Community Engagement Manager, Data Centers (Virginia & West Virginia)

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

Anthropic is building AI systems that will shape the trajectory of one of the most consequential technologies in human history. That work requires physical infrastructure at significant scale, and building that infrastructure the right way means being a real, long-term partner to the communities where we operate.

We are looking for a Community Engagement Manager in Virginia and West Virginia to join our Public Policy team and serve as Anthropic's on-the-ground presence in the communities where our data centers are sited, built, and operated. This is not a communications role or a government affairs role, though you will do elements of both. It is a relationship role: your job is to make Anthropic a trusted, visible, and valued neighbor, from the earliest stages of site selection through construction and long-term operations.

You will be the connective tissue between Anthropic's Policy and Infrastructure teams and the local officials, community organizations, economic development partners, and residents who have a stake in what we build. You will surface concerns before they escalate, translate our technical and operational plans into clear local benefits, and build the coalitions that allow us to move quickly and responsibly. Because Anthropic's infrastructure footprint is still early in its growth, you will also help write the playbook: the processes you build in your first markets are the ones we will use as we expand.

You will travel regularly within Virginia and West Virginia, up to 50% of the time, and occasionally to other Anthropic data center markets.

Key responsibilities

Build and maintain trusted, sustained relationships with Virginia boards of supervisors, city and town councils, and planning commissions, West Virginia county commissions and municipal officials, state economic development agencies, community groups, civic leaders, educational institutions, and workforce partners in the Virginia and West Virginia data center markets you cover

Develop and execute a community engagement strategy for each of your markets, spanning site selection, pre-development, construction, and ongoing operations

Build external coalitions, host education and listening sessions, and design local solutions that deliver real benefits to the communities where we operate

Represent Anthropic in public forums, town halls, planning hearings, community events, and local media

Monitor community sentiment and local political dynamics, and advise internal teams on risks, opportunities, and the right pace and posture for engagement, including in markets where data center development is already well established and community questions about its cumulative effects are active

Partner with the Real Estate and Infrastructure team to bring community input into how projects are planned, communicated, and delivered, not just how they are announced

Work with the Communications team to develop proactive, locally relevant messaging

Coordinate charitable giving, community investment, and economic development commitments in your markets, including managing nonprofit partner relationships

Partner with the Energy and Sustainability team to explain our approach to environmental stewardship and respond to questions about power, water, noise, transmission, and land use

Build a community engagement playbook and repeatable processes that scale as Anthropic's infrastructure footprint grows

Minimum qualifications

Experience in community affairs, public affairs, economic development, government relations, local or state government, or a closely related field

Direct experience working for or engaging with local governments and a broad set of community stakeholders on behalf of large infrastructure, construction, energy, or technology projects, with a working understanding of how local politics and community dynamics actually play out

A skilled relationship and coalition builder who earns trust with a diverse group of stakeholders, and who maintains relationships through difficult conversations

The ability to represent a company credibly in public settings, including town halls, hearings, and press interviews

Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to turn a complex operational plan into plain language that a local official or reporter can understand and respond to

The ability to work independently, get up to speed quickly on complex policy issues, and manage multiple concurrent engagements across different markets without losing track of any of them

Based in Virginia or West Virginia or willing to relocate to one of them, and prepared to travel regularly across both states

Preferred qualifications

7+ years of experience in community engagement specifically on data center, utility, energy, or large-scale industrial infrastructure projects, or in local government

Familiarity with land use, zoning, and permitting processes at the county and municipal level, including rezoning and special use permit hearings in Virginia

Experience with community concerns around data center siting, such as noise, transmission lines, water, and proximity to residential areas

Experience managing corporate social responsibility programs

Established relationships with economic development, workforce, or civic organizations in the markets this role covers, including in Appalachian and energy-transition communities

Experience working with real estate, legal, communications, and policy teams at the same time

A genuine interest in the communities where you work, not just the projects you are managing

The annual compensation range for this role is lis