Cloudflare to recruit interns in 2026 & boost student support

Cloudflare has announced plans to recruit 1,111 interns in 2026 across several of its international hubs.

This represents a considerable increase from the company's previous intake, which typically hosted around 60 interns. The expanded programme will offer in-person, hands-on mentorship and opportunities to interact directly with senior leadership at offices located in Austin, Bangalore, Lisbon, London, and New York.

In addition to expanding its internship programme, Cloudflare is extending support to students in the United States by providing a year of free access to its serverless developer platform, Workers, to those with a valid .edu email address. This offer is intended to help students experiment and build with production-ready tools without incurring upfront costs.

The announcement comes amid broader industry challenges. As artificial intelligence technologies continue to automate more routine tasks, opportunities for new graduates in entry-level technology roles have become more limited. A recent Stanford study noted that employment for those aged 22 to 25 in AI-exposed sectors such as software engineering and customer service has fallen by up to 13% since late 2022. Handshake, an internship platform, has also reported a decline of 30% in technology internship postings since 2023. These trends raise concerns about a potential future shortage of experienced workers if new talent is not developed.

"We have always believed times of great transition can also be moments of great opportunity - we founded Cloudflare during a financial crisis and doubled our intern numbers during the pandemic when other companies were cutting back. Now, when getting a job out of school has never been harder, we're leaning in and offering a training ground for the next generation. And while many companies see AI as a way to replace jobs, we see this next generation as a way to bring the best uses of AI into Cloudflare. There's a lot we can learn from interns who grew up building with AI as a first class tool," said Matthew Prince, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cloudflare. 

The plan to increase internship opportunities is being implemented through Cloudflare's "Intern-et" initiative, which gives participants the chance to work on real projects. These range from improving security for network infrastructure to developing new serverless applications. The company's aim is to attract a diverse group of students and provide them with mentorship and experience that can be applied across the technology sector.

Access to tools

Cloudflare is providing university students in the United States with the opportunity to use Cloudflare Workers for free for one year. The platform allows students to deploy code directly onto Cloudflare's network, facilitating experimentation and the development of new applications. The initiative is designed to remove barriers to access for students who might otherwise face financial constraints.

Collaboration space

From January 2026, approved startups working with Cloudflare will be permitted to use selected office spaces on particular days in Austin, Lisbon, London, and San Francisco. This measure is intended to foster collaboration among early-stage companies and provide them with access to dedicated space for meetings and networking. Cloudflare has indicated that its experience with purpose-built office environments has encouraged this step, with the company offering all-day access to collaboration areas and opportunities to connect with peers.

Support for startups

Cloudflare has extended over USD $370 million in credits to more than 4,000 eligible startups in the past year alone. Over 900 startups participating in the Cloudflare for Startups programme have collectively raised over USD $5 billion in funding. Through this programme, qualifying startups can receive up to USD $250,000 in credits to access Cloudflare's range of security, performance, and development tools. The aim is to help startups achieve scale and focus resources on product development and business growth.

Students who wish to apply for Cloudflare's expanded internship offering are invited to review opportunities on the company's careers portal. University students in the United States with valid .edu email addresses who certify their student status will be able to register for one year of free access to Workers. Startups seeking to use Cloudflare office space or access additional support are encouraged to apply for the relevant schemes.