Research Engineer, Pretraining

Details

Anthropic is seeking a Research Engineer to join its Pretraining team and help develop the next generation of large language models. The role combines research and practical engineering to build safe, steerable, and trustworthy AI systems.

Responsibilities

• Conduct research and implement solutions in model architecture, algorithms, data processing, and optimizer development.
• Independently lead small research projects and collaborate on larger initiatives.
• Design, run, and analyze scientific experiments to advance understanding of large language models.
• Optimize and scale training infrastructure to improve efficiency and reliability.
• Develop and improve developer tooling to enhance team productivity.
• Contribute across the technology stack, from low-level optimizations to high-level model design.

Requirements

• Advanced degree, such as an MS or PhD, in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field.
• Strong software engineering skills and a proven track record of building complex systems.
• Expertise in Python and experience with deep learning frameworks, preferably PyTorch.
• Familiarity with large-scale machine learning, particularly language models.
• Ability to balance research goals with practical engineering constraints.
• Strong problem-solving skills and a results-oriented mindset.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to work collaboratively.
• Concern for the societal impacts of the work.

Preferred Experience

• High-performance, large-scale machine learning systems.
• GPUs, Kubernetes, and operating system internals.
• Language modeling with Transformer architectures.
• Reinforcement learning techniques.
• Large-scale ETL processes.

Sample Projects

• Optimizing the throughput of novel attention mechanisms.
• Comparing the compute efficiency of different Transformer variants.
• Preparing large-scale datasets for efficient model consumption.
• Scaling distributed training jobs to thousands of GPUs.
• Designing fault-tolerance strategies for training infrastructure.
• Creating interactive visualizations of model internals, such as attention patterns.

Working Environment

Anthropic operates as a collaborative, cohesive team focused on large-scale AI research. The role follows a location-based hybrid policy, with staff generally expected to work from one of the company’s offices at least 25% of the time, although some roles may require more office time. The company offers competitive compensation and benefits, optional equity donation matching, generous vacation and parental leave, flexible working hours, and office-based collaboration spaces.

Education And Experience

The minimum education requirement is a bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience. The required field of study must be relevant to the role, as demonstrated through coursework, training, or professional experience. Required years of experience correlate with the internal job level requirements.

Visa Sponsorship

Anthropic sponsors visas, although successful sponsorship is not available for every role and candidate. The company states that it will make every reasonable effort to obtain a visa for candidates who receive an offer and provides assistance from an immigration lawyer.