Anthropic· Engineering & Design - Product· San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY
Senior Staff Software Engineer, API
Classified Tasks (11)
Automate 0%Augment 45%Human-Only 55%
Augment (5)
AI assists, human decides
Partner with Research to evaluate and integrate frontier capabilities into the Claude API
technical
Work with Inference and Platform teams to ensure reliable delivery of the Claude API at scale
operational
Collaborate with Infrastructure and Safeguards teams to ensure reliability, security, and responsible deployment of the Claude API
operational
Proactively identify and address systemic technical risks affecting the Claude API
analytical
Coordinate across API Engineering teams to deliver capabilities (vision, tool use, computer use), retrieval and grounding systems, distributability infrastructure, and agent infrastructure for production
operational
Human-Only (6)
Requires human judgment
Define and drive a multi-year technical strategy for the Claude API, setting direction across API Core, Capabilities, Knowledge, Distributability, and Agents
leadership
Identify and personally lead the highest-complexity, highest-impact engineering initiatives spanning multiple teams
leadership
Serve as the primary technical decision-maker for major architectural decisions with org-wide scope
technical
Mentor and develop Staff-level engineers across the organization
leadership
Drive alignment across Product, GTM, Safety, and other stakeholder teams
communication
Operate at the intersection of technical strategy and execution to ensure the Claude API is reliable, capable, and positioned for growth
leadership
Job description
About Anthropic Anthropic’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 the role 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. Since launch, the Claude API has seen rapid growth and adoption by companies of all sizes to build AI applications with our industry-leading models. The API serves as the primary channel for safely and broadly distributing AI's benefits across all sectors of the economy. This role sets the technical direction for the systems that make Claude accessible to developers, enterprises, and partners at scale. You will operate at the intersection of technical strategy and execution, partnering closely with Research, Inference, Platform, Infrastructure, and Safeguards to ensure the Claude API is reliable, capable, and positioned to grow with Anthropic's ambitions. This is a high-agency role that spans all API Engineering teams: API Core owns the foundational reliability and performance of the Claude API; API Capabilities ships frontier model capabilities—vision, tool use, 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 the enterprise-ready infrastructure to support it; and API Agents builds the infrastructure for long-horizon agentic workflows in production. Responsibilities Define and drive multi-year technical strategy for the Claude API, setting direction 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 org-wide scope. Partner with Research to evaluate and integrate frontier capabilities; work with Inference and Platform for reliable delivery at scale; collaborate with Infrastructure and Safeguards for reliability, security, and responsible deployment. Mentor and develop Staff-level engineers across the org. Drive alignment across Product, GTM, Safety, and beyond while proactively identifying and addressing systemic technical risks. You may be a good fit if you: Have 12+ years of engineering experience with a clear track record operating at Staff or Senior Staff level. Have demonstrably shaped technical strategy for large-scale API or distributed systems platforms. Drive the highest-leverage technical outcomes without formal authority—you lead through influence, quality of thinking, and trust. Have deep expertise in distributed systems and API architecture, and are effective writing design docs, making architectural calls, and coding in critical paths. Are highly effective across org boundaries—you build trust with Research, Inference, Infrastructure, Safeguards, and business stakeholders alike. Bring strong product instincts and a craftsperson's approach to API design; you communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical audiences. Technical Stack </