Anthropic ramps up European expansion with fresh hiring spree

Anthropic has unveiled plans to further expand in Europe, adding 100 roles and picking a new EMEA head.

Guillaume Princen has been chosen to lead the AI developer and Claude creator in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), Anthropic confirmed. Roles created through the expansion will span sales and business operations, as well as engineering and research.

These jobs will be largely based in existing offices in Dublin and London.

The move comes amid political and economic turmoil in the US, but Anthropic began making moves into European markets well before Trump's second presidency.

In May 2024, Anthropic made its Claude AI assistant available in Europe, while earlier this year Anthropic signed a memorandum of understanding with the UK government to explore the use of Claude to improve public services.

The AI pioneer has also opened a research office in Zurich, Switzerland, led by Neil Houlsby.

"EMEA has been central to our vision from the beginning. Since launching Claude in Europe last year, we've seen rapid organic growth amongst businesses and consumers alike, confirming the region’s strategic importance to Anthropic's future,” said Daniela Amodei, president and co-founder of Anthropic.

Princen said that European organizations were opting for Claude for its technical capabilities, in particular with coding, but that consumers were drawn to its "je ne sais quoi" in conversational AI capabilities.

This hiring spree will ensure Anthropic's approach to "responsible AI development continues to align with the region's high expectations,” Princen noted.

The wording suggests an attempt to set Claude and Anthropic apart from its American rivals like Google, Meta, and OpenAI.

Anthropic scaling European operations

Princen was Stripe's first employee outside the US in 2014, where Amodei also worked, later shifting to CEO of Mooncard. Anthropic said he was picked for his experience scaling companies across markets.

"We've long planned to deepen our investment here, and finding the right leadership in Guillaume was the critical piece that allowed us to move forward with the thoughtful expansion we envision," said Amodei.

"Guillaume brings invaluable expertise in scaling businesses across diverse EMEA markets and his commitment to responsible innovation made him a natural choice to lead this next phase of our growth."

Anthropic was valued at $61.5 billion following a $3.5 billion funding round last month.

MORE FROM ITPRO

• Databricks and Anthropic are teaming up on agentic AI development – here’s what it means for customers
• AI company Anthropic had to tell candidates to stop using AI when applying for jobs
• There's no single route to AI adoption, and Anthropic is charting all available paths