Partner 18, IT Engineer, AI & Innovation Enablement, 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. We invest in seed to venture to growth-stage technology companies, across AI, bio + healthcare, consumer, enterprise, fintech, frontier, games, and companies building toward American dynamism. a16z has $100B+ under management across multiple funds.

We’ve established a team that is defined by respect for the entrepreneur and the company-building process; we know what it’s like to be in the founder’s shoes. We’ve invested in companies like Anduril, Airbnb, Coinbase, Cursor, Databricks, Deel, Figma, GitHub, Roblox, SpaceX, and Stripe. Our team is at the forefront of new technology, helping founders and their companies impact and change the world.

The Role

We’re hiring an IT Engineer, AI & Innovation Enablement to help teams across a16z put AI to work. You’ve made AI a core part of how you work, and you’re driven to help others experience the same transformation. You’re fired up to test new AI products and feature releases to discover what’s valuable, uncover the sharp edges, and help the firm safely adopt frontier capabilities. You combine IT engineering experience with a drive to help colleagues improve workflows, build useful tools, and achieve tangible results through the adoption of AI.

This is a hands-on role within IT Systems that balances both engineering and enablement activities. A typical day might include testing the latest AI model release, setting up SSO/SCIM for the newest AI app deployment, consulting with power users on AI build use cases, or leading an AI workshop for a business unit.

You drive initiatives independently with an ownership mindset, adapt to the needs of the business, and see plans through from discovery to adoption. You will act as a representative of IT with strong communication skills, presence, and polish.

This role requires an in-office presence 3 days a week in either our San Francisco, CA or Menlo Park, CA office.

To join our team, you should be excited to:

• Co-own the firm’s AI platforms, such as ChatGPT/Codex, Claude, Cursor, and Grok. Manage enterprise admin settings, access, provisioning, licenses, API keys, spending limits, and feature rollouts

• Lead workshops, hackathons, and guided build sessions. Develop practical guides and an AI Champions network that helps colleagues learn, share ideas, and support their teams

• Build and share enablement materials such as reusable skills, plugins, AI workflows and training materials that help colleagues put AI to work in productive and creative ways

• Evaluate frontier AI products and features, stay current with vendor roadmaps, and test promising capabilities. Develop perspectives on what to adopt, expand, improve, or discontinue

• Identify opportunities to improve IT workflows through AI, automation, or simpler process changes

• Partner on AI initiatives with business stakeholders to align on technical requirements, strategize deployment, communicate progress and tradeoffs, and deliver secure, compliant solutions

• Build business intelligence visibility that shows adoption, usage, spending, and outcomes. Use those findings to assess return on investment, control costs, and recommend where to invest next

• Create and maintain platform documentation, operating procedures, and deployment playbooks that the team can follow to onboard and deploy new AI apps at scale

• Manage AI vendor relationships, licensing, and contracts

Minimum Qualifications

• 6+ years experience in IT systems, security, IT infrastructure and platform engineering roles

• Optimism and enthusiasm for the future of AI and what it makes possible, paired with the desire and ability to teach, share knowledge, and help colleagues across IT and the firm put it to work

• A power user of AI tools such as ChatGPT/Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, and Wispr Flow, with a drive to reshape how IT functions

• Ability to apply engineering rigor to evaluating and testing new AI tools and features, assessing their value and risks, and planning deployment

• Ability to explain technical concepts clearly and teach audiences with different levels of technical experience

• Ability to build and deploy automations, integrations, or internal applications using AI coding, APIs, scripting, and workflow tools, with working knowledge of cloud infrastructure

• Low ego, high empathy: you listen to different perspectives, question your assumptions, and use evidence to find the best solutions

• High agency: you take initiative, manage priorities, navigate ambiguity, collaborate effectively, and proactively communicate progress, risks, and blockers

• Sound judgment about managing sensitive data, access controls, API credentials, and third-party integrations

• Ability to analyze usage, cost, and outcome data and translate findings into practical recommendations to improve AI usage and efficiency

• Strong communication skills: clear writing and polished public speaker and presenter

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.

This role is eligible to participate in the a16z carry program and various discretionary bonus programs as well as benefit and perquisite plans including health, dental, vision, disability, life insurance, 401K plan, vacation, and sick leave.