Staff+ Software Engineer, Backend (AI)

Location: San Francisco, CA or New York City, NY; staff are expected to work from one of the offices at least 25% of the time, with some roles requiring more office time.

Annual salary: $405,000–$485,000 USD

Company

Anthropic is a public benefit corporation building reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems intended to be safe and beneficial for users and society.

What you will do

• Own backend systems powering the API, Claude Code, and Claude.ai user experiences.
• Independently scope complex multi-month projects and lead technical and product decisions through ambiguous problem spaces.
• Design architectures for reliable, scalable systems serving hundreds of thousands of global users.
• Build platform capabilities across API serving, developer experience, agentic systems, authentication, enterprise foundations, distribution, safety, and retrieval.
• Partner with product, design, research, engineering, GTM, FDE, security, support, and trust and safety teams to translate model capabilities into shipped products.
• Stay hands-on with code and models while improving team processes and operational reliability.

Requirements

• 8+ years of relevant experience as a backend or product engineer, including leading complex multi-month projects or teams as a tech lead or equivalent.
• Strong coding fundamentals and comfort working across backend systems, APIs, and integrations, with the ability to contribute to frontend work when needed.
• Experience designing and delivering large-scale production backend systems for high-adoption B2B or consumer-facing products.
• Experience with distributed systems, API design, and cloud infrastructure at scale.
• Ability to drive alignment across technical and non-technical teams, communicate clearly, influence decisions beyond the immediate team, and help peers ramp up.
• Product-focused approach with attention to robust, scalable, and usable solutions.
• Commitment to mentoring and supporting the growth of peers.
• Ability to thrive in fast-paced environments and navigate ambiguity toward high-leverage solutions.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education, training, and experience in a field relevant to the role.

Culture & Benefits

• Collaborative environment combining engineering, research, policy, and business expertise around large-scale AI efforts.
• Flexible working hours and office collaboration.
• Competitive compensation, benefits, generous vacation, and parental leave.
• Optional equity donation matching.
• Visa sponsorship is available, although successful sponsorship depends on the role and candidate; immigration lawyer support is provided.
• Anthropic is committed to diverse perspectives and encourages qualified candidates to apply even if they do not meet every qualification.

Hiring process

• Team placement occurs after the interview process based on candidate interests and experience alongside organizational needs.
• Follow Anthropic’s candidate AI-usage guidance during the application process.