Software Engineer, CDN

ABOUT VERCEL: Vercel is the agentic infrastructure company. We free people and agents to ship what’s next. For more than a decade, Vercel has shaped how the web is built. As the team behind Next.js, v0, and AI SDK, we create products that help builders move from idea to production with speed, security, and exceptional developer experience. Now, software is entering a new era, and the next generation of products will not just be used by people. They will be built, extended, and operated by agents. We are building the platform for that future, trusted by companies like OpenAI, PayPal, Ramp, Supreme, and millions of developers worldwide. Whether you’re building our products, supporting our customers, growing our community, or shaping our story, you’ll help define what comes next. ABOUT THE ROLE: You’ll lead the team responsible for Vercel’s CDN, proxy, and edge caching systems—the core infrastructure that powers performance, reliability, and cost efficiency for every customer request at Vercel. Your mandate is twofold: Operate critical systems exceptionally (latency, reliability, COGS), and align the team to product and business goals, translating strategy into a clear roadmap You will set direction, grow people, and create the conditions for high trust, high autonomy, and high output—balancing technical depth with strong people leadership. This is a manager role, not a principal IC role. You’ll code when it’s the highest leverage (e.g., prototypes/unblocking), but your default is delegation, coaching, and alignment. ABOUT YOU: * 8+ years building and operating large-scale distributed systems * 3+ years managing engineers (managing managers is a plus) * Demonstrated success leading CDN/proxy/caching/edge or similar high-throughput, low-latency infrastructure * Proven ability to translate business goals into technical strategy and drive cross-org alignment * Track record establishing trust, psychological safety, and clear expectations; skilled at timely, candid feedback * Strong facilitator in technical conflict—you listen, synthesize, decide, and bring the team with you * Competence across HTTP, TLS, caching strategies, load shedding, capacity planning, observability, and cost optimization BONUS IF YOU: * Have experience with Go, Lua, or Node at the edge; running high-signal hiring pipelines * Collaborating with product/PMM on customer-facing narratives. BENEFITS: * Competitive compensation package, including equity. * Inclusive Healthcare Package. * Learn and Grow - we provide mentorship and send you to events that help you build your network and skills. * Flexible Time Off. * We will provide you the gear you need to do your role, and a WFH budget for you to outfit your space as needed. The San Francisco, CA base pay range for this role is $196,000.00 - $336,000.00. Actual salary will be based on job-related skills, experience, and location. Compensation outside of San Francisco may be adjusted based on employee location. The total compensation package may include benefits, equity-based compensation, and eligibility for a company bonus or variable pay program depending on the role. Your recruiter can share more details during the hiring process.  Vercel is committed to fostering and empowering an inclusive community within our organization. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Vercel encourages everyone to apply for our available positions, even if they don't necessarily check every box on the job description.

ABOUT VERCEL: Vercel is the agentic infrastructure company. We free people and agents to ship what’s next. For more than a decade, Vercel has shaped how the web is built. As the team behind Next.js, v0, and AI SDK, we create products that help builders move from idea to production with speed, security, and exceptional developer experience. Now, software is entering a new era, and the next generation of products will not just be used by people. They will be built, extended, and operated by agents. We are building the platform for that future, trusted by companies like OpenAI, PayPal, Ramp, Supreme, and millions of developers worldwide. Whether you’re building our products, supporting our customers, growing our community, or shaping our story, you’ll help define what comes next. About the Role: As a member of the AI Gateway Team, you will be responsible for developing and enhancing our AI Gateway platform, which provides a unified API for accessing hundreds of AI models from multiple providers. You will collaborate with a remote and distributed team of engineers to build reliable, low-latency systems that handle rate limiting, intelligent failovers, and seamless integrations, enabling developers to ship AI-powered applications without managing provider-specific complexities. This role focuses on ensuring production-ready reliability for AI workloads, including automatic fallbacks during outages and consistent performance across providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and more.   What You Will Do: * Contribute to the design, implementation, and maintenance of the AI Gateway platform, emphasizing features like unified API endpoints, rate limit management, and intelligent failover mechanisms to boost uptime and reliability. * Write clean, efficient, and well-documented code, conducting thorough testing to ensure low-latency responses and stability for high-volume AI inference requests. * Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including product managers, AI researchers, and infrastructure engineers, to integrate new AI providers and models while addressing scalability and performance challenges. * Engage with the open-source community, contribute to AI SDK and related projects, and align with Vercel's ethos of fostering developer tools. * Gather user feedback and analytics to drive innovations in AI Gateway, such as enhanced billing unification, provider-agnostic authentication, and analytics for usage insights. About You: * You have at least 5+ years of relevant experience * Strong proficiency in JavaScript/TypeScript and experience with backend development, APIs, and cloud infrastructure * Experience with AI/ML integrations, API gateways, distributed systems, or handling high-throughput services (e.g., rate limiting, caching, failovers) * Experience contributing to or participating in open source projects * Excellent communication skills and the ability to work effectively in a collaborative team environment Benefits: * Competitive compensation package, including equity. * Inclusive Healthcare Package. * Learn and Grow - we provide mentorship and send you to events that help you build your network and skills. * Flexible Time Off. * We will provide you the gear you need to do your role, and a WFH budget for you to outfit your space as needed. The San Francisco, CA base pay range for this role is $196,000-$294,000. Actual salary will be based on job-related skills, experience, and location. Compensation outside of San Francisco may be adjusted based on employee location. The total compensation package may include benefits, equity-based compensation, and eligibility for a company bonus or variable pay program depending on the role. Your recruiter can share more details during the hiring process. Vercel is committed to fostering and empowering an inclusive community within our organization. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Vercel encourages everyone to apply for our available positions, even if they don't necessarily check every box on the job description.