Partner 20, Design Systems Lead

About this role

<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">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 <a href="https://a16z.com/news-content">building the future</a> through technology. We are <a href="https://a16z.com/portfolio">stage agnostic</a>. We invest in seed to venture to <a href="https://a16z.com/growth/">growth-stage technology</a> companies, across <a href="https://a16z.com/ai/">AI</a>, <a href="https://a16z.com/bio-health/">bio + healthcare</a>, <a href="https://a16z.com/consumer/">consumer</a>, <a href="https://a16zcrypto.com/">crypto</a>, <a href="https://a16z.com/enterprise/">enterprise</a>, <a href="https://a16z.com/fintech/">fintech</a>, <a href="https://a16z.com/games">games</a>, and companies building toward <a href="https://a16z.com/american-dynamism/">American dynamism</a>. a16z has $100B+ under management across multiple funds.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">We’ve established a team that <a href="https://a16z.com/about/">is defined by</a> 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 <a href="https://a16z.com/portfolio/">companies</a> 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.</span></p> <h2><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Design at a16z</span></h2> <p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Most design orgs are built to execute. A request comes in, a designer makes the thing, and it goes out the door. That model works (until the volume of requests outpaces the size of the team), and suddenly design becomes a bottleneck instead of a multiplier.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">We're building something different. The future of design at a16z isn't a bigger team cranking out more assets: it's a design function that scales through systems. Templates, tools, AI-powered workflows, and self-serve infrastructure that let anyone at the firm create high-quality, on-brand work without routing every request through a designer. AI makes this possible in ways it wasn't before. But only if someone builds the design systems  right, which means deeply understanding our brand, not just the tools.</span><br><br><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">We have an existing foundation: brand guidelines, component libraries, AI skills and apps, and other templates across our core use cases—and we're looking for someone to take that foundation and continue to build it into something the whole firm can run on.</span></p> <h2><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">The Role</span></h2> <p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">We're hiring a Design Systems Lead to own and evolve that infrastructure. This is a clear ownership role: you're the person accountable for the quality, consistency, and reach of our design systems, and for what gets built next.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">The work itself is equal parts brand design and systems building: half deep, intuitive command of the a16z visual language, half thinking in components, workflows, and repeatable outputs. You'll translate our brand into component libraries, AI skills, AI-powered tools, and self-serve templates the whole firm can use. That means writing clean markdown files, building high-functioning AI skills from scratch, and vibe-coding lightweight apps purpose-built for design use cases. What you're building is the invisible design framework for the firm. The work it produces shouldn't be. </span></p> <p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">We are open to candidates based in the San Francisco Bay Area, CA or New York City, NY. </span></p> <h2><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">To join our team, you should be excited to: </span></h2> <ul> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Take clear ownership of the a16z design systems function: setting the direction, maintaining the standards, and being accountable for what gets built and how well it works</span></li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Translate a16z brand systems into scalable templates, components, and modular frameworks across Krea, Figma, Google Workspace, Claude, Codex, Gamma, and many other core platforms with enough command of the brand to make those systems feel designed, not just functional</span></li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"><span style="font-family: 'times new…