environment (DoT, TRAI, etc.) and experience managing the technical implementation of government compliance orders.
- Technical SME: A strong understanding of BGP routing, DNS, and traffic management. Specifically, expertise in content-filtering technologies and how to mitigate the impact of broad-scale IP blocks.
- India Market Authority: Mandatory, deep-rooted executive-level relationships with top ISPs and telecom operators in India.
- AI Fluency: Demonstrated ability to incorporate AI tools (e.g., LLMs for document synthesis, automated data modeling) into your workflow to increase operational velocity.
- Strategic Leverage: Proven ability to support Sales and Revenue teams by translating infrastructure health and regulatory stability into commercial value.
What Makes This Role Exceptional
- The Envoy Advantage: Focus on high-level strategy, regulatory health, and relationship-building, leaving the transactional heavy lifting to dedicated supporting teams.
- Guardians of the Internet: Play a pivotal role in keeping the Indian internet open and resilient by teaching partners how to manage compliance without sacrificing network integrity.
- Future-Proof Platform: Lead the evolution of our infrastructure into a Global AI-native compute platform within one of the world's most dynamic and complex markets.
What Makes Cloudflare Special?
We’re not just a highly ambitious, large-scale technology company. We’re a highly ambitious, large-scale technology company with a soul. Fundamental to our mission to help build a better Internet is protecting the free and open Internet.
Project Galileo: Since 2014, we've equipped more than 2,400 journalism and civil society organizations in 111 countries with powerful tools to defend themselves against attacks that would otherwise censor their work, technology already used by Cloudflare’s enterprise customers--at no cost.
Athenian Project: In 2017, we created the Athenian Project to ensure that state and local governments have the highest level of protection and reliability for free, so that their constituents have access to election information and voter registration. Since the project, we've provided services to more than 425 local government election websites in 33 states.
1.1.1.1: We released 1.1.1.1 to help fix the foundation of the Internet by building a faster, more secure and privacy-centric public DNS resolver. This is available publicly for everyone to use - it is the first consumer-focused service Cloudflare has ever released. Here’s the deal - we don’t store client IP addresses never, ever. We will continue to abide by our privacy commitment and ensure that no user data is sold to advertisers or used to target consumers.
Sound like something you’d like to be a part of? We’d love to hear from you!
This position may require access to information protected under U.S. export control laws, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations. Please note that any offer of employment may be conditioned on your authorization to receive software or technology controlled under these U.S. export laws without sponsorship for an export license.
Cloudflare is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all people and place great value in both diversity and inclusiveness. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to their, or any other person's, perceived or actual race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, family care status, or any other basis protected by law. We are an AA/Veterans/Disabled Employer.
Cloudflare provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please tell us if you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job. Examples of reasonable accommodations include, but are not limited to, changing the application process, providing documents in an alternate format, using a sign language interpreter, or using specialized equipment. If you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job, please contact us via e-mail at hr@cloudflare.com or via mail at 101 Townsend St. San Francisco, CA 94107.
