About the Role

Build proxy infrastructure from scratch. Not integrate existing solutions. Write the core systems yourself.
Design and implement rotation systems. IP rotation, session management, sticky sessions, intelligent routing.
Manage IP reputation and quality. Monitor, track, score, and optimize IP health across pools.
Build bandwidth reporting and metering. Track usage, report stats.
Write reverse proxy systems. High-performance, optimized for our use case. Not just configure squid or nginx.
Handle multiple proxy types. Residential, mobile, datacenter, ISP. Understand the differences, characteristics, and when to use each.
Implement geo-targeting. Country, city, ASN level targeting.
Optimize for performance. Every millisecond matters. Every connection matters.
Work with networking fundamentals. Routing, DNS, TCP/UDP tuning, connection pooling, concurrent connection limits.
Support multiple protocols. SOCKS5, HTTP, HTTPS. Different session types and authentication methods.
Understand HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 differences. And how they affect proxy behavior.
Build monitoring and health checks. Track proxy pool health, failover, redundancy.
Handle IPv4 and IPv6. Understand the differences and implications.

Deep networking knowledge. TCP/UDP, sockets, connection handling, routing. Not surface-level.
Protocol expertise. HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS5. You understand them at the byte level.
Can write a reverse proxy from scratch. Not just configure squid or nginx. Write the proxy.
Performance obsessed. You profile, measure, and optimize. You know where the bottlenecks are.
Understand proxy types. Residential, mobile, datacenter, ISP. Their characteristics, use cases, and limitations.
Experience with IP reputation. How it works, how to manage it, how to recover from blacklisting.
Geo-targeting knowledge. Country, city, ASN level. How it works, accuracy limitations.
Linux networking. iptables, routing tables, network namespaces. Comfortable at this level.
Self-directed. You don't need someone to tell you what to build next.
Great writer. Documentation, architecture decisions, protocol specs. Clear communication matters.
Fluent in English, written and spoken.
BSc or higher in CS or equivalent technical field.
Built proxy or networking infrastructure before (not just used it).
Deep understanding of HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS5 protocols.
Experience with high-throughput, low-latency systems.
TCP/UDP programming at socket level.

Remote (Worldwide)

Structure: lean, profitable, bootstrapped team

We use existing solutions today. We want someone who understands their limitations and can build something better.
You define the architecture. We have requirements, not a blueprint. You'll decide how to build it.
No existing codebase. You're building from zero. No one to ask how it was done before.
Performance is everything. Slow proxies are useless proxies. You'll obsess over latency and throughput.
Complexity at scale. Managing thousands of IPs, tracking reputation, handling failures gracefully.
Deep debugging. When something breaks at the network level, you need to figure it out. Packet captures, connection traces, protocol analysis.
Understanding trade-offs. We use existing solutions now. You should understand what they do well, where they fall short, and what could be done better.
If you prefer working with existing tools and frameworks without understanding what's underneath, this isn't for you.
We ship faster because we use AI tools aggressively. Cursor and Claude. But you own the output. If you can't evaluate what AI produces, you're not ready for this role.
Include "Octopus Tentacle" in your application so we know you read this.

SearchApi is hiring a Proxy Network Engineer