Partner 18, Talent, Speedrun

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. Speedrun is a16z’s program for very early-stage startups, where we invest in founders pushing the limits in Tech, Entertainment, & AI.

Our team offers hands-on help with product, go-to-market, growth, fundraising, and hiring. It’s early days for Speedrun, which means you’ll play a central role in building and scaling the talent infrastructure behind the program as it's being built. 

Through Speedrun, we’ve invested in over 400 startups like k-ID, Hedra, Favorited, Altera, Lil Snack, Human Computer, Nunu, Genway, and SweatPals. Our team is at the forefront of new technology, helping founders and their companies impact and change the world.

The Role

Your focus will be sourcing. You’ll help build and maintain strong candidate pipelines across our active portfolio, spanning engineering, product, design, GTM, and operations. You'll source across functions, levels, and domains to support the early hiring needs of fast-moving founders. You’ll also run searches end to end for our priority portfolio companies, from scoping the role with the founder through screening, intros, and helping close.

This is not a passive, reactive, or purely advisory role. We’re looking for someone who wants to be in the trenches, finding great people, sparking conversations, and connecting them with the right opportunities.

This role is based in San Francisco and requires regular in-office presence.

To join our team, you should be excited to:

• Build top-of-funnel pipelines for early-stage Speedrun startups across technical and non-technical roles

• Partner directly with Speedrun founders to understand hiring needs and deliver high-quality candidate leads

• Run searches end to end for priority portcos: scope the role with the founder, source, screen, intro, and help close

• Manage and nurture relationships within the Speedrun talent pool, including past candidates, potential future hires, and high-signal community members

• Maintain structured, organized systems for tracking outreach, interest, and referrals

• Collaborate closely with the broader Speedrun team (investing + other operating functions), and with a16z’s New Media talent team, who route vetted talent to Speedrun

Minimum Qualifications

• 3-5 years of experience in recruiting or sourcing roles - ideally with a mix of agency and in-house experience

• Startup DNA - you’ve either worked in or recruited for early-stage startups and understand the pace, ambiguity, and scrappiness required

• Strong sourcing skills across multiple functions, including engineering, product, and GTM - with recent / active experience working with AI tools for sourcing efforts (we’ve built a lot of our own tooling, and you’ll be in it every day)

• A sharp writer and clear communicator, especially in outbound messaging

• A high talent bar - you can quickly tell who’s actually great for a given founder / stage, and you’re comfortable saying no

• Organized, resourceful, and self-directed: you don’t wait for instructions, you build systems that scale

• Ability to prioritize and manage work and trade-offs against critical project timelines in a fast-paced, dynamic and sometimes ambiguous environment

• Exceptional communication, interpersonal, and presentation skills, with a focus on detail and executive presence

• You are an analytical thinker, using data to build a strategy

• Low ego, high empathy, and the capacity to collaborate effectively with diverse teams

The anticipated salary range for this role is between $167,000 - $195,000, 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.