Competition for top AI talent, already heating up in the US, is now crossing the Atlantic, with Anthropic offering salaries that local rivals may struggle to match.
Of the seven AI research and engineering roles in London listed on Anthropic’s website, six seek senior talent, with annual salaries ranging from £225,000 to £340,000 ($303,000 to $458,000).
Elsewhere in Europe, the fast-growing San Francisco-based startup is also hiring in Dublin, Ireland. It is looking for an AI engineer with a salary of up to €355,000 ($412,000).
In Zurich, Switzerland, the company is hiring an AI research engineer, but the salary for that position is undisclosed.
The salaries offered in Europe match some of those Anthropic advertises for similar roles in cities like San Francisco and New York, but may go further when adjusted for cost of living.
They are also far higher than what home-grown rivals offer, according to Sifted, which first reported on Anthropic’s “hiring spree” in Europe, where similar roles pay between $121,000 and $269,000.
“Anthropic’s move is a clear sign that the AI talent race has arrived in Europe,” said Roman Eloshvili, founder of a UK-based AI startup ComplyControl.
While the gap “isn’t completely unbridgeable,” according to Eloshvili, local companies will have to rely on other strengths, such as a strong mission sense and flexible work culture, to compete with American salary levels.
US push in Europe
Anthropic follows a number of other US-based AI companies in expanding its presence in Europe, where top talent can still be hired for “a fraction of the cost” of what they would pay in Silicon Valley, according to Sifted.
But the fight for talent is set to intensify, as European AI startups continue to raise record sums, according to the publication’s data, reaching €4.4 billion ($5.11 billion) in funding so far this year.
Meanwhile, French AI company Mistral – described as Europe’s main hope in the AI race – targets $10 billion valuation in a new fundraising push that may create even more AI jobs, which Europe already struggles to fill.
OpenAI opened its latest European office in Munich, Germany, in May, adding to its locations in London, Dublin, Paris, and Brussels, while Microsoft announced it would open an AI hub in the British capital.
Culture over cash
While an AI hiring frenzy among tech giants like Meta and OpenAI grabs headlines, Anthropic, which makes Claude models, is outmaneuvering its bigger rivals in terms of retaining the top talent it hires.
Recent research from venture film SignalFire showed that the $170 billion startup is hiring engineers 2.68 times faster than it’s losing them, according to The Wall Street Journal. In comparison, the number is 2.18 for OpenAI, 2.07 for Meta, and 1.17 for Google.
This comes as Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says the company will not join the big tech talent bidding war, warning that massive salary changes could “destroy” the firm’s culture by treating people “unfairly.”
"If Mark Zuckerberg throws a dart at a dartboard and hits your name, that doesn't mean you should be paid 10 times more than the guy next to you who's just as skilled," he told the Big Technology Podcast in July.
According to Amodei, Anthropic employees have rejected outside offers, and some “wouldn’t even talk” to Zuckerberg.
In that sense, Anthropic’s approach, with a focus on employee motivation that goes beyond the financial, is a hopeful sign for European AI companies competing with far deeper-pocketed American rivals.
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