IT Support Engineer

Screendesk; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 265,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity option

Generous vacation & parental leave

Flexible working hours

Job summary

Anthropic is seeking an expert IT Support Specialist to join our Helpdesk, tackling highly technical challenges for AI researchers and engineers. You’ll diagnose complex authentication, IAM, and device management issues, while guiding strategic system improvements and automation.

The role emphasizes systems thinking, security considerations, and mentoring junior staff. The position is based in the SF Bay Area with onsite work 4-5 days per week and offers a competitive base salary plus equity and

Qualifications

• 7+ years supporting technical teams in AI/ML, cloud, or research environments.
• Experience with remote dev environments.
• Background in scripting (Python, Bash) for automation and tool creation.
• Familiarity with containerization (Docker, Kubernetes) and CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience supporting teams working with sensitive or classified data.
• Understanding of compliance frameworks (SOC2, ISO 27001).

Responsibilities

• Diagnose and resolve complex issues across Google Workspace, IAM, SSO, and authentication systems.
• Navigate GCP IAM permissions to trace and fix access issues, understanding the full authentication chain.
• Troubleshoot intricate MDM configurations and device management problems.
• Support AI researchers and engineers with highly technical, often novel computing challenges.
• Handle escalations that require deep understanding of system interdependencies.
• Translate between highly technical problems and practical solutions.
• Partner with engineering teams to understand and support complex infrastructure.
• Mentor other IT team members on advanced troubleshooting methodologies.

Skills

Python

Bash

Docker

Kubernetes

CI/CD

Google Workspace

GCP IAM

SSO

Security & Compliance

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

Jamf

Intune

GCP

AWS/Azure basics

Job description

Anthropic’s mission is to create reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. We want AI to be safe and beneficial for our users and for society as a whole. Our team is a quickly growing group of committed researchers, engineers, policy experts, and business leaders working together to build beneficial AI systems.

About the role:

We are seeking an expert IT Support Specialist who can handle the most complex technical challenges while working as a core member of our Helpdesk team. This role requires deep technical expertise to support some of the world’s leading AI researchers and engineers. You’ll tackle intricate troubleshooting scenarios daily while identifying systemic issues and implementing strategic solutions.

Responsibilities:

Expert-Level Technical Support

• Diagnose and resolve complex issues across Google Workspace, IAM, SSO, and authentication systems
• Navigate GCP IAM permissions to trace and fix access issues, understanding the full authentication chain
• Troubleshoot intricate MDM configurations and device management problems
• Support AI researchers and engineers with highly technical, often novel computing challenges
• Handle escalations that require deep understanding of system interdependencies

Systems Thinking & Impact Analysis

• Analyze downstream impacts of changes before implementation, thinking at scale
• Identify root causes in complex, multi-system failures
• Design solutions that prevent issues without creating new problems
• Evaluate and understand the security implications of support decisions across the organization

Strategic Problem Solving

• Transform recurring technical issues into systematic solutions
• Autonomously identify and implement automation for common problems
• Build self-service tools that empower users while maintaining security
• Create technical documentation that captures deep troubleshooting knowledge
• Lead projects that address fundamental infrastructure pain points
• Communicate effectively with world-class researchers about complex technical issues
• Translate between highly technical problems and practical solutions
• Partner with engineering teams to understand and support complex infrastructure
• Mentor other IT team members on advanced troubleshooting methodologies
• Maintain composure and clarity when supporting critical research workflows

You may be a good fit if you:

• 7+ years supporting technical teams in AI/ML, cloud, or research environments
• Experience with remote dev environments
• Background in scripting (Python, Bash) for automation and tool creation
• Familiarity with containerization (Docker, Kubernetes) and CI/CD pipelines
• Experience supporting teams working with sensitive or classified data
• Understanding of compliance frameworks (SOC2, ISO 27001)

Strong candidates may also have experience with:

