Research Engineer in Reinforcement Learning for Chip Design at Anthropic (San Francisco or New York)

Job Description

Anthropic is hiring a research engineer in reinforcement learning for chip design. You will help its AI models get better at designing silicon. The role is in the Code RL team and is based in San Francisco or New York.

At a glance

• Position: Research Engineer, Chip Design RL (Reinforcement Learning)
• Where: San Francisco, CA or New York City, NY, USA; at least 25% of time in the office
• Pay: $500,000 to $850,000 a year (annual salary range in the posting)
• Visa: Anthropic says it sponsors visas, but cannot do so for every role and candidate
• Apply: open until filled (re-checked 7 November 2026)

What the chip design RL research engineer does

• Invent, design and build RL environments and evaluations for agentic RTL generation
• Cover design verification, including formal verification, and physical design optimisation
• Work on shared RL problems such as EDA tool latency and proxy rewards
• Run experiments and help shape the team’s roadmap
• Deliver your work into research and production training runs
• Work with researchers and engineers inside and outside Anthropic

Why this role matters

Chip design is slow, costly and unforgiving, so it is a strong test for AI systems. This role turns a chip designer’s know-how into tasks and reward signals that a model can learn from. It suits a hardware engineer who has taped out chips and wants to move into AI research.

What Anthropic is looking for

• Expertise in ASIC or FPGA design: RTL, verification (UVM, formal, coverage-driven), physical design (synthesis, place-and-route, timing closure), PPA, DFT and ECOs
• Fluency with industry EDA tools and flows
• Experience taking chips from spec to silicon, including tape-outs
• The ability to balance research with engineering

Nice to have

• Experience with reinforcement learning, evaluations or environments
• Tooling or automation built around chip design flows
• Work on ML accelerators or high-performance compute hardware
• Familiarity with high-level synthesis or architecture simulators

Pay and location

The posting gives an annual salary range of $500,000 to $850,000. The minimum education is a Bachelor’s degree or an equal mix of education, training and experience. The years of experience needed depend on the job level. Staff are expected in an office at least 25% of the time.

How to apply

Apply through the official Anthropic job posting. Anthropic’s posting does not give a closing date, so the role is open until filled; ResearchJobs.in will re-check this listing on 7 November 2026. Anthropic says its recruiters only contact candidates from @anthropic.com addresses. Check the posting for location and work-authorisation details before you apply.

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