Staff + Sr. Software Engineer, Scaling
About this role
Scaling inference infrastructure to serve Claude to millions of users globally while managing massive compute efficiency demands requires advanced distributed systems engineering. The Inference team at Anthropic tackles complex challenges across diverse AI accelerators and multiple cloud providers, balancing rapid customer growth with the high-performance needs of researchers developing next-generation models.
Engineers joining this group will design resilient routing, load balancing, and traffic management systems that adapt in real time to operational events. The position suits professionals with significant background in distributed systems who thrive when technical excellence drives both commercial results and research breakthroughs.
What you will do
- Design, build, and maintain the distributed systems that serve Claude to millions of users worldwide.
- Develop resilient, flexible systems that adapt in real time to real-world events.
- Implement intelligent request routing, load balancing, and traffic management systems across thousands of accelerators and multiple cloud providers.
- Maximize compute efficiency and optimize cost across the fleet by autoscaling and orchestrating production, research, and experimental workloads.
- Build and operate production-grade deployment pipelines for releasing new models to users.
- Provide high-performance inference infrastructure that enables researchers to develop next-generation models.
- Integrate new AI accelerator platforms and support inference for new model architectures.
What you need
- Demonstrate significant software engineering experience, particularly with distributed systems.
- Show a results-oriented approach with a strong bias towards flexibility and impact.
- Maintain a willingness to pick up slack, even when tasks fall outside the immediate job description.
- Express a desire to learn more about machine learning systems and infrastructure.
- Thrive in environments where technical excellence directly drives both business results and research breakthroughs.
- Care about the societal impacts of your engineering work.
Nice to have
- Experience with high-performance, large-scale distributed systems
- Experience implementing and deploying machine learning systems at scale
- Experience with load balancing, request routing, or traffic management systems
- Familiarity with LLM inference optimization, batching, and caching strategies
- Experience with Kubernetes and cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, Azure)
Benefits
- Competitive compensation and benefits
- Optional equity donation matching
- Generous vacation and parental leave
- Flexible working hours
Skills and tech stack
Questions candidates ask
What is the remote and office policy for this role?
Anthropic maintains a location-based hybrid policy where staff are expected to be in one of the offices at least 25 percent of the time, though some roles may require more in-office time.
What is the salary range for the position?
The annual salary range for this role is $320,000 to $485,000 USD.
Does the company provide visa sponsorship?
Yes, visa sponsorship is available, and the company retains an immigration lawyer to help make every reasonable effort to secure a visa if an offer is made.
What locations are available for this position?
The role is based out of New York City, San Francisco, or Seattle.