Staff+ Software Engineer, VectorDB
Core
Design and operate the vector database layer powering Claude's retrieval, memory, and training workloads, focusing on architecture, performance, and scalability.
Role type
Staff+ Software Engineer (Vector Database Infrastructure)
Builds
The vector search infrastructure serving Claude's retrieval, memory, and reinforcement learning workloads
Domain
AI / Machine Learning Infrastructure / Vector Search
Deliverable
production ML models
Required skills
Vector database design, Approximate Nearest Neighbor (ANN) index structures, Vector quantization, Filtered search, Search relevance and ranking, Systems programming (Rust/C++/Go), Large-scale distributed storage systems, Technical leadership
Preferred skills
Object-storage-backed database designs, Full-text search engines (inverted indexes, BM25), Hybrid retrieval systems, GPU usage for index build or search, Technical lead experience on database teams
Technologies
Rust, C++, Go, GPUs
Responsibilities
Own core vector database components (index structures, storage layout, query execution), Drive recall/latency/cost trade-offs, Scale throughput, Extend retrieval stack to hybrid search, Set evaluation methodology, Lead design reviews and mentor engineers, Share on-call duties
Seniority
Staff+, hands-on IC with strategic scope