• Identity & Access Management: Deep understanding of Google Workspace admin, SAML/OIDC, GCP IAM, permission inheritance, and multi-factor authentication systems
• Device Management: Expert knowledge of MDM platforms (Jamf, Intune), device enrollment, configuration profiles, and security policies
• Infrastructure: Strong grasp of DNS, DHCP, VLANs, VPNs, and basic network troubleshooting
• Operating Systems: Advanced troubleshooting across macOS, and Linux environments
• Cloud Platforms: Proficiency with GCP services, understanding of AWS/Azure basics
• Expert-level Google Workspace administration and troubleshooting
• Advanced IAM and authentication debugging across multiple platforms
• Strong understanding of system dependencies and change management
• Excellent pattern recognition for identifying systemic issues
• Ability to remain calm and effective under pressure from high-stakes problems
• Clear communication skills for both technical and non-technical audiences

Success factors:

• Solves technical problems others have given up on
• Thinks through second and third-order effects before making changes
• Builds trust with world-class researchers through technical competence
• Identifies and prevents tomorrow's problems while solving today's
• Documents solutions in ways that elevate the entire team's capabilities
• Maintains deep technical expertise while mentoring others
• Demonstrates measurable reduction in repeat issues through strategic fixes

What makes this role unique:

This is not a typical help desk position. While you’ll be an active member of the support team handling tickets daily, you’ll also be the strategic thinker who asks "why does this ticket exist?" and then does something about it. You’ll have the autonomy to design and implement solutions that make entire categories of problems disappear. If you’re someone who can expertly troubleshoot an issue while simultaneously designing the system that prevents it from happening again, this role is for you.

Location Requirement:

We expect staff in this role to be based out of the SF Bay Area and be willing to work onsite in our SF office 4-5 days/week.

Deadline to apply: None. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

The expected base compensation for this position is below. Our total compensation package for full-time employees includes equity, benefits, and may include incentive compensation.

$160,000 — $265,000 USD

Logistics

Education requirements: We require at least a Bachelor's degree in a related field or equivalent experience. Location-based hybrid policy: Currently, we expect all staff to be in one of our offices at least 25% of the time. However, some roles may require more time in our offices.

Visa sponsorship: We do sponsor visas! However, we aren’t able to successfully sponsor visas for every role and every candidate. But if we make you an offer, we will make every reasonable effort to get you a visa, and we retain an immigration lawyer to help with this.

Not all strong candidates will meet every single qualification as listed. Research shows that people who identify as being from underrepresented groups are more prone to experiencing imposter syndrome and doubting the strength of their candidacy, so we urge you not to exclude yourself prematurely and to submit an application if you’re interested in this work. We think AI systems like the ones we’re building have enormous social and ethical implications. We think this makes representation even more important, and we strive to include a range of diverse perspectives on our team.

How we’re different

We believe that the highest-impact AI research will be big science. At Anthropic we work as a single cohesive team on just a few large-scale research efforts. And we value impact — advancing our long‑term goals of steerable, trustworthy AI — rather than work on smaller and more specific puzzles. We view AI research as an empirical science, which has as much in common with physics and biology as with traditional efforts in computer science. We’re an extremely collaborative group, and we host frequent research discussions to ensure that we are pursuing the highest‑impact work at any given time. As such, we greatly value communication skills.

The easiest way to understand our research directions is to read our recent research. This research continues many of the directions our team worked on prior to Anthropic, including: GPT-3, Circuit-Based Interpretability, Multimodal Neurons, Scaling Laws, AI & Compute, Concrete Problems in AI Safety, and Learning from Human Preferences.

Come work with us!

Anthropic is a public benefit corporation headquartered in San Francisco. We offer competitive compensation and benefits, optional equity donation matching, generous vacation and parental leave, flexible working hours, and a lovely office space in which to collaborate with colleagues. Guidance on Candidates' AI Usage: Learn about our policy for using AI in our application process