Head of Policy & Community Affairs
Crux AI · Palo Alto · hybrid
Built to set the gold standard for integrated AI infrastructure
Crux AI is a newly formed, U.S.-based integrated AI infrastructure company created to remove the physical and operational constraints on consequential AI ambitions. Crux brings together power, high-density data centers, TPU silicon, networking, orchestration software, and ongoing operations as one integrated system.
Crux is being capitalized to plan every layer together, develop each one to demanding standards, and operate the whole system with efficiency and reliability. That gives hyperscalers, frontier AI labs, sovereign customers, enterprises, and AI-native companies greater freedom to pursue the AI they are here to create.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
You will own Crux's relationships with the governments, communities, and public audiences that decide where and how fast Crux can build. Data centers today earn their permits, tax agreements, and utility approvals in rooms full of neighbors, county commissioners, and school boards, and increasingly in state legislatures, public utility commissions, and the press, and schedule risk concentrates there. Your job is to make Crux the developer that communities and governments say yes to, and to keep that yes durable through a multi-year build. You will build this function from zero: the government affairs strategy, the community engagement playbook, the community investment program, the corporate communications rhythm, and the relationships at every level of government and at every site in the pipeline. The role works hand-in-hand with site selection, entitlements, energy, construction, operations, and executive leadership.
In this role, you will:
- Lead Crux's government affairs strategy at the local, state, and federal levels: build relationships with elected officials, agency and regulatory staff, and economic development agencies, and track and shape the policy issues that affect data center development, including energy and interconnection, water, tax incentives, and permitting.
- Build and maintain relationships with the stakeholders who decide our projects' fate, including county and municipal officials, planning and zoning staff, utilities, school districts, business organizations, and community non-profits, in every market Crux enters.
- Serve as Crux's external affairs lead and spokesperson, representing the company with policymakers, trade associations, industry coalitions, and the media, and advise executive leadership on emerging political, regulatory, and reputational issues.
- Own the company-level communications narrative and manage the PR agency relationship: set priorities, direct agency work, and coordinate closely with executive leadership, legal, and Blackstone/Google partner teams on major company updates such as financings, partnerships, site announcements, and leadership news, so that Crux speaks with one consistent voice.
- Support site selection and entitlements as the community diligence lead: assess local sentiment, political dynamics, and opposition risk before we commit to a site, and prepare the engagement strategy, public materials, and testimony that carry rezonings, permits, and incentive agreements through public hearings.
- Treat community and government approvals as the external dependencies they are: track hearings, comment periods, and approval milestones against the project schedule with owners and mitigation plans, and give the development team early signal when local or policy risk threatens a date.
- Design and run Crux's community investment program, including local grants, workforce and trades partnerships, and STEM and school initiatives, as locally tailored plans built from real community needs assessments.
- Build and sustain partnerships with the construction trades: engage building trades councils, local unions, contractors, and apprenticeship programs early on labor availability, project labor agreements, and local-hire and workforce commitments, and keep those relationships productive through construction peaks and into operations.
- Own local communications: the project narrative for each site (jobs, tax base, and water and power facts stated honestly), community meetings and open houses, local media relationships, and rapid, truthful response when construction impacts or misinformation create friction.
- Manage community commitments through delivery: what we promised in the development agreement or CBA, who owns each commitment, and the reporting that proves we kept it, from construction traffic, noise, and workforce peaks into steady-state operations.
- Write the playbook: engagement templates, hearing-prep kits, community risk assessments, issue-response protocols, and investment program standards that every future Crux site inherits.
SIGNALS OF SUCCESS
- After 60 days in role: Community risk assessment completed for every active site and pipeline market; key local relationships opened in priority markets; a map of state and federal policy priorities and key stakeholders drafted; PR agency scope, cadence, and approval workflow agreed with leadership; engagement playbook and hearing-prep framework drafted; community milestones integrated into the development schedule alongside permitting and interconnection.
- 6 months: First public approvals carried with community support on the record; community investment program designed and launched in the first market; commitments register live with owners and dates; a government affairs plan in motion with active relationships at the state level in priority markets; at least one major company announcement delivered through a coordinated agency and internal process; local officials and media in active markets know and trust their Crux contact.
- 1 year: No projected date lost to preventable community opposition; measurable local goodwill in operating markets (renewed incentives, supportive testimony, expansion optionality); Crux recognized by policymakers and industry peers as a credible, proactive voice; the engagement playbook and communications protocols adopted as standard for every new site entering the pipeline.
EXPERIENCES, ATTRIBUTES AND MINDSET THAT INDICATE A GOOD MATCH
Experiences
- 7+ years in public affairs, government relations, community engagement, or economic development for large infrastructure or industrial projects. You have stood at the podium in a contested public hearing and carried the room, not just drafted the talking points.
- Track record of building trust with elected officials, regulators, municipal leaders, non-profits, school districts, and residents across multiple markets simultaneously, including designing community investment or CSR programs with real budgets and measured outcomes.
- Experience leading external or corporate communications, including managing PR agencies and coordinating announcements, media strategy, and issues response with senior executives.
- Working fluency in the development and policy process (zoning and entitlements, development agreements, tax incentive structures, environmental review, energy and utility regulation), enough to negotiate credibly alongside legal and site selection and to answer a commissioner's or legislator's power and water questions with facts.
Attributes
- Outcome driven and hands-on. This is a builder's seat, not a supervisory one. You drive to the county seat, sit in the diner with the commissioner, attend the evening planning meeting yourself, and write the testimony, while also being comfortable in the statehouse and the boardroom.
- Honest broker in both directions. You tell communities and policymakers the truth about water, power, jobs, and noise, and you tell Crux the truth when a concern is legitimate and the project needs to change. Credibility is the asset; you never spend it on spin.
Mindset
- High tolerance for ambiguity. You will engage communities before sites are public, manage what cannot yet be said,