Director, 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 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. Fastly’s customers include many of the world’s most prominent companies, including GitHub, Yelp, Paramount, and JetBlue.

We're building a more trustworthy Internet. Come join us.

Posting Open Date: April 23, 2026

Anticipated Posting Close Date*: May 7, 2026

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

Director SW Engineering - Edge Linux Networking

In this role, you will manage Fastly’s Kernel engineering team that is critical to the operational excellence of Fastly. You will be responsible for continuing to optimize performance and stability for the low latency data path of Fastly’s edge which runs through the Linux kernel and XDP. This team is the engine of the whole business of Fastly as all of our customer traffic traverses this data path.

At Fastly we keep our kernel up to date with the latest upstream releases to ensure we are leveraging and contributing to cutting edge Linux technologies. Finally the team supports the hardware platform it runs on while also supporting the life cycle of OCI containers and Linux Operating System Distributions. The Fastly kernel team is the center of the company’s Edge stack and you will be playing a critical role in ensuring stability for our customers

What You'll Do

Define and drive the long-term strategy for Edge Linux Networking ensuring it aligns seamlessly with the company's broader business goals and long-term vision.

Lead, mentor and coach your team - a diverse array 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 your team

Collaborate with Eng and Ops teams to improve performance, automation and efficiency

Cultivate a positive and productive engineering culture - attracting and retaining exceptional engineering talent and nourishing their professional growth within the team.

Support teams during times of rapid growth and organizational maturation by utilizing change management techniques and ensuring technical and operational alignment among teams and team members.

Set the right balance between urgency and quality by implementing clear repeatable engineering processes & best practices

What We're Looking For:

5+ years leading engineering teams & 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, linux kernel subsystems maintenance (e.g., resolving kernel rebase issues).

Expertise in network data path and deployment methodologies.

Linux x86-64 and AMD64 Kernel Development, rebasing and troubleshooting

Experience maintaining Linux Distributions (Ubuntu, Red Hat, etc)

Experience with OCI Containers (i.e. Docker)

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:

This position will require you to be available during core business hours and occasional nights and weekends as required for on-call rotation.

Work Location(s) & Travel Requirements:

The preferred office locations for this position are:

San Francisco, CA

Denver, CO

New York, NY

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 qualified remote candidates within the US and Canada.

This position will require travel as required by your role or requested by your manager, usually to San Francisco, CA or other office locations.

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:

If hired in the US, the estimated salary range for this position in the US is $246,550 to $295,860.

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 Fastly’s 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 do our customers have a tremendous user base, but we also support a growing number of open source projects and initiatives. Outside 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 we’re 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.

We’re 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 www.fastly.com/about/careers. 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 @fastly.com or @recruiting.fastly.com 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 [email protected] or 501-287-4901.

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