Senior Staff Software Engineer, API

Details

Anthropic is seeking an exceptional Senior Staff Software Engineer to join the Claude Developer Platform team and serve as the senior-most individual contributor across API Engineering. The Claude API has seen rapid growth and adoption by companies of all sizes building AI applications with Anthropic's models.

This role sets the technical direction for the systems that make Claude accessible to developers, enterprises, and partners at scale. The role operates at the intersection of technical strategy and execution, partnering with Research, Inference, Platform, Infrastructure, and Safeguards to ensure the Claude API is reliable, capable, and positioned to grow with Anthropic's ambitions.

The role spans all API Engineering teams:

• API Core: Owns the foundational reliability and performance of the Claude API.
• API Capabilities: Ships frontier model capabilities such as vision, tool use, and computer use directly to developers.
• API Knowledge: Builds retrieval and grounding systems that let Claude reason over external data.
• API Distributability: Ensures Claude reaches customers wherever they need it, with enterprise-ready infrastructure.
• API Agents: Builds infrastructure for long-horizon agentic workflows in production.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the multi-year technical strategy for the Claude API across API Core, Capabilities, Knowledge, Distributability, and Agents.
• Identify and personally lead the highest-complexity, highest-impact engineering initiatives spanning multiple teams.
• Serve as the primary technical decision-maker for major architectural decisions with organization-wide scope.
• Partner with Research to evaluate and integrate frontier capabilities.
• Work with Inference and Platform to enable reliable delivery at scale.
• Collaborate with Infrastructure and Safeguards on reliability, security, and responsible deployment.
• Mentor and develop Staff-level engineers across the organization.
• Drive alignment across Product, GTM, Safety, and other teams while proactively identifying and addressing systemic technical risks.

Requirements

• 12+ years of engineering experience with a clear track record operating at Staff or Senior Staff level.
• Demonstrated experience shaping technical strategy for large-scale API or distributed systems platforms.
• Ability to drive high-leverage technical outcomes without formal authority through influence, quality of thinking, and trust.
• Deep expertise in distributed systems and API architecture.
• Ability to write design documents, make architectural decisions, and code in critical paths.
• Strong cross-organizational collaboration skills with Research, Inference, Infrastructure, Safeguards, and business stakeholders.
• Strong product instincts and a craftsperson's approach to API design.
• Clear communication skills with both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Bachelor's degree or an equivalent combination of education, training, and/or experience.
• Relevant field of study as demonstrated through coursework, training, or professional experience.

Technical Stack

• Languages: Python, Golang, Rust
• Infrastructure: GCP, AWS, Azure, Kubernetes
• Databases: PostgreSQL, AlloyDB, vector stores, Firestore, Spanner
• Tools: Feature flagging, Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, Claude Code

Benefits

Anthropic offers competitive compensation and benefits, optional equity donation matching, generous vacation and parental leave, flexible working hours, and an office space for collaboration.

Additional Information

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, with no application deadline. Preference is given to candidates based in New York or the San Francisco Bay Area. Staff are currently expected to be in one of Anthropic's offices at least 25% of the time, although some roles may require more office time. Anthropic sponsors visas, although sponsorship is not guaranteed for every role or candidate, and provides access to an immigration lawyer to assist with the process.