Head of Policy Communications

About Anthropic
Anthropic’s mission is to create reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. We want AI to be safe and beneficial for our users and for society as a whole. Our team is a quickly growing group of committed researchers, engineers, policy experts, and business leaders working together to build beneficial AI systems.

About Anthropic
Anthropic is an AI safety and research company working to build reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. We want AI to be safe and beneficial for our customers and for society as a whole. Our interdisciplinary team has experience across ML, physics, policy, business and product.

About the Role
We are seeking an exceptional Head of Policy Communications to lead our strategic communications efforts across critical policy areas. This senior leadership role will oversee communications strategy for federal, state, and local policy, societal impacts, safeguards, responsible scaling, security, legal and regulatory issues, and more. You will be responsible for crafting and executing sophisticated communications strategies that shape public understanding of AI policy issues while navigating complex issues and stakeholder landscapes.

As Head of Policy Communications, you will serve as a key strategic advisor to Anthropic’s leadership team and cross-functional partners, managing high-stakes communications in one of the most rapidly evolving and consequential technology sectors. This role demands exceptional judgment, strategic vision, and the ability to translate complex technical and policy concepts into compelling narratives that resonate with diverse audiences including press, policymakers, regulators, media, policy influencers, and the general public.

Key Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership
Develop and execute comprehensive policy communications strategies that advance Anthropic's mission and policy objectives
Lead communications for federal, state, and local policy initiatives, ensuring cohesive messaging
Oversee strategic narratives around societal impacts of AI, trust and safety measures, responsible scaling policies, legal and regulatory issues, and security frameworks
Serve as senior communications counsel to C-suite executives and cross-functional partners including policy, legal, societal impacts, and brand marketing
Build and maintain relationships with key policy stakeholders, including press, government officials, think tanks, and policy influencers
Crisis & Issues Management
Lead rapid response communications during crises and for issues requiring strategic guidance on tight timelines
Oversee comprehensive crisis communications playbooks for policy-related scenarios
Navigate sensitive communications around AI safety incidents, regulatory investigations, and policy debates
Partner with legal, policy, and security teams to ensure aligned messaging during high-stakes situations
Team & Program Management
Build and lead a high-performing policy communications team
Collaborate with corporate communications, product communications, and brand marketing teams to ensure integrated messaging
Manage relationships with external agencies and consultants specializing in public affairs
Oversee executive thought leadership programs, including speaking engagements, op-eds, and testimony preparation
Stakeholder Engagement
Cultivate and maintain relationships with top-tier policy and technology journalists
Develop strategies for engaging with diverse stakeholder groups including civil society, academia, and industry partners
Lead communications efforts for major policy announcements, regulatory submissions, and public commitments
Represent Anthropic in policy forums, industry associations, media partnerships, and multi-stakeholder initiatives
Requirements
Must-Have Qualifications
15+ years of progressive experience in policy communications, public affairs, or related fields
Proven track record leading communications at senior levels in complex, regulated industries
Deep expertise in federal and state government relations and policy communications
Exceptional crisis management experience with demonstrated ability to navigate high-stakes, time-sensitive situations
Strong relationships with policy media, including technology policy, AI/ML, and regulatory beat reporters
Experience communicating about complex technical topics to non-technical audiences
Outstanding written and verbal communication skills with meticulous attention to detail
Proven ability to build and lead high-performing teams
Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree preferred
Preferred Qualifications
Experience in AI, technology policy, or emerging technology sectors
Background in national security, cybersecurity, or critical infrastructure communications
Experience with international policy communications and global stakeholder management
Track record of successful congressional testimony preparation and support
Experience working with or within government agencies
Understanding of AI ethics, safety, and governance frameworks
Experience managing communications through regulatory investigations or enforcement actions
The expected salary range for this position is:

Annual Salary:

$400,000 - $400,000 USD

Logistics
Education requirements: We require at least a Bachelor's degree in a related field or equivalent experience.

Location-based hybrid policy: Currently, we expect all staff to be in one of our offices at least 25% of the time. However, some roles may require more time in our offices.

Visa sponsorship: We do sponsor visas! However, we aren't able to successfully sponsor visas for every role and every candidate. But if we make you an offer, we will make every reasonable effort to get you a visa, and we retain an immigration lawyer to help with this.

We encourage you to apply even if you do not believe you meet every single qualification. Not all strong candidates will meet every single qualification as listed. Research shows that people who identify as being from underrepresented groups are more prone to experiencing imposter syndrome and doubting the strength of their candidacy, so we urge you not to exclude yourself prematurely and to submit an application if you're interested in this work. We think AI systems like the ones we're building have enormous social and ethical implications. We think this makes representation even more important, and we strive to include a range of diverse perspectives on our team.

How we're different
We believe that the highest-impact AI research will be big science. At Anthropic we work as a single cohesive team on just a few large-scale research efforts. And we value impact — advancing our long-term goals of steerable, trustworthy AI — rather than work on smaller and more specific puzzles. We view AI research as an empirical science, which has as much in common with physics and biology as with traditional efforts in computer science. We're an extremely collaborative group, and we host frequent research discussions to ensure that we are pursuing the highest-impact work at any given time. As such, we greatly value communication skills.

The easiest way to understand our research directions is to read our recent research. This research continues many of the directions our team worked on prior to Anthropic, including: GPT-3, Circuit-Based Interpretability, Multimodal Neurons, Scaling Laws, AI & Compute, Concrete Problems in AI Safety, and Learning from Human Preferences.

Come work with us!
Anthropic is a public benefit corporation headquartered in San Francisco. We offer competitive compensation and benefits, optional equity donation matching, generous vacation and parental leave, flexible working hours, and a lovely office space in which to collaborate with colleagues. Guidance on Candidates' AI Usage: Learn about our policy for using AI in our application process