The architect of Claude Code has revealed what separates a successful Anthropic applicant from the rest, and it has less to do with technical brilliance than most candidates might expect.
As artificial intelligence reshapes the global economy, few companies are as hotly pursued by job seekers as . The AI laboratory, which recently went public at a valuation of $965 billion and counts Claude among the most capable AI assistants currently available, is fielding a surge of applications for six-figure roles. But according to Boris Cherny, the engineer behind Claude Code, the qualities that actually get candidates hired may surprise those who have spent years polishing their technical credentials.
Speaking at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference, Cherny laid out three characteristics Anthropic consistently looks for, and none of them centre on raw intelligence alone.
Anthropic wants generalists, not just specialists
The first quality Cherny cited was intellectual range. rather than those who have drilled deep into a single domain.
“We like generalists, because they have context across more than just engineering,” Cherny said at the Fortune conference. “We love people that have context across engineering and design, engineering and product, data science and design.”
The preference reflects a broader reality inside fast-moving AI companies, where the boundaries between product, design and engineering are increasingly blurred and where the ability to hold multiple perspectives simultaneously is considered a genuine competitive advantage.
Why low ego is Anthropic’s most valued hiring trait
Cherny’s second criterion is where many otherwise strong candidates fall short. Anthropic, he said, prizes humility, and actively screens out those whose sense of self gets in the way of good work.
“Ego just gets in the way of stuff,” Cherny told the Fortune conference. “You want to be okay and safe shipping an idea that might turn out to be bad. It’s not your fault, it’s okay to be wrong.”
The emphasis on low ego is not unique to Anthropic. Ben Goodwin, the chief executive and co-founder of probiotic drinks brand Olipop, has spoken in similar terms. “We cannot hire people whose personal egos are ever bigger than the mission of the team,” Goodwin told CNBC in 2025.
Claire Isnard, formerly chief product and operating officer at Chanel, takes the same view when assessing candidates for the 116-year-old fashion house. “If people have big egos and want to work solo or are mercenaries doing things only for the short-term, they’re not going to fit,” Isnard told Fortune.
The surprising hiring red flag: using ‘I’ too much in interviews
Several chief executives have also begun paying close attention to the language candidates use when describing their own achievements. Wisp chief executive Monica Cepak says applicants who never use the word “we” when discussing past challenges signal an inability to function in a team environment. Twilio chief executive Khozema Shipchandler has identified the same pattern.
“I don’t really think that demonstrates leadership particularly well. What I do is easy because people are supposed to listen to me. I can bark orders and ideally they follow them,” Shipchandler told Fortune in 2025. “But the hard leadership is when you’re not in charge. How do you get people, through data, passion, charisma, persuasion, to get people to do things? I really try to test for that.”
Anthropic’s third hiring requirement: Being anchored to reality
The final quality Cherny looks for is what he calls being an empiricist, a , even when that means abandoning an idea they were personally invested in.
“The third thing is we love empiricists. So people that are learning from the data, and that are anchored to reality,” Cherny said at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference. “Like, ‘I have a brilliant idea, but then I talk to a customer and they told me that I’m wrong. I’m probably wrong.’ And, ‘I should probably throw out that idea and try something else. And that’s okay.'”
The three qualities together, generalism, humility and empiricism, paint a picture of the kind of organisation Anthropic is deliberately trying to build as it moves from a well-funded start-up into one of the most consequential technology companies of its generation.