Research Engineer, Societal Impacts

Anthropic is seeking a Research Engineer to join their Societal Impacts team in San Francisco. This role combines technical infrastructure development with AI safety research, focusing on understanding and improving how AI systems impact society. The position offers a unique opportunity to work at the intersection of engineering and AI ethics, building critical tools and systems that enable research into AI's societal effects.

The role involves designing and implementing scalable infrastructure for AI experiments, creating monitoring systems for detecting misuse, and developing tools for rapid analysis of AI system behaviors. You'll work closely with researchers, policy experts, and product teams in a collaborative environment focused on beneficial AI development. The position requires strong Python programming skills, experience with distributed systems, and the ability to work effectively with machine learning models.

Anthropic offers a competitive compensation package ranging from $315,000 to $425,000 USD annually, along with comprehensive benefits including medical, dental, and vision insurance, parental leave, and flexible working hours. The company maintains a hybrid work model requiring at least 25% in-office presence in San Francisco. They value diversity and encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds, viewing AI's social and ethical implications as a key reason for maintaining diverse perspectives on their team.

The company operates as a public benefit corporation and approaches AI research as an empirical science, similar to physics and biology. They focus on large-scale research efforts rather than smaller, specific puzzles, with a strong emphasis on collaboration and communication. Their work builds on significant previous research in areas like GPT-3, Circuit-Based Interpretability, and AI Safety. This role offers an opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge AI research while focusing on ensuring its beneficial impact on society.