Fastly

Staff Hardware Design Engineer

Fastly$195K — $234K *
Telecommunications & Hardware
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 8+ years of experience with hardware system architecture
  • Experience collaborating with diverse teams including senior leadership and vendors
  • Strong documentation skills related to hardware and tooling
  • Proficient in management platforms: console servers, IPMI, SSH, PXE, telemetry systems
  • Excellent communication and interpersonal abilities.

Responsibilities

  • Collaborate with software teams, supply chain, and vendors to enhance Fastly's hardware infrastructure
  • Develop specifications and documentation for hardware life cycle
  • Guide vendors during the hardware selection process and testing
  • Drive the development of custom and off-the-shelf SKUs for cost efficiency
  • Contribute to hardware implementation, testing, and firmware updates
  • Test hardware components and systems to inform architectural decisions
  • Troubleshoot hardware issues across the full lifecycle of products
  • Mentor junior engineering team members and operational staff
  • Assist in vendor quality control and audits.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance
  • Family planning and mental health support
  • Flexible vacation policy and 18 days of accrued sick leave
  • 401(k) plan with company match
  • Employee Stock Purchase Program
  • 11 paid local holidays and 12 paid wellness days.
Full Job Description
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 Fastly's 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.

We're 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. You'll be joining a team responsible for the design of Fastly's underlying hardware infrastructure and ensuring its stability and performance. You'll 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 Fastly's POPs.

What You'll 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 We're 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

We'll 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.

Salary:

The estimated salary range for this position in the US is $195,720 to $234,864

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.

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 [redacted].com or [redacted].fastly.com email address.

About Fastly

Fastly is an American cloud computing services provider. 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. Fastly's customers include many of the world's most prominent companies, including Vimeo, Pinterest, The New York Times, and GitHub. Fastly was founded in 2011 by Artur Bergman, Simon Wistow, and Gil Penchina. The company went public on May 15, 2019, and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol 'FSLY'.
Learn more about Fastly
Size
976 employees
Market Cap
$936.2 million
Industry
Net Income
-$95.9 million
Founded
2011
Revenue
$290.8 million
NASDAQ

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