Anthropic hires Orange’s AI chief Steve Jarrett to expand in Europe
The Claude maker is tripling its EMEA headcount and poaching telecom talent to crack the European and African markets
Anthropic just pulled one of Europe’s most experienced enterprise AI executives away from the continent’s largest telecom operator. Steve Jarrett, who served as Chief AI Officer at Orange Group, will join Anthropic on August 25, with a mandate to help the Claude maker deepen its footprint across Europe and Africa.
Jarrett announced the move on LinkedIn and will be based in Paris.
The expansion playbook
This isn’t Anthropic’s first move on the continent. The company opened offices in Paris and Munich back in November 2025, then added Milan in May 2026.
Jarrett was promoted to Orange’s Chief AI Officer in late 2023 and spent his tenure building out AI strategy for a company with operations spanning Europe and Africa.
Anthropic is also planning to triple its EMEA workforce, a move driven by what the company describes as rising enterprise demand for its Claude models.
What Orange loses
Orange has appointed Usman Javaid as Jarrett’s successor, effective September 1. Orange has its own ambitious AI targets, aiming to generate more than €600 million in AI-driven value by 2028.
Why this matters for the AI market
Anthropic raised $15 billion from investors in recent rounds, and a meaningful portion of that is clearly being deployed toward international growth.