Corporate Finance & Strategy, R&D Opex

Anthropic•Seattle, WA

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

Anthropic is seeking a Strategic Finance partner to join its Finance team, focusing on operating expenses (OpEx) and partnering primarily with the Engineering organization. This role involves being the financial partner to engineering leaders, assisting them in making informed decisions regarding headcount, vendor spend, tooling, and operational investments that support research and product development. As the company grows, this position will be key in shaping how OpEx is planned, allocated, and managed across the organization. The role requires building driver-based models that link vendor and tooling expenses to technical inputs such as usage, seats, throughput, and capacity. The individual will need to engage with engineering leaders on the technical aspects influencing these drivers and challenge assumptions when necessary. The ideal candidate is proactive, asks critical questions, challenges assumptions, and helps engineering leaders arrive at optimal decisions.

Requirements

Experience in FP&A, OpEx or G&A finance, preferably at high-growth technology companies
Demonstrated experience building driver-based financial models — tying spend to operational and technical inputs rather than top-down growth rates
Comfort with technical concepts and a genuine interest in understanding the systems, tools, and infrastructure behind the line items being modeled
Track record of pushing back constructively on senior stakeholders — bringing data and clear reasoning to disagreements rather than deferring to the loudest voice in the room
Excellent communication and storytelling abilities, with experience presenting to C-suite executives and board members
Bias toward action, strong work ethic, and experience driving operational outcomes under tight timelines
Ability to thrive in fast-paced, dynamic environments and navigate ambiguity with confidence
Strong collaboration skills and ability to build effective partnerships across functions and levels
Passion for Anthropic's mission to build safe, beneficial AI systems

Nice To Haves

Experience at a high-growth technology company or startup
Expertise with modern financial planning tools (e.g., Anaplan, Pigment)
Direct experience partnering with Engineering, R&D, or other technical organizations as a finance business partner
Hands-on experience modeling vendor spend with technical drivers — cloud/SaaS usage, seat-based tooling, observability and data infrastructure costs, etc.
A technical background or coursework (CS, engineering, quantitative field) or comparable self-taught fluency
Experience leading headcount planning and workforce modeling at scale

Responsibilities

Serve as the primary finance partner to Engineering leaders, providing guidance and recommendations on vendor and tooling spend, and resource allocation decisions.
Build and maintain driver-based financial models for engineering OpEx — tying vendor and tooling spend to the underlying technical drivers (usage, seats, throughput, capacity, utilization) rather than top-down growth assumptions
Develop a deep understanding of the engineering tooling and vendor stack so you can engage substantively with technical leaders on what's driving spend and where it's headed
Lead budgeting, forecasting, and long-range planning for the engineering organization, partnering with leaders to translate roadmaps into resource plans
Push back constructively on assumptions, proposals, and forecasts — bringing data, sharp questions, and clear reasoning to help engineering leaders land on better decisions
Prepare clear, concise financial reports, analyses, and variance commentary that highlight key trends, risks, and opportunities for engineering and finance stakeholders
Establish reporting dashboards and scorecards that track engineering headcount, vendor spend efficiency, and other key operational metrics
Drive analyses on build-vs-buy decisions, vendor consolidation, contract negotiations, and organizational design tradeoffs where finance can sharpen engineering decision-making
Partner cross-functionally with Strategic Finance, FP&A, Accounting, Recruiting, and People teams to ensure engineering plans are aligned with broader financial strategy
Participate in resource allocation exercises to ensure clarity around headcount prioritization