Data Infra Engineer, Pretraining

About AnthropicAnthropic’s mission is to create reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. We want AI to be safe and beneficial for our users and for society as a whole. Our team is a quickly growing group of committed researchers, engineers, policy experts, and business leaders working together to build beneficial AI systems.About AnthropicAnthropic’s mission is to create reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. We want AI to be safe and beneficial for our users and for society as a whole. Our team is a quickly growing group of committed researchers, engineers, policy experts, and business leaders working together to build beneficial AI systems.Anthropic is at the forefront of AI research, dedicated to developing safe, ethical, and powerful artificial intelligence. Our mission is to ensure that transformative AI systems are aligned with human interests. We are seeking a Research Engineer to join our Pretraining team, responsible for developing the next generation of large language models. In this role, you will work at the intersection of cutting-edge research and practical engineering, contributing to the development of safe, steerable, and trustworthy AI systems.Key ResponsibilitiesDesign and implement high-performance data processing infrastructure for large language model trainingDevelop and maintain core processing primitives (e.g., tokenization, deduplication, chunking) with a focus on scalabilityBuild robust systems for data quality assurance and validation at scaleImplement comprehensive monitoring systems for data processing infrastructureCreate and optimize distributed computing systems for processing web-scale datasetsCollaborate with research teams to implement novel data processing architecturesBuild and maintain documentation for infrastructure components and systemsDesign and implement systems for reproducibility and traceability in data preparationQualificationsStrong software engineering skills with experience in building distributed systemsExpertise in Python and experience with distributed computing frameworksDeep understanding of cloud computing platforms and distributed systems architectureExperience with high-throughput, fault-tolerant system designStrong background in performance optimization and system scalingExcellent problem-solving skills and attention to detailStrong communication skills and ability to work in a collaborative environmentPreferred ExperienceAdvanced degree (MS or PhD) in Computer Science or related fieldExperience with language model training infrastructureStrong background in distributed systems and parallel computingExpertise in tokenization algorithms and techniquesExperience building high-throughput, fault-tolerant systemsDeep knowledge of monitoring and observability practicesExperience with infrastructure-as-code and configuration managementBackground in MLOps or ML infrastructureYou'll thrive in this role if youHave significant experience building and maintaining large-scale distributed systemsAre passionate about system reliability and performanceEnjoy solving complex technical challenges at scaleAre comfortable working with ambiguous requirements and evolving specificationsTake ownership of problems and drive solutions independentlyAre excited about contributing to the development of safe and ethical AI systemsCan balance technical excellence with practical deliveryAre eager to learn about machine learning research and its infrastructure requirementsSample ProjectsDesigning and implementing distributed computing architecture for web-scale data processingBuilding scalable infrastructure for model training data preparationCreating comprehensive monitoring and alerting systemsOptimizing tokenization infrastructure for improved throughputDeveloping fault-tolerant distributed processing systemsImplementing new infrastructure components based on research requirementsBuilding automated testing frameworks for distributed systemsAt Anthropic, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. We strongly encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds, including those from underrepresented groups in tech.If you're excited about pushing the boundaries of AI while prioritizing safety and ethics, we want to hear from you!The expected salary range for this position is:Annual Salary:$300,000—$340,000 USDLogisticsLocation-based hybrid policy: Currently, we expect all staff to be in one of our offices at least 25% of the time. However, some roles may require more time in our offices.Visa sponsorship: We do sponsor visas! However, we aren't able to successfully sponsor visas for every role and every candidate. But if we make you an offer, we will make every reasonable effort to get you a visa, and we retain an immigration lawyer to help with this.We encourage you to apply even if you do not believe you meet every single qualification. Not all strong candidates will meet every single qualification as listed.  Research shows that people who identify as being from underrepresented groups are more prone to experiencing imposter syndrome and doubting the strength of their candidacy, so we urge you not to exclude yourself prematurely and to submit an application if you're interested in this work. We think AI systems like the ones we're building have enormous social and ethical implications. We think this makes representation even more important, and we strive to include a range of diverse perspectives on our team.How we're differentWe believe that the highest-impact AI research will be big science. At Anthropic we work as a single cohesive team on just a few large-scale research efforts. And we value impact — advancing our long-term goals of steerable, trustworthy AI — rather than work on smaller and more specific puzzles. We view AI research as an empirical science, which has as much in common with physics and biology as with traditional efforts in computer science. We're an extremely collaborative group, and we host frequent research discussions to ensure that we are pursuing the highest-impact work at any given time. As such, we greatly value communication skills.The easiest way to understand our research directions is to read our recent research. This research continues many of the directions our team worked on prior to Anthropic, including: GPT-3, Circuit-Based Interpretability, Multimodal Neurons, Scaling Laws, AI & Compute, Concrete Problems in AI Safety, and Learning from Human Preferences.Come work with us!Anthropic is a public benefit corporation headquartered in San Francisco. We offer competitive compensation and benefits, optional equity donation matching, generous vacation and parental leave, flexible working hours, and a lovely office space in which to collaborate with colleagues.