Partner 18, IT Engineer, San Francisco/Menlo Park

Founded in Silicon Valley in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, Andreessen Horowitz (aka a16z) is a venture capital firm that backs bold entrepreneurs building the future through technology. We are stage agnostic, investing in seed to venture to growth-stage technology companies across AI, bio + healthcare, consumer, crypto, enterprise, fintech, games, and companies building toward American dynamism. a16z has $100B+ under management across multiple funds.

About the role

As an IT Engineer, you will architect, build, and operate the systems, infrastructure, and platforms that power the firm. Based in our San Francisco or Menlo Park office, you will serve as an escalation point for complex technical issues, spending the majority of your time on engineering initiatives, infrastructure projects, and security programs that strengthen the firm's technology foundation. The ideal candidate brings a builder's mindset — passionate about designing reliable, automated, and secure systems. This role requires an in-office presence 4 days a week, with flexibility between our San Francisco, CA and Menlo Park, CA offices, with occasional travel to either location as needed.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, maintain, and secure all IT systems and the entire SaaS software stack in our environment
• Lead IT projects, coordinating cross-functional and distributed teams and ensuring timely and successful delivery
• Uphold, enforce, and improve the firm's IT security posture through diligent and rigorous planning and execution of all IT activities
• Build and scale IT automations using workflow builder tools, scripting, and APIs — proactively eliminating manual toil and improving operational leverage across the firm
• Architect and evolve the firm's endpoint management, identity, and access control platforms (e.g. Jamf/Kandji, Okta, Intune)
• Manage vendor relationships for support and staying abreast of latest developments
• Author and publish high-quality documentation and knowledge base articles that serve IT peers and end users
• Serve as the technical escalation point for complex issues across the organization, including for Executive Suite stakeholders
• Provide expert technical guidance and elevated support when high-stakes or executive-level situations call for it
• Build and cultivate long-term relationships
• Manage competing priorities across long-horizon engineering projects and day-to-day technical needs, staying agile without losing sight of strategic goals
• Continuously learn new technologies, explore emerging workflows, and deepen your engineering capabilities

Requirements

• 6+ years experience in systems, networking, or security engineering, or IT infrastructure and platform engineering roles with demonstrated track record of excellence and increasing responsibilities
• Growth mindset, tech-native, resourceful, optimistic, and proactive attitude; self-directed with high ownership and a drive to improve systems and processes
• Strong general troubleshooting skills to diagnose, identify, and resolve technical issues
• Critical thinking mindset to analyze complex, multi-dimensional problems and navigate towards a proposed solution
• Exceptional communication skills, both verbal and written
• Ability to work effectively within the most senior levels of the organization
• Aptness to prioritize and execute tasks in a high-pressure environment
• Strong MacOS and Windows skills are required
• Strong iOS skills are required; Android skills are preferred
• Experience with administering a wide breadth of SaaS tools is required (e.g. Okta, JAMF, Google Workspace, etc.)
• Experience with client platform engineering is required (e.g. Jamf, Kandji, Intune, etc.)
• Experience with cloud infrastructure platforms is preferred (e.g. AWS, GCP, Azure)
• Experience with networking concepts and protocols is preferred (e.g. switching, routing, DHCP, DNS, RADIUS, etc.)
• Experience working with Zoom, Zoom Rooms, and integrated Audio/Visual systems is preferred
• Low ego, high empathy, and the capacity to collaborate effectively with diverse teams

Pay

The anticipated salary range for this role is between $189,000 - $221,000. Actual starting pay may vary based on a range of factors which can include experience, skills, and scope.

Benefits

• Eligibility to participate in the a16z carry program and various discretionary bonus programs
• Health, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance
• 401K plan
• Vacation and sick leave