Anthropic

Performance Engineer, GPU

Anthropic · San Francisco, CA

  • On site
  • Full-time
  • $565,000 / year
  • San Francisco, CA

Job highlights

  • Engineer GPU performance for AI systems.
  • Optimize large language model efficiency.
  • Develop custom GPU kernels and distributed architectures.
  • Work on state-of-the-art AI infrastructure.
  • Shape the future of beneficial AI.

About the role

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

Pioneering the next generation of AI requires breakthrough innovations in GPU performance and systems engineering. As a GPU Performance Engineer, you'll architect and implement the foundational systems that power Claude and push the frontiers of what's possible with large language models. You'll be responsible for maximizing GPU utilization and performance at unprecedented scale, developing cutting-edge optimizations that directly enable new model capabilities and dramatically improve inference efficiency.

Working at the intersection of hardware and software, you'll implement state-of-the-art techniques from custom kernel development to distributed system architectures. Your work will span the entire stack—from low-level tensor core optimizations to orchestrating thousands of GPUs in perfect synchronization.

Strong candidates will have a track record of delivering transformative GPU performance improvements in production ML systems and will be excited to shape the future of AI infrastructure alongside world-class researchers and engineers.

You Might Be a Good Fit If You

  • Have deep experience with GPU programming and optimization at scale
  • Are impact-driven, passionate about delivering measurable performance breakthroughs
  • Can navigate complex systems from hardware interfaces to high-level ML frameworks
  • Enjoy collaborative problem-solving and pair programming
  • Want to work on state-of-the-art language models with real-world impact
  • Care about the societal impacts of your work
  • Thrive in ambiguous environments where you define the path forward

Strong Candidates May Also Have Experience With

  • GPU Kernel Development: CUDA, Triton, CUTLASS, Flash Attention, tensor core optimization
  • ML Compilers & Frameworks: PyTorch/JAX internals, torch.compile, XLA, custom operators
  • Performance Engineering: Kernel fusion, memory bandwidth optimization, profiling with Nsight
  • Distributed Systems: NCCL, NVLink, collective communication, model parallelism
  • Low-Precision: INT8/FP8 quantization, mixed-precision techniques
  • Production Systems: Large-scale training infrastructure, fault tolerance, cluster orchestration

Representative Projects

  • Co-design attention mechanisms and algorithms for next-generation hardware architectures
  • Develop custom kernels for emerging quantization formats and mixed-precision techniques
  • Design distributed communication strategies for multi-node GPU clusters
  • Optimize end-to-end training and inference pipelines for frontier language models
  • Build performance modeling frameworks to predict and optimize GPU utilization
  • Implement kernel fusion strategies to minimize memory bandwidth bottlenecks
  • Create resilient systems for planet-scale distributed training infrastructure
  • Profile and eliminate performance bottlenecks in production serving infrastructure
  • Partner with hardware vendors to influence future accelerator capabilities and software stacks

Key skills/competency

  • GPU Performance Engineering
  • CUDA Development
  • Triton Optimization
  • ML Compilers
  • Distributed Systems
  • Performance Optimization
  • Kernel Fusion
  • Low-Precision Techniques
  • Production ML Systems
  • Large Language Models

Skills & topics

  • Performance Engineer
  • GPU
  • AI
  • Machine Learning
  • Deep Learning
  • CUDA
  • Triton
  • Distributed Systems
  • Optimization
  • Large Language Models
  • Software Engineer
  • Systems Engineer
  • ML Ops
  • Computer Vision
  • Research Engineer
  • Python
  • C++
  • High Performance Computing

How to get hired

  • Tailor your resume: Highlight your deep GPU programming and optimization experience, focusing on production ML systems.
  • Showcase impact: Quantify your achievements in delivering performance breakthroughs and enabling new model capabilities.
  • Demonstrate collaboration: Emphasize your experience with pair programming and working in complex, ambiguous environments.
  • Research Anthropic: Understand their mission for safe and beneficial AI and align your application with their values.
  • Prepare for technical depth: Be ready to discuss specific projects involving CUDA, Triton, distributed systems, and low-precision techniques.

Technical preparation

Master CUDA and GPU kernel development.,Optimize ML models using Triton and XLA.,Understand distributed systems and NCCL.,Practice profiling with Nsight tools.

Behavioral questions

Describe a complex system you optimized.,How do you handle ambiguous project goals?,Share an impact-driven performance breakthrough.,How do you collaborate on challenging problems?

Frequently asked questions

What is the role of a Performance Engineer GPU at Anthropic?
As a Performance Engineer GPU at Anthropic, you will architect and implement foundational systems to maximize GPU utilization and performance for large language models like Claude. This involves developing cutting-edge optimizations for inference efficiency and enabling new model capabilities.
What kind of experience is Anthropic looking for in a GPU Performance Engineer?
Anthropic seeks candidates with deep experience in GPU programming and optimization at scale, particularly within production ML systems. They also value impact-driven individuals who are passionate about delivering measurable performance breakthroughs and can navigate complex hardware and software systems.
What programming languages and tools are relevant for this role?
Strong candidates often have experience with CUDA, Triton, CUTLASS, and Flash Attention for GPU kernel development. Familiarity with ML compilers like PyTorch/JAX internals, XLA, and performance tools such as Nsight is also highly beneficial.
Does Anthropic offer visa sponsorship for this Performance Engineer GPU role?
Yes, Anthropic does sponsor visas. While they cannot guarantee sponsorship for every role or candidate, they make every reasonable effort to secure visas for candidates who receive an offer.
What is the work arrangement for the GPU Performance Engineer position at Anthropic?
This role follows a location-based hybrid policy, requiring staff to be in one of Anthropic's offices at least 25% of the time. Some roles may necessitate more in-office presence.
How does Anthropic approach AI safety and societal impact in its work?
Anthropic's core mission is to create reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems that are safe and beneficial for society. This commitment to ethical AI development and societal impact is a key differentiator and influences their research and engineering practices.
What are the typical projects a GPU Performance Engineer might work on at Anthropic?
Projects can include co-designing attention mechanisms for new hardware, developing custom kernels for quantization, optimizing training/inference pipelines, building performance modeling frameworks, implementing kernel fusion, and creating resilient distributed training systems.
What is the expected salary range for the GPU Performance Engineer role at Anthropic?
The annual compensation range for this position is $280,000 to $850,000 USD.