Contracts Manager, APAC

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 seeking a Contracts Manager to join our team in Sydney, Australia as one of the founding members of our Commercial Legal team in the region. Embedded within our in-region commercial and legal operations, you'll work closely with local in-region counsel and lead counsel to support commercial and technology transactions across the region. We'll rely on you to help review, draft, and negotiate commercial and procurement contracts that support our cutting-edge AI systems. You'll also serve as a key partner in translating global legal strategy into regional execution, including supporting the triage of regional matters, rolling out process improvements and initiatives driven from global headquarters, and running local enablement sessions to keep business teams informed and aligned. As one of our first commercial legal hires in Australia, you'll help establish how we build and scale the contracting function across ANZ and the wider APAC region, building scalable processes and collaborating across Product, Sales, Finance, Business Operations, Research, and Procurement teams. Key responsibilities - Draft, analyse, negotiate, and complete complex commercial transactions with our enterprise customers, vendors, and strategic partners, including IP licensing agreements - Propose and develop scalable solutions to improve contracting efficiency - Collaborate with business units and legal team members to streamline contract management processes, identify potential risks, and drive continuous improvement in contract handling efficiency - Work cross-functionally with the Product, Sales, Business Operations, Research, and Procurement teams to achieve key business objectives and deliver strategic, business-minded and creative solutions - Partner closely with in-region counsel and lead counsel on day-to-day triage of regional legal matters, ensuring workload is prioritised effectively and seamlessly coordinated between regional and global teams - Drive the regional rollout of process improvements, policy updates, and programmes initiated from global headquarters, including planning and facilitating local enablement sessions to keep commercial and cross-functional stakeholders informed and ready to execute - Pitch in across other areas of the legal function. As a small team supporting big things, each of us practises across multiple areas, and we'd love to hear where else your experience or interests could contribute Minimum qualifications - Substantive knowledge of software and SaaS agreements, reseller agreements, services agreements, strategic partnerships, and general commercial contract terms - Ability to independently draft, review, and negotiate complex commercial and procurement contracts - Experience managing the full contract lifecycle for technology transactions, sales organisations, and/or partnerships Preferred qualifications - At least 8+ years of related contract management experience, with at least 5 years supporting technology transactions, sales organisations, and/or partnerships - Experience operating in a fast-paced technology startup where priorities shift rapidly and timelines often compress unexpectedly - Prior experience as part of a global or distributed legal team, including partnering with colleagues across regions and navigating the nuances of aligning local needs with centralised priorities - A track record of operating with a high degree of autonomy while keeping global stakeholders appropriately informed, comfortable setting your own cadence and exercising sound judgment about when to escalate versus when to decide - Experience with contract lifecycle management platforms (e.g., Ironclad) for contract drafting, workflow automation, and reporting - Strong habits around async communication, proactive status updates, and operating effectively with a remote manager across time zones - An understanding of what's important in the context of a contract and the organisation's mission, including when to be flexible and when to draw a hard line - A knack for identifying and implementing efficient processes and policies - A preference for straightforward, concise explanations over legalese and overwrought drafting - Comfort operating outside your areas of expertise and in uncharted legal territory - The ability to thrive as a member of cross-functional teams building frontier technologies, with a desire to develop a deep understanding of our technical teams and what we are building - Excellent verbal and written communication, analytical, collaboration, and interpersonal skills - Authentic i