State and Local Affairs Lead, Midwest

EngineersOfAI; United States; Hybrid; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Anthropic is seeking a State and Local Affairs Lead to advance AI policy across the Midwest. You will own relationships with state legislatures, governors' offices, attorneys general, and local officials, traveling regularly to the region.

You will collaborate with Policy, Communications, and Legal teams to articulate Anthropic's positions, translate technical research into policy engagement, and drive strategic priorities with accountability and impact.

Qualifications

• Experience in state and local government affairs with policy outcomes.
• Existing Midwest relationships with legislators and officials.
• Strong track record in political strategy and legislative campaigns.

Responsibilities

• Serve as Anthropic's lead for state and local government affairs across the Midwest.
• Build and maintain relationships with state legislators, governors' offices, attorneys general, and agency leaders.
• Engage directly with local officials including mayors, city councils, and county boards.
• Track state and local legislation and regulatory proceedings affecting AI and tech policy.
• Represent Anthropic's positions at hearings, events, and public forums.
• Coordinate with policy, communications, legal, and executive teams to align regional activity with company positioning.

Skills

State policy

Political strategy

Legislative relations

Stakeholder engagement

Job description

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 the role

We are looking for a State and Local Affairs Lead to lead Anthropic's engagement with state and local governments across the Midwestern United States, advancing AI policy, legislation, and regulation that supports Anthropic's mission of ensuring that the world safely makes the transition through transformative AI.

In this role, you will work closely with Anthropic's other Regional State and Local Affairs Leads, as well as coordinate with our Policy leadership, Communications, and Legal teams. You will own Anthropic's relationships and legislative and regulatory work across the Midwest — engagement with state legislatures, governors' offices, attorneys general, state agencies, and local governments. You will travel regularly across the region.

Successful candidates will demonstrate a track record of political strategy and execution — with specific examples of how you have contributed to complex policy campaigns, built durable relationships with elected officials and community leaders, supported legislative and regulatory outcomes, and executed with accountability and focus in fast-moving environments.

Anthropic is equal parts research lab, policy think-tank, and technology startup. We care deeply about safe development of AI systems, and build partnership with governments through proactive, opinionated, substantive policy conversations. We recognize that our approach to AI policy is distinctive — grounded in honest assessment of technological trajectories and authentic concern for safe scaling — and we need a regional lead who can bring that positioning to life at the state and local level.

This role offers an opportunity to be part of building a high-impact state affairs operation at a critical moment for AI policy. You will be responsible for executing on strategic priorities across your region, building relationships with government stakeholders, and contributing to the broader state affairs function.

Key responsibilities

• Serve as Anthropic's lead for state and local government affairs across the Midwestern United States, working in close coordination with the other Regional State and Local Affairs Leads
• Build and maintain relationships with state legislators, legislative staff, governors' offices, attorneys general, and state agency leaders across your region
• Engage directly with local officials whose decisions affect Anthropic's work — mayors, city councils, county commissions, and economic development boards
• Track state and local legislation and regulatory proceedings affecting AI and the technology sector, provide analysis and intelligence to inform company strategy, and represent Anthropic's positions
• Build durable partnerships with local and regional organizations, including chambers of commerce, economic development groups, labor organizations, universities, and school districts
• Represent Anthropic at legislative hearings, regional events, and public forums, including with audiences who are skeptical of AI
• Work with the Communications team to develop clear, accurate messaging for regional policy campaigns
• Translate Anthropic's technical research and policy positions into engagement strategies tailored to Midwestern state political environments
• Manage the outside advisors and registered lobbyists who support Anthropic's work in your region
• Coordinate with Anthropic's policy, communications, legal, and executive teams to ensure that regional activity aligns with company-wide positioning

Minimum qualifications

• Align with our mission and embrace the imperative of policy impact and change
• Have experience in state and local government affairs, political strategy, or legislative roles, with demonstrated success contributing to legislative and regulatory outcomes
• Have existing relationships with state and local leaders in the Midwest, including legislators, governors' offices, attorneys general, or county and municipal officials
• Understa