CAREERS

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, crypto, enterprise, fintech, games, and companies building toward American dynamism. a16z has $46B in assets 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 Affirm, Airbnb, Coinbase, Databricks, Devoted Health, Insitro, Figma, GitHub, Instacart, OpenSea, Roblox, Stripe, and Substack. Our team is at the forefront of new technology, helping founders and their companies impact and change the world.

Applied Software Group at a16z

The Applied Software Group (ASG) operates in the mode of an internal startup within a16z. We believe the future is built founder-first, and we ship novel products and experiences to enable that future. This means building systems that help find and connect the entrepreneurs, investors, executives, engineers, academics, industry experts, and others in the technology ecosystem that build the world’s most enduring companies. We own an exceptionally tight feedback loop with our users, and take on requests from all corners of the firm. We leverage state of the art language and multi-modal models, web-scale datasets, and the power of development speed to ship software that helps evaluate and win investment opportunities that generate industry-leading returns for our investors while supporting our legendary founders in building the future.

The Role

As our second product designer, you will join a team of highly autonomous, senior ICs developing software capabilities for the firm’s investing and operating functions, as well as external-facing products for the firm’s partners, portfolio, and investors. You will architect powerful tools that drive a16z’s investment opportunity discovery and diligence. You’ll also design network building, process management, and AI-powered products that support this overarching mission.

As a critical member of ASG, you’ll work closely with a tight-knit group of engineers in a fast paced, startup-like environment with a high speed of iteration. You must be comfortable driving multiple projects at a time and building for a range of user personas. You should be a high-horsepower, detail-oriented, and product-focused designer with an obsession for crafting elegant, frictionless interfaces and workflows.

You will have a significant impact on not only our software, but the culture of design & technology at the firm itself. You will also represent our team’s work across the organization, and be responsible for driving white-glove user research, engagement, and product marketing. This is a high-consequence, fast-moving role that requires a clear design understanding, the propensity to implement, a mindset of shipping quickly, and the ability to educate our team and firm on the impact of design choices we make.

If you are passionate about designing technology that creates a meaningful shift in how relationships are formed, capital is allocated, and enduring technology companies are built, this is the role for you.

This role requires an in-office presence 2-3 days a week in our San Francisco, CA office.

To join our team, you should be excited to:

• Build, move fast & learn. We ship new and unique technology quickly and often
• Distill ambiguous problems and highly nuanced workflows into intuitive solutions
• Design in the 0-1 phase of the product development lifecycle, as well as the 1-10 iterative phase
• Own each step in the design process, from conception and research to implementation, all the way through deployment, maintenance, and future iterations
• Prototype concepts in Figma or other tools to communicate interactions, animations, and your design vision
• Contribute to our design system, bringing the conviction of your own design language to bear on our products
• Collaborate and bring positive energy to each interaction with our team and cross functional partners
• Communicate holistically & systematically about how our user experience will achieve desired quantitative and narrative goals
• Create some of the most impactful products of your life, and in the investment and technology industry at large

Minimum Qualifications

• 3+ years in product design, in mid-level IC roles, building elegant, narrative, and consequential experiences for high-IQ users. Strong candidates are likely to have a background in enterprise software that drives high-stakes decision making or other environments with analytical rigor
• Proven history of rapid shipping and iteration at a startup or fast paced environment, owning the end-to-end design process without the support of a large design org
• Fluency in Figma and a passion for building detailed, scalable components
• Willingness to context switch and design across many surfaces simultaneously
• High EQ: Strong customer empathy; you think critically about how our features impact our users, firm, investors, and community
• High IQ: Able to autonomously create novel approaches to complex, unsolved problems and communicate them effectively to non-technical audiences
• Experience building consumer or mobile products is a major plus
• Working knowledge of the latest AI design tools, web technologies & front-end architectures
• Ability to operate like a PM, demonstrating first principles thinking and sound judgement to refine roadmaps, requirements & designs
• An open, collaborative, I-win-when-the-team-wins approach to problem-solving
• Confidence to operate under ambiguous and fast-moving problem spaces, often cross-functionally
• Low ego, high empathy, and the capacity to collaborate effectively with diverse teams

The anticipated salary range for this role is between $269,000 - $314,000, 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.