Anthropic appoints David Masters as head of policy for Australia and New Zealand

At a glance

• David Masters has joined Anthropic as Head of Policy, Australia and New Zealand, a role he started in June 2026 and runs from Canberra.

• He joins from Atlassian, where he was Global Head of Public Policy from November 2020 to March 2026, and has held senior public affairs roles at Microsoft and HP across a 25-year career in technology policy.

• The hire follows Anthropic naming Theo Hourmouzis General Manager for ANZ and opening its Sydney office on 27 April 2026, and it gives the company a dedicated policy function on top of its commercial team.

• Masters has said his focus is “a real two-way conversation with State and Federal governments” on AI development and deployment.

Anthropic adds a policy lead to its Australian build-out

Anthropic has appointed David Masters as Head of Policy for Australia and New Zealand. Masters confirmed the move on 18 June, writing that he had “witnessed or played a role in public policy responses to every major technology platform shift over the last quarter of a century” and that he wanted to build “a real two-way conversation with State and Federal governments.”

The hire is the latest step in a fast Australian expansion. Anthropic named former Snowflake executive Theo Hourmouzis as General Manager for Australia and New Zealand and opened its Sydney office on 27 April 2026, the company’s fourth in Asia Pacific after Tokyo, Bengaluru and Seoul. As we set out in our analysis of Anthropic’s Sydney office and APAC hiring pattern, the local team is being built to serve enterprise, government and research customers, including Commonwealth Bank, Quantium, the Australian National University and the Garvan Institute of Medical Research.

What the hire adds to Anthropic’s Australian team

Anthropic is building out its local team across three functions in quick succession: commercial, infrastructure and now government affairs. The Sydney office and the appointment of Theo Hourmouzis as General Manager gave it a commercial base and a regional strategy lead. On the infrastructure side, its Sydney data centre roster has doubled to six roles, including an Australian energy lead briefed to secure multi-hundred megawatt power. The policy role adds a standing government-engagement function based in Canberra, kept separate from the sales team.

Source: Certified Strategic Editorial, Anthropic announcements and primary disclosures, June 2026.

Why a dedicated policy hire, and why now

The timing tracks Anthropic’s commitments. The company signed a memorandum of understanding with the Australian Government under the National AI Plan, covering responsible AI development, AI safety collaboration and economic growth. We covered the terms and the operator implications in our analysis of the Anthropic Australia MoU. An MoU with a government creates ongoing obligations and points of contact, and those need an owner who knows how Canberra and the states work.

Masters’ background fits that brief. He has worked with the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Austrade and Investment NSW, and he chairs a body named in the National AI Plan. Anthropic competes on safety and discipline rather than on price or scale, which means its policy lead has to convert that positioning into regulatory credibility and government trust. A government-adviser-turned-enterprise-policy-chief is a closer match to that task than a pure lobbyist.

Anthropic’s likely policy priorities in Australia

Anthropic’s Australian agenda is already visible in what it has committed to and how it sells. The MoU covers responsible AI development, AI safety collaboration and economic growth, and Hourmouzis has framed the local pitch around customers who “take safety and rigor as seriously as they take the opportunity.” A policy function exists to protect and advance that positioning in Canberra and the state capitals.

Three priorities follow from it. Sovereignty and data residency, because government and regulated buyers need assurance about where models run and where data sits. Government adoption, because the public sector is both a large potential customer and the body that writes procurement rules. And skills, because Australia’s AI workforce shortage constrains every deployment. Masters’ recent commentary tracks the same ground: he has questioned the competing definitions of AI sovereignty and pointed to the future of work and public-service delivery as where AI policy is shifting from abstract debate to concrete impact.

What it means for data centre and AI infrastructure

The pace of the Australian build-out is set by decisions on grid connection, planning approvals, sovereign certification and government procurement. Anthropic is also a source of demand: it has been reported to be courting Australian developers for a large-scale facility and has briefed a Sydney energy lead to secure multi-hundred megawatt power, so its government engagement and its infrastructure search advance together.

What to watch

Three markers will show how the role develops. First, Anthropic’s submissions and appearances in live Australian processes, including the National AI Plan delivery and any state data centre consultations. Second, how the company’s MoU commitments on renewable energy and safety translate into named partnerships with Australian operators. Third, whether Anthropic moves from hiring and lobbying to announcing actual Australian data centre capacity, the point at which its government push becomes real demand for local operators.