Data Center Energy Lead, Australia

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. Data Center Energy Lead — Australia About the role Anthropic's Infrastructure team is seeking a Data Center Energy Lead, based in Australia, to secure power capacity and accelerate energy delivery for our rapidly expanding AI compute footprint across the region. You'll work at the intersection of energy markets, physical power, project development and AI infrastructure needs, leading procurement efforts and building strategic relationships across multiple Australian jurisdictions. This role is essential to ensuring Anthropic can scale compute capacity efficiently while navigating the complex dynamics of the National Electricity Market (NEM), the Wholesale Electricity Market (WEM), Northern Territory Electricity Market (NTEM) and Australia's evolving energy regulatory environment to achieve the speed and scale required for frontier AI development. Responsibilities: · Develop creative and novel means of energy deployment - grid connected, behind-the-meter/fence, etc. that drives fastest timelines to energization, while maintaining social license · Lead energy procurement and markets strategy to secure multi-hundred megawatt power capacity for AI infrastructure across the National Electricity Market (NEM), Wholesale Electricity Market (WEM) and Northern Territory Electricity Market (NTEM) structuring utility partnerships and commercial agreements that prioritise speed-to-energisation and scale · Own utility and regulatory stakeholder management across multiple Australian jurisdictions, building strategic relationships with ISOs, Transmission Network Service Providers (TNSPs), Distribution Network Service Providers (DNSPs), and state regulators to accelerate connection timelines and unlock constrained capacity · Drive energy markets and policy strategy for AI compute facilities, monitoring National Electricity Rules (NER) and regulatory developments and engaging policymakers to address grid capacity challenges and expedite approval processes for critical infrastructure · Partner with engineering and delivery teams to translate energy market dynamics and network constraints into actionable capacity acceleration strategies that align procurement schedules with aggressive project timelines · Develop deep market intelligence on regional power availability across the country, transmission constraints, and connection queue dynamics to inform site selection and deployment strategy · Structure innovative commercial frameworks and partnership models — including PPAs, network use of system arrangements, and behind-the-meter solutions — that enable faster power delivery and mitigate grid capacity risks across Anthropic's datacentre portfolio You may be a good fit if you: · Have 15+ years of experience in energy procurement, utility development, or power markets for large-scale infrastructure projects, with substantial exposure to the Australian energy landscape · Have deep expertise in the NEM, WEM and/or NTEM, network connection processes, and transmission system planning (including familiarity with different market operators Integrated System Plans) · Have experience securing power capacity and navigating complex network connection agreements, Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), or other offtake agreement structures in Australia · Are proficient in analysing energy market dynamics, regulatory frameworks (NER, jurisdictional instruments), and grid constraints to inform strategic decision-making · Have strong stakeholder management skills and experience building relationships with TNSPs, DNSPs, SIOs, regulators (AER, AEMC, state regulators such as ESC, IPART, ERA, etc.), policymakers and critical equipment vendors · Have excellent communication skills and can translate complex grid and regulatory dynamics into actionable business strategies for technical and non-technical audiences Strong candidates may also have some of the following: · Past experience with energy procurement specifically for datacentres, high-performance computing, or AI/ML infrastructure · Familiarity with hyperscale infrastructure requirements and the unique power demands of large-scale AI training and inference workloads · Experience with regulatory affairs, energy policy advocacy, or engagement with the AER, AEMC, AEMO, the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW), and state energy departments / regulators · Background in transmission planning, connection studies (including System Strength and Generator Performance Standards), or grid capacity analysis under the NER · Understanding of emerging grid technologies (battery energy storage systems, demand response, virtual power plants, distributed energy resources) and how they can accelerate capacity delivery in the Australian context · Track record of structuring creative solutions to overcome grid constraints and compressed timelines in competitive power markets, including REZs (Renewable Energy Zones) and congested NEM regions Logistics Minimum education: Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education, training, and/or experience Required field of study: A field relevant to the role as demonstrated through coursework, training, or professional experience Minimum years of experience: Years of experience required will correlate with the internal job level requirements for the position 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.