Staff + Sr. Software Engineer, Cloud Inference
About this role
Backend engineers on the Cloud Inference team spend their days scaling and optimizing Claude to serve developers and enterprise companies across multiple cloud platforms. Engineers design backend services, manage API integrations, coordinate request routing, and oversee capacity planning while balancing heavy compute resources across providers like AWS, GCP, and Azure.
Anthropic builds reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems, and this team owns the end-to-end product delivery on external cloud services. Practitioners in this group operate with high leverage by driving major revenue streams while solving complex infrastructure problems involving diverse hardware and networking stacks.
Ideal candidates are product-minded backend engineers who thrive in autonomous environments, navigate multi-cloud complexities easily, and possess deep experience with large-scale distributed systems. Curiosity about large language model serving is essential, even without prior machine learning background, alongside strong cross-functional collaboration skills.
What you will do
- Design, build, and own backend services and infrastructure that serve Claude across multiple cloud service providers.
- Work cross-functionally with internal teams and external partners to stand up the full serving stack on new cloud platforms.
- Build and evolve continuous integration and deployment automation systems that reliably ship new model versions to millions of users.
- Design interfaces and tooling abstractions across cloud platforms to enable cost-effective inference management and scale.
- Contribute to capacity planning, autoscaling, and workload routing strategies that match supply with demand across regions.
- Analyze observability data across providers to identify performance bottlenecks, cost anomalies, and regressions.
What you need
- Bring significant software engineering experience with a strong background in high-performance, large-scale distributed systems serving millions of users.
- Demonstrate experience building or operating services on at least one major cloud platform such as AWS, GCP, or Azure.
- Showcase exposure to Kubernetes, Infrastructure as Code, or container orchestration technologies.
- Maintain curiosity about large language model serving without requiring prior inference or machine learning experience.
- Thrive in cross-functional collaboration with both internal teams and external partners to align goals.
- Act as a fast learner who can quickly ramp up on new technologies, hardware platforms, and provider ecosystems.
- Demonstrate high autonomy and end-to-end ownership of problems, including work outside standard job descriptions.
Nice to have
- Direct experience working with cloud service providers to scale infrastructure or products across multiple platforms
- Hands-on experience with capacity management, cost optimization, or resource planning at scale across heterogeneous environments
- Solid understanding of multi-region deployments, geographic routing, and global traffic management
- Proficiency in Python or Rust
Benefits
- Competitive compensation and benefits
- Optional equity donation matching
- Generous vacation
- Parental leave
- Flexible working hours
- Office space in San Francisco or Seattle
Skills and tech stack
Questions candidates ask
What is the remote work policy for this role?
Anthropic maintains a location-based hybrid policy. Staff are expected to be in one of the offices at least 25% of the time, though some roles may require more in-office time.
What is the salary range for the position?
The annual base salary range for this role is between $320,000 and $485,000 USD. Compensation is determined based on internal job level requirements.
Do I need prior machine learning or AI experience to apply?
Prior inference or machine learning experience is not required for this role. Candidates need curiosity about large language model serving and strong distributed systems experience.
Does Anthropic provide visa sponsorship?
Anthropic does sponsor visas for eligible roles and candidates. If an offer is made, the company makes every reasonable effort to secure a visa with the help of a retained immigration lawyer.