Political Programs Lead

About the role

Anthropic is hiring a Political Programs Lead to build and run the programs through which Anthropic, its political action committees, and its employees take part in the political process, including our engagement with candidates and causes at all levels of government.

You will report to the head of Political Programs, Campaigns & Coalitions, who sets political strategy with company leadership. Your job is to help shape that strategy, turn it into programs, and run those programs day to day. This is a foundational role: you will design the programs, do much of the early work yourself, and hire as they grow.

Anthropic's political participation is bipartisan, disclosed, and governed by written criteria with oversight. Anthropic and/or its political action committees support elected officials and candidates in both parties who share a commitment to the safe development of AI and to democratic governance. Employee participation is always voluntary. We hold ourselves to a standard above what the law requires, and this role carries that standard every day.

Anthropic is equal parts research lab, policy think tank, and technology company. Decisions made over the next two years will shape the future enormously. We want every serious candidate and elected official, in both parties, to understand the technology and the case for governing it well.

Key responsibilities

Build and run Anthropic's presidential engagement program for the 2028 cycle: map the prospective fields in both parties, offer AI policy education to candidates and their advisors on equal terms, prepare Anthropic's executives for those conversations, and plan ahead for the platform, convention, and transition periods

Build a candidate outreach and education program for federal, state, and local races: introduce Anthropic to candidates in both parties, and brief them and their advisors on AI and AI policy on equal terms

Build Anthropic's field programs: grassroots and grasstops organizing on AI policy in priority states and districts

Run the day-to-day of Anthropic's political giving as one portfolio: the employee-funded PAC at the federal level and in certain states, voluntary employee participation programs, and corporate contributions where the law permits

Develop, in partnership with the government relations teams, recommendations for the PAC board and company leadership on which candidates and committees to support, applying our written criteria on AI safety and democratic governance

Build Anthropic's political intelligence: a current read of races, committees, states, and the presidential fields that informs leadership decisions and helps our government relations teams plan

Design the education and events that help employees who choose to participate in politics do so in an informed way

Build senior relationships in both parties, and represent Anthropic credibly in that community

Support the head of the function in advising Anthropic's leadership on political risk and opportunity

Design and run every program and communication with Legal and outside counsel so that it operates within campaign finance, lobbying, and gifts and ethics rules, and maintain the separations those rules require

Work closely with the Federal, State and Local, Policy, and Communications teams so political programs fit Anthropic's policy positions and public voice

Report on what the programs do, internally and as part of Anthropic's public disclosure

Hire and manage a small team as the programs grow

Minimum qualifications

Experience in campaigns, party committees, political organizations, or corporate or association political programs, including at least one role where you ran a program or budget and answered for its results

Working knowledge of the ways a company and its employees can lawfully take part in politics (PACs, individual giving, 501(c)(4) and trade association engagement, grassroots and grasstops, candidate education) and the campaign finance, lobbying, and gifts and ethics rules that govern each

Experience advising senior executives on political matters

Preferred qualifications

12+ years in campaigns, party committees, political organizations, or corporate or association political programs

Senior-level experience in national politics: on a presidential campaign, at a major party committee, or at a national political organization with programs across the country, with knowledge of how candidate fields form, how campaign policy operations work, and how early-state and platform processes shape what candidates commit to

A record of working credibly with both parties

Experience building or running grassroots or grasstops organizing programs

Federal and state experience, including familiarity with governors, attorneys general, and state legislators as well as federal candidates

Experience building a program, team, or approach that did not exist before, and still enjoying doing the work yourself

Sound judgment and discretion in reputationally sensitive work, treating legal and ethical limits as part of program design

Credibility at the leadership table

Belief in Anthropic's mission, and interest in helping candidates and officials in both parties understand the stakes of AI governance

The annual compensation range for this role is listed below.

For sales roles, the range provided is the role’s On Target Earnings ("OTE") range, meaning that the range includes both the sales commissions/sales bonuses target and annual base salary for the role.

Annual Salary:

$295,000—$345,000 USD