Head of Travel & Expense

Anthropic•San Francisco, CA

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

As Head of Travel & Expense, you will be the single owner of everything T&E at Anthropic: employee, guest and executive travel policy, private charter strategy, our Navan and Brex platforms, preferred hotel and airfare programs, duty-of-care (in partnership with Security), and Board-level reporting on executive expenses. You will report to the Head of Finance Operations and lead an initial team of two, with a mandate to build a best-in-class program. This is a rare opportunity to come in as a true builder—inheriting solid operational foundations and a Claude-first culture pioneering AI-powered automation across Finance—and architect a T&E program worthy of a company shaping the future of AI.

Requirements

12+ years of T&E / corporate travel experience at a high-growth technology company, including 7+ years in a leadership or program ownership role with direct reports
Demonstrated track record of cost savings: material, quantified outcomes from hotel RFPs, airline corporate agreements, and travel supplier negotiations
Deep platform expertise in Navan and/or comparable TMC platforms, plus Brex or equivalent expense management tools
Executive travel program ownership
Strong cross-functional instincts: proven ability to partner across Security, Legal, HR, Finance, and C-suite executive teams and their supporting staff
Duty-of-care and international compliance: background in travel risk management frameworks and T&E compliance across global entities (EMEA, APAC, LATAM)
AI-curious builder mindset: experience deploying AI tools to automate T&E processes, or genuine enthusiasm for doing so—and comfort creating structure where none exists
We require at least a Bachelor's degree in a related field or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

Design and own Anthropic's multi-year T&E strategy, evolving the function from operationally sound to best-in-class across policy, cost management, employee experience, and compliance
Build and maintain a comprehensive global T&E policy framework—employee, executive, and international—embedding controls directly in systems to drive compliance at the point of booking
Lead a cross-functional T&E governance structure with Finance, Security, Legal, HR, and Executive Assistants
Design and enforce jurisdiction-specific T&E policy frameworks for international entities (EMEA, APAC), incorporating local per diem regulations, VAT reclaim eligibility, and country-level receipt/documentation requirements
Own the corporate travel supplier program, driving material savings through hotel RFPs, airline corporate agreements, and preferred rate programs
Manage strategic relationships with our T&E travel and expense systems, serving as the primary business contact for contract negotiations, product roadmap discussions, and AI feature development
Track and report savings performance to Finance leadership and executives
Serve as the subject matter expert for all executive travel needs, vendor selection, and utilization governance
Partner with Legal and Finance on executive travel tax implications, business purpose documentation, and audit-ready recordkeeping
Own and optimize Anthropic's T&E-related systems and platforms: configuration, policy rules, approval workflows, virtual cards, and ERP integrations
Champion AI-powered automation across T&E—deploying Claude to audit transactions, flag policy exceptions, and automate reporting—consistent with Anthropic's Claude-first culture