External Affairs Manager

About the role

The External Affairs Manager will build and manage Anthropic’s relationships with third-party policy organizations, including think tanks, academic institutions, and advocacy groups, in support of the company's mission and policy priorities.

You will serve as the primary relationship owner for a defined community of external organizations. The role requires someone who can build trust and credibility over time, deliver value to partners through access to Anthropic's technical expertise and policy thinking, and activate those relationships when they can advance specific policy outcomes. You will also serve as a source of intelligence, surfacing shifts in sentiment, emerging positions, and strategic opportunities from within your community to inform Anthropic's broader policy efforts.

Anthropic is equal parts research lab, policy think-tank, and technology startup. We approach AI policy from first principles through proactive, substantive engagement with governments and civil society. This is a unique opportunity to shape how AI policy develops at a critical moment.

• Own and manage relationships with a defined community of third-party policy organizations
• Build durable partnerships by delivering value to partner organizations, including briefings on AI developments, access to technical expertise, and opportunities for co-authored research or co-hosted events
• Define and execute strategies tailored to each unique third-party organization and specific Anthropic policy priorities
• Translate Anthropic's policy positions into framing and engagements that resonate with the specific orientation and audience of your assigned community
• Activate relationships in support of Anthropic's policy campaigns, including sign-on letters, testimony, published research, public statements, and media engagement
• Monitor emerging positions and shifting dynamics within your community and surface that intelligence to inform campaign and policy strategy
• Proactively identify opportunities where third-party engagement can strengthen Anthropic's policy objectives
• Facilitate connections between partner organizations and Anthropic's policy experts, government relations leads, and senior leadership

• Have 10+ years of experience building and maintaining productive relationships with Washington policy organizations, with a demonstrated ability to activate those relationships for policy outcomes
• Understand how think tanks, academic institutions, and advocacy groups operate, including their incentives, funding models, and constraints
• Have existing relationship depth and credibility within one or more ideological communities (conservative, progressive, or civil rights organizations)
• Can translate technical policy positions into engagements that resonate with organizations across different orientations
• Are comfortable working in coordination with campaign and government relations teams, with the understanding that your role is to own the relationships while campaign strategy is driven by others
• Are based in or willing to relocate to Washington, DC