Backend Engineer - Financial Data Systems

The Briefed; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 320,000 - 405,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Visa sponsorship

Equity grants

Equity donation matching

Generous parental leave

Top-tier healthcare coverage

Job summary

Anthropic is seeking a senior backend engineer to architect a high-throughput finance platform. You will design APIs, build an append-only ledger, and develop SDKs used by internal teams and Claude AI agents. The role emphasizes auditability, secure access, and reliable production services.

Hybrid work with offices in SF Bay Area; compensation includes base, equity, and strong healthcare benefits. Experience in Go/Java/Rust and SQL is essential.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of backend/distributed systems experience.
• Proficiency in Go/Java/Rust or Python at scale.
• Experience in event-driven architectures (Kafka, pub/sub) with idempotence.
• Strong SQL skills for versioned financial data.
• Experience building APIs and developer SDKs.
• Auditability and access control design experience.

Responsibilities

• Design and build high-throughput distributed systems for finance events.
• Develop an append-only ledger and rules engine for journal entries.
• Create SDKs and developer frameworks for internal teams and Claude agents.
• Embed immutable audit trails and access controls into architecture.
• Own production services including tax and billing components.
• Shape long-term technical vision and architecture documentation.

Skills

Go

Java

Rust

Python

Event-driven architecture

SQL

APIs

SDKs

Job description

Anthropic’s mission is to create reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems that are safe and beneficial for users and society.

As Claude usage scales rapidly, every dollar Anthropic earns and spends must reach the financial books accurately. That data originates across the organization and from external partners: usage, billing, compute, infrastructure assets, and leases. The Finance Platform team is building the core infrastructure to support a continuous financial close with zero material issues and audit-grade controls.

In this role, you will architect and build a high-throughput, fault-tolerant distributed system: a unified front door for all finance events, an append-only ledger, and an accounting engine that processes every transaction with exact once-posting guarantees. You will design APIs, SDKs, and controls consumed by both human engineers and autonomous Claude agents (using Model Context Protocol / MCP).

Key Responsibilities

• Finance Platform Architecture: Design and build the primary entry point into financial systems—including APIs, event buses, vendor adapters, data-quality gates, and processing engines with idempotent, replayable, and backfill capabilities.
• Ledger & Accounting Engine: Build an append-only ledger with idempotent posting mechanisms, a rules engine translating business events into journal entries, ERP connectors (e.g., Workday), and period lock controls.
• Developer Frameworks & SDKs: Create robust SDKs, frameworks, and paved paths for internal engineering teams and Claude AI agents building on top of financial services.
• Controls as Code: Programmatically embed immutable audit trails, maker-checker authorization flows, role-scoped access control, and segregation of duties directly into system architecture.
• Production Services & Reliability: Own real-time production microservices (including tax and collection services within the billing flow), ensuring rigorous uptime, latency, throughput, and correctness targets.
• Technical Leadership: Shape the platform’s long-term technical vision, engineering standards, architecture reviews, and system design documentation.

Core Technical Qualifications

• Strong backend engineering background in statically typed languages (such as Go, Java, Rust) or Python at scale.
• Proven experience designing and operating high-volume, event-driven streaming architectures (pub/sub, Kafka, or similar) with idempotent processing, replayability, and backfill functionality.
• Proficiency in relational data modeling and writing complex SQL queries for versioned financial/transactional datasets.
• Demonstrated track record of designing service-to-service integrations, public/internal APIs, and developer SDKs.
• Hands-on experience engineering systems with strict auditability, access control, or regulatory compliance requirements.
• Strong written and verbal technical communication skills, including writing architectural design documents.

Preferred Qualifications

• 10+ years of professional backend/distributed systems engineering experience.
• Experience building ledgers, sub-ledgers, billing pipelines, or payment systems.
• Hands-on experience developing with LLMs and agents, including Model Context Protocol (MCP).
• Familiarity with core accounting principles (double-entry bookkeeping, journal entries) and internal controls (audit trails, segregation of duties).
• Exposure to enterprise financial systems or ERP platforms (such as Workday Financials).

Logistics & Benefits

• Office Policy: Hybrid work model expecting staff in office at least 25% of the time across San Francisco, NYC, or Seattle hubs.
• Visa Sponsorship: Available (subject to immigration lawyer review and role-specific requirements).
• Compensation & Perks: Competitive base salary ($320k–$405k), equity grants, optional equity donation matching, flexible working hours, generous parental leave, and top-tier healthcare coverage.