Commercial Counsel

About the role

As Commercial Counsel for Platform & Marketplace at Anthropic, you'll support scaling up go-to-market motions and platforms like the Claude Marketplace, which lets enterprise customers discover, buy, and pay for third-party applications. You'll be the trusted legal partner to Business Development teams within Anthropic’s Partnerships & Alliances org, shaping how we collaborate with sellers and customers on existing and future platforms. You’ll not only focus on how we interact with our own resale channels but also on how we participate in third-party marketplaces. We'll count on you to own, negotiate, and continuously improve the core contracting vehicles for these go-to-market programs, as well as supporting terms that sit between sellers and buyers.

Key responsibilities

• Own end-to-end legal strategy and execution for certain partnership ecosystems and contracting programs
• Serve as one of the legal partners to our Partnerships & Alliances business team, functioning as a strategic advisor embedded in partnership planning
• Independently lead complex, multi-party negotiations involving technical integrations, revenue-sharing arrangements, joint go-to-market strategies, and strategic commitments that may implicate other Anthropic business relationships
• Architect scalable partnership frameworks, templates, and programs that enable the broader organization to execute deals efficiently while maintaining appropriate risk controls
• Provide strategic counsel on partnership structures that balances legal risk management with aggressive growth objectives
• Coordinate cross-functionally with Compute, Strategic Pursuits, Finance, and GTM teams on deals where partnership terms interact with other commercial relationships and commitments

Minimum qualifications

• JD and active membership in at least one U.S. state bar (California preferred)
• Demonstrated track record of independently leading complex, multi-stakeholder negotiations with major technology companies that resulted in successful partnership launches, including situations where Anthropic's interests must be balanced against partners and end customers simultaneously
• Experience serving as the go-to legal partner for a partnerships or business development organization; the attorney that business leaders actively want in strategy sessions
• Deep understanding of partnership economics: how deal registration works, why revenue attribution matters to partners, how to structure incentives that align interests, and what motivates a partner to prioritize one vendor over another
• Superior judgment in risk assessment and strategic tradeoffs, with the confidence to recommend which partnerships to pursue, which terms are worth fighting for, and when to walk away
• Outstanding communication skills with executive presence; you're comfortable presenting partnership strategy to senior leadership and negotiating directly with partner General Counsels
• Track record of mentoring and elevating other attorneys, whether through formal reporting relationships or informal guidance
• Genuine intellectual curiosity about AI technology and comfort with ambiguity; you thrive in environments where you're building the playbook

Preferred qualifications

• At least 8 years of relevant legal experience, with at least 4 years of substantial focus on technology partnerships, channel programs, and strategic alliances, where you've been the lawyer executing partnership strategy and driving hands-on deal negotiation
• Direct experience as commercial counsel at high-growth technology companies during scaling phases, where partnerships are central to the GTM model
• Background negotiating with and managing relationships with major hyperscalers and systems integrators
• Familiarity with complex revenue-sharing arrangements, marketplace agreements, and co-sell programs where multiple parties share economics
• Experience with emerging technology partnerships (AI/ML, cloud infrastructure, developer platforms) where legal frameworks are still evolving and you've helped define industry norms
• Prior involvement in deals where partnership terms created constraints or opportunities for other business relationships, including managing a counterparty who is simultaneously a partner, supplier, and sometimes competitor

Role-specific policy: For this role, we expect staff to be able to work from our San Francisco, Seattle, Washington D.C., or New York office at least 3 days a week, though we encourage you to apply even if you might need some flexibility for an interim period of time.