Staff+ Software Engineer, VectorDB

Highlights

• Own the vector database layer powering Claude's retrieval workloads.
• Scale nearest-neighbor search over billions of vectors for Claude.
• Shape core architecture for web search, memory, and RL training.

What they offer

• Competitive compensation and benefits
• Optional equity donation matching
• Generous vacation and parental leave
• Flexible working hours

Ideal candidate

A systems builder who has shipped production search infrastructure at scale and thrives owning ambiguous, foundational architecture. You care about performance, reliability, and safe, beneficial AI, and enjoy mentoring while driving cross-team alignment.

Requirements

• Direct experience building a vector database or approximate nearest-neighbor search system that ran in production at scale
• Deep knowledge of ANN index structures, vector quantization and filtered search
• Experience with search relevance and ranking
• Strong systems programming skills including performance-critical and memory-intensive code
• Experience designing and operating large-scale distributed storage or serving systems with strict latency and reliability requirements
• Track record of independently scoping and delivering ambiguous, multi-quarter technical projects
• Strong written and verbal communication with experience driving alignment across teams
• Interest in AI safety and Anthropic's mission