How to apply for Staff / Senior Physical Security Systems Engineer

About Anthropic

Anthropic is a frontier AI research and product company working on alignment, policy, and security. The company posts specific high-impact opportunities and is explicit about the ethical concerns of working at a frontier AI lab, which it links to in its own job posts.

About the role

This role sits in Data Center Security Engineering (DCSE) and covers how Anthropic's data centers are designed and built to be secure. You write performance requirements and verification methods for physical security controls, review site designs from design firms and integrators, test installed systems in the field, and own Anthropic's physical security reference design package.

A typical day

You might review a design firm's drawings against Anthropic's performance requirements and return redlines, then travel to a site to test that installed intrusion detection, video, and barrier systems perform as specified. You may also update the reference design package, including typical details, schedules, and test procedures. Note: the job post does not describe a daily routine, so ask about travel expectations and review cadence in interviews.

Who Anthropic is looking for

• Has specified and reviewed physical security systems for data centers or similar critical facilities: perimeter and vehicle barriers, intrusion detection, video, security lighting, and site penetrations/utility entry points.
• Can write performance requirements and verification methods for each control, not just select products or review drawings.
• Has field experience testing that installed systems perform as specified, and re-verifying post-acceptance changes.
• Is comfortable reviewing design firm and integrator drawings at each stage and returning redlines a design team can act on.

Tips for this application

• Lead with concrete examples of physical security systems you specified and verified for data centers or critical facilities, naming the control types (barriers, intrusion detection, video, lighting, penetrations).
• Show how you write performance requirements and verification methods. Include a short example of a requirement and how you tested it in the field.
• Name the design firms and integrators you have worked with and describe your role in reviewing their drawings and issuing redlines.
• Describe your experience owning or maintaining a reference design package: typical details, reference drawings, schedules, and test procedures.
• Read the 80,000 Hours career review on working at an AI lab, which Anthropic links in its own post, and address the ethical question directly if you choose to apply.

What to cover in your cover letter

State your experience specifying and verifying physical security systems for data centers or critical facilities. Give one example of a performance requirement you wrote and the field test that verified it. Explain your approach to reviewing design firm and integrator drawings and producing actionable redlines. Describe any reference design package you have owned or maintained, including typical details, schedules, and test procedures.

Research before applying

• Read Anthropic's mission statement and its published work on alignment, policy, and security.
• Read the 80,000 Hours career review on working at an AI lab, which Anthropic links in its job post.
• Read the full job description for the Data Center Security Engineering (DCSE) team and the reference design package responsibilities.
• Check what Anthropic has published about its data center footprint and how sites are designed and built with partners.

Likely interview topics

Based on the job description, expect questions about:

• How you write a performance requirement for a physical security control and the verification method that proves it was met.
• How you review a design firm's drawings at each stage and what your redlines typically cover.
• How you test in the field that installed perimeter, intrusion detection, video, and lighting systems perform as specified.
• How you handle post-acceptance changes and re-verify the affected controls.
• How you treat site penetrations and utility entry points that bypass perimeter controls.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Applying with only IT or cybersecurity experience and no physical security systems design, specification, or field verification work.
• Describing security work only in terms of products selected, without showing performance requirements and verification methods.
• Ignoring the ethical concerns Anthropic itself raises about working at a frontier AI lab when writing your application.