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
You'll own US and Canada payroll operations end-to-end — hands-on in Workday, close to the details — while also managing and developing 1–2 direct reports on the US team. You'll report directly to the Head of Global Payroll and be a key leader in making sure North American payroll keeps pace with Anthropic's growth.
Strategic importance: You'll be a key contributor to our compliance initiative — our framework for managing payroll tax obligations across US & Canada. You'll also be part of the team driving AI adoption within payroll: we're actively building out how AI tools can improve reconciliation accuracy, error detection, and reporting workflows. This isn't a future initiative — it's happening now.
Responsibilities
US Payroll Operations
Own full-cycle payroll processing for all US entities — multi-state, multi-frequency, exempt and non-exempt populations
Process complex equity compensation including RSUs, ISOs, and NSOs, ensuring accurate tax withholding and timely reporting
Manage high-volume payments: bonuses, commissions, severance, and equity events
Oversee quarter-end, W-2 preparation, year-end reconciliations, and resolution of federal and state tax notices
Maintain and continuously improve Workday payroll configuration — identify automation opportunities and lead optimization initiatives
Canada Payroll Management
Oversee Canada payroll operations in partnership with our PwC Global Payroll Platform, developing expertise in CRA compliance, T4s, Records of Employment, and multi-province processing
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Partner with our international payroll team to ensure Canada stays integrated into our global compliance posture
Build out Canada payroll SOPs as the function matures
Team Leadership & Development
Manage and develop 1–2 direct reports on the US payroll team — set clear expectations, provide regular feedback, and invest in their growth
Build a team culture of accuracy, accountability, and continuous improvement
Serve as the escalation point for complex payroll issues and employee inquiries
Cross-Functional Partnership & Compliance
Partner with Corporate Accounting on payroll journal entries, accruals, and month-end close
Work closely with Tax, Benefits, People Systems, and Employment Legal to ensure data integrity and compliance
Support audit readiness and internal & systems controls
AI Adoption & Process Improvement
Champion the use of AI tools within the payroll function — identify high-value use cases for reconciliation, anomaly detection, and reporting
Lead or support process improvement projects that reduce manual effort, increase accuracy, and improve the employee payroll experience
Document processes, build SOPs, and contribute to the team's knowledge infrastructure
You may be a good fit if you have
8+ years of payroll experience, with at least 3 years in a senior or manager-level role owning US multi-state payroll end-to-end
Hold a CPP (Certified Payroll Professional) certification
Direct people management experience — you've managed at least one FTE directly, not just contractors or mentorship relationships
Strong Workday experience — payroll module preferred; HCM with direct payroll involvement and a clear path to Workday Payroll ownership is considered
Deep familiarity with equity compensation processing (RSUs, ISOs, NSOs) and the tax implications at both federal and state levels
Demonstrated ability to thrive in fast-moving, ambiguous environments — you build structure where none exists and don't wait for someone to hand you a playbook
Strong cross-functional instincts — you know how to build trust quickly, influence without authority, and communicate clearly across Finance, HR, Legal, and beyond
Strong candidates may also have
Canada payroll experience — even introductory exposure is valued; willingness to learn and grow into the function matters more than deep expertise on day one
Experimented with AI or automation tools to improve payroll workflows (reconciliation, error detection, reporting)
Been part of a Workday payroll implementation or major system migration
Worked at a company that scaled rapidly — from 500 to 2,000+ employees — and built payroll infrastructure to match
Experience in or exposure to IPO readiness, SOX compliance, or building financial controls from scratch
The annual compensation range for this role is listed below.
For sales roles, the range provided is the role’s On Target Earnings ("OTE") range, meaning that the range includes both the sales commissions/sales bonuses target and annual base salary for the role.
Annual Salary:
$230,000—$300,000 USD
Logistics
Minimum education: Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education, training, and/or experience
Required field of study: A field relevant to the role as demonstrated through coursework, training, or professional experience
Minimum years of experience: Years of experience required will correlate with the internal job level requirements for the position
Location-based hybrid policy: Currently, we expect all staff to be in one of our offices at least 25% of the time. However, some roles may require more time in our offices.
Visa sponsorship: We do sponsor visas! However, we aren't able to successfully sponsor visas for every role and every candidate. But if we make you an offer, we will make every reasonable effort to get you a visa, and we retain an immigration lawyer to help with this.
We encourage you to apply even if you do not believe you meet every single qualification. Not all strong candidates will meet every single qualification as listed. Research shows that people who identify as being from underrepresented groups are more prone to experiencing imposter syndrome and doubting the strength of their candidacy, so we urge you not to exclude yourself prematurely and to submit an application if you're interested in this work. We think AI systems like the ones we're building have enormous social and ethical implications. We think this makes representation even more important, and we strive to include a range of diverse perspectives on our team.
Your safety matters to us. To protect yourself from potential scams, remember that Anthropic recruiters only contact you from @anthropic.com email addresses. In some cases, we may partner with vetted recruiting agencies who will identify themselves as working on behalf of Anthropic. Be cautious of emails from other domains. Legitimate Anthropic recruiters will never ask for money, fees, or banking information before your first day. If you're ever unsure about a communication, don't click any links—visit anthropic.com/careers directly for confirmed position openings.
How we're different
We believe that the highest-impact AI research will be big science. At Anthropic we work as a single cohesive team on just a few large-scale research efforts. And we value impact — advancing our long-term goals of steerable, trustworthy AI — rather than work on smaller and more specific puzzles. We view AI research as an empirical science, which has as much in common with physics and biology as with traditional efforts in computer science. We're an extremely collaborative group, and we host frequent research discussions to ensure that we are pursuing the highest-impact work at any given time. As such, we greatly value communication skills.
The easiest way to understand our research directions is to read our recent research. This research continues many of the directions ou
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