[oblvious-earth]

Yes, he then retired, came out of retirement to work at Microsoft with a remit to work on whatever he wants, and decided the project he wanted to work on was make CPython faster.

[kzrdude]

What's the title of the budget for employing him? General brain trust? I'm genuinely amused

[oblvious-earth]

The title is "Distinguished Engineer".

I have no idea of the pay but based on my research of salaries for getting a job this year I would wildly speculate high 6 digits to low 7 digits.