Roles at frontier labs · Systems and infrastructure
ML Infrastructure Engineer
59 recorded postings · Partial update · October 8, 2026
Recorded postings, not a live vacancy count. Partial update: some sources retain earlier observations; each listing has its own check date.
ML infrastructure engineers build the clusters, training systems and research tools that large models are trained on, and keep long runs alive.
- Inference and serving 68%
- Python 59%
- Cloud and Kubernetes 53%
- Production systems 46%
- Distributed training 42%
- C++, Rust or Go 37%
taught here course coming not taught
The numbers
- Recorded postings at 17 labs
- 59
- Median base pay middle half $308k to $413k, 34 U.S. bands
- $361k
- No degree requirement stated 2% require a PhD outright
- 73%
- Years asked, median of the 25 that state a minimum
- 5
The recorded snapshot
Postings from 17 labs
In the labs' own words
In the labs' own words
“Strong proficiency in at least one systems language (e.g., Rust, Go, or Python), IaC proficiency with Terraform.”
“Experience with GPU cluster software stacks (NCCL, CUDA, InfiniBand/RoCE).”
“Experience with low level details of hardware components, protocols, and associated Linux tooling (e.g., PCIe, Infiniband, networking, power management, kernel perf tuning)”
Your way in
Three doors to this role
- Door 1
Finishing a degree
2% mention publications
The way in is a program: 32 recorded in the snapshot
- Door 2
A software engineer
73% have no degree requirement stated
What to add
- Door 3
A PhD
42% ask for distributed training
Engineering at scale
Asked often
The short answers
How much does a ml infrastructure engineer at a frontier lab make?
The median U.S. base salary across 34 recorded ml infrastructure engineer postings that publish a band is $361k; the middle half runs from $308k to $413k. Equity and bonus are not included.
Do you need a PhD to be a ml infrastructure engineer?
73% of the 59 recorded postings do not state a degree requirement, 8% mention a PhD or master's, and 2% require a PhD outright.
What skills do ml infrastructure engineer postings ask for?
Most often: inference and serving (68%), python (59%), cloud and kubernetes (53%), production systems (46%), distributed training (42%).
Which labs posted ml infrastructure engineer roles in this recorded board?
Recorded board: Anthropic (13), Together AI (11), OpenAI (7), Thinking Machines Lab (5), Cohere (3), xAI (3), and 11 more.
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The board
Recorded postings, newest first
The newest 40 of 59. Each title opens the lab's own posting. By family: machine learning engineers · software engineering at labs · ml systems and infrastructure · research scientists and engineers · applied ai and forward-deployed
- Data Center Engineer, Reliability & Infrastructure Management – Compute Supply ↗
Anthropic · Software engineering at labs · Bachelor's degree · $320k to $405k base
- Research Engineer, ML Infrastructure ↗
Cognition · Research scientists and engineers · PhD required
- Full Stack Engineer, ML Research Tools ↗
Cursor (Anysphere) · ML systems and infrastructure · No degree stated
- Software Engineer, ML Infrastructure ↗
Cursor (Anysphere) · ML systems and infrastructure · No degree stated
- Senior Software Engineer, AI Infrastructure ↗
Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) · Machine learning engineers · Master's, PhD or equivalent · $147k to $220k base
- Engineering Manager, Research Productivity ↗
Anthropic · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated · $405k to $850k base
- Machine Learning Infrastructure Engineer, Safeguards Research ↗
Anthropic · ML systems and infrastructure · No degree stated · $350k to $500k base
- Pre-training Data Infrastructure Engineer ↗
Anthropic · Software engineering at labs · Master's or PhD required · $500k to $850k base
- Research Engineer / Performance Engineer, RL Distributed Systems ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $500k to $850k base
- Software Engineer, Research Infrastructure ↗
Anthropic · ML systems and infrastructure · No degree stated · $405k to $625k base
- Software Engineer, Research Tools ↗
Anthropic · ML systems and infrastructure · No degree stated · $300k to $405k base
- Staff Infrastructure Engineer, Cluster Infrastructure ↗
Anthropic · ML systems and infrastructure · No degree stated
- Staff Software Engineer, Infrastructure (Distributed Systems) ↗
Anthropic · ML systems and infrastructure · No degree stated
- Staff+ Infrastructure Engineer, Cluster Infrastructure ↗
Anthropic · ML systems and infrastructure · No degree stated · $320k to $485k base
- Staff+ Site Reliability Engineer, Safeguards ML Infra ↗
Anthropic · ML systems and infrastructure · No degree stated · $320k to $485k base
- Staff+ Software Engineer, Distributed Systems ↗
Anthropic · ML systems and infrastructure · Bachelor's or equivalent · $320k to $485k base
- Staff+ Software Engineer, Infrastructure (Distributed Systems) ↗
Anthropic · ML systems and infrastructure · No degree stated · $320k to $485k base
- Research Engineer, Data Infrastructure (Language Modeling) ↗
Cartesia · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $200k to $350k base
- Machine Learning Infrastructure Engineer ↗
Character.AI · ML systems and infrastructure · No degree stated · $150k to $350k base
- Engineering Manager, GPU Infrastructure ↗
Cohere · ML systems and infrastructure · No degree stated
- Member of Technical Staff, Training Infra Engineer ↗
Cohere · ML systems and infrastructure · No degree stated
- Senior Software Engineer, GPU Infrastructure (HPC) ↗
Cohere · ML systems and infrastructure · No degree stated
- Member of Technical Staff - Distributed Training Engineer ↗
Liquid AI · ML systems and infrastructure · No degree stated
- Member of Technical Staff - GPU Infrastructure Engineer ↗
Liquid AI · ML systems and infrastructure · No degree stated
- Research Scientist / Engineer – Reinforcement Learning Infrastructure ↗
Luma AI · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $195k to $395k base
- Research Scientist / Engineer – Training Infrastructure ↗
Luma AI · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $195k to $395k base
- Member of Technical Staff, Pre-training Systems ↗
Magic · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated · $275k to $550k base
- Applied AI Engineer, ML Infrastructure Engineer / Devops - EMEA ↗
Mistral AI · Applied AI and forward-deployed · Bachelor's degree
- Research Platform Engineer ↗
Mistral AI · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated
- AI Infrastructure Engineer, pAGI ↗
OpenAI · Machine learning engineers · No degree stated · $266k to $500k base
- Senior Software Engineer - Research Platform, Consumer Devices ↗
OpenAI · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated · $293k to $325k base
- Software Engineer, Compute Infrastructure ↗
OpenAI · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated · $230k to $405k base
- Software Engineer, Data Infrastructure - Research ↗
OpenAI · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated · $250k to $380k base
- Software Engineer, Distributed Data Systems - Robotics ↗
OpenAI · ML systems and infrastructure · No degree stated · $230k to $385k base
- Software Engineer, GPU Infrastructure - HPC ↗
OpenAI · ML systems and infrastructure · No degree stated · $230k to $490k base
- Software Engineer, Monetization ML Infrastructure ↗
OpenAI · ML systems and infrastructure · No degree stated · $347k to $445k base
- ML Infra Engineer, Data Systems ↗
Physical Intelligence · ML systems and infrastructure · No degree stated
- ML Infra Engineer, Modeling ↗
Physical Intelligence · ML systems and infrastructure · No degree stated
- Member of Technical Staff - Pre-Training Infra ↗
Reflection AI · ML systems and infrastructure · No degree stated
- Member of Technical Staff - Research Software Engineer - Safety Evaluations Infrastructure ↗
Reflection AI · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated
