Transformative AI Research Economist, Economic Research

Details

Anthropic’s mission is to create reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. The Economic Research team builds datasets, models, and forecasting tools to reason quantitatively about AI-driven economic transformation. This role combines rigorous macroeconomic theory with computational fluency to model scenarios outside the profession's usual range and to ground those scenarios in microeconomic signals from the Anthropic Economic Index.

Responsibilities

• Build macroeconomic models of transformative AI spanning growth, labor markets, and income distribution
• Develop and maintain scenario-based forecasting tools; publish forecasts for GDP, productivity, and unemployment under a range of AI-capability trajectories
• Ground macroeconomic projections in microeconomic data from the Anthropic Economic Index, constraining theory with observed patterns of adoption and task transformation
• Analyze questions of income distribution and economic governance under transformative-AI scenarios
• Contribute to the development of AI-powered research tools for economics
• Contribute to Economic Index Reports and publish Research Briefs on first-order questions as they arise
• Build and maintain relationships with academic institutions, policy think tanks, and other research partners
• Amplify external engagement through research publications, policy briefs, and presentations to diverse stakeholders

Requirements

• PhD in Economics, or an exceptional candidate close to completion
• Background in macroeconomics, growth theory, or public finance ideally with exposure to task-based frameworks and labor economics
• A research record that engages seriously with the possibility of transformative AI
• Relevant experience in some of:
  • Macroeconomic modeling and structural estimation
  • Scenario-based and time-series forecasting
  • Task-based approaches to technological change
  • Computational methods, agent-based modeling, or large-scale simulation
  • Income distribution and inequality
  • Using large language models in the research workflow
• Technical skills including proficiency in Python, Julia, or similar for computational economics
• Facility with AI coding agents as part of a research workflow and comfort learning new technical tools and frameworks
• Demonstrated ability to lead research projects from conception to publication, ship on tight timelines, and communicate technical findings to diverse audiences
• Strong interest in ensuring AI development benefits humanity

Examples of Recent Work

• Labor market impacts of AI: A new measure and early evidence
• Anthropic Economic Index Reports (e.g., Economic Primitives; Uneven Geographic and Enterprise AI Adoption)
• Estimating AI productivity gains from Claude conversations
• The Anthropic Economic Index

Additional Information

• Annual Salary: $300,000 - $405,000 USD
• Deadline to apply: None. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis

Logistics

• Education requirements: At least a Bachelor's degree in a related field or equivalent experience (PhD preferred as noted above)
• Location-based hybrid policy: staff are expected to be in one of Anthropic's offices at least 25% of the time; some roles may require more office time
• Visa sponsorship: Anthropic states they sponsor visas and retain an immigration lawyer to assist, though not every candidate/role can be guaranteed support

How we're different

Anthropic emphasizes large-scale, collaborative AI research with impact-focused projects and frequent research discussions. The team values communication and cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Compensation & Benefits (summary)

Anthropic offers competitive compensation and benefits, optional equity donation matching, generous vacation and parental leave, flexible working hours, and office space for collaboration. Guidance on candidates' AI usage and application policies are provided on Anthropic's careers pages.