Associate, Compute

Primary Venture Partners

$100K — $120K *
Information Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 2-4 years of experience, focusing on production engineering roles in tech, AI, or startups
  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent
  • Strong connections within the San Francisco tech and AI communities
  • Curiosity and willingness to learn about compute and investment practices
  • Ability to work independently in ambiguous environments
  • Collaborative nature with a focus on building trust.

Responsibilities

  • Source and cultivate relationships with founders and industry professionals in the compute sector
  • Conduct due diligence on investment opportunities, assessing technical and market dimensions
  • Represent the firm at community events and media engagements to enhance brand visibility
  • Assist in formulating and validating investment strategies across the compute area
  • Provide support to ongoing portfolio companies as needed
  • Maintain a database of influential contacts and companies within the compute landscape
  • Expand the firm's outreach within key technical communities to identify new talent and opportunities.

Benefits

  • Hybrid work model with in-office requirements three times a week
  • Opportunity to work alongside experienced investors in a pivotal sector
  • Career-defining role with potential for significant professional growth
  • Engagement with innovative founders and cutting-edge technologies
  • Access to a vibrant network within the San Francisco tech ecosystem.
Full Job Description


About the Role

We're hiring an investment associate to help build out our compute practice in San Francisco. Our compute practice sits at the center of the firm's next chapter - we led the seed round in Etched, now valued at $21B, and have a broader compute portfolio with investments across memory, advanced packaging, quantum, and biological compute.

You will be working directly with Brian Schechter and Gaby Lorenzi. You'll source, diligence, and help originate investments across the full compute stack - including software and hardware opportunities in thermals, advanced packaging, cooling, power, data center management and token efficiency. We're looking for a technical person, who studied computer science, electrical engineering, or a comparable degree, who has spent time inside startups in the past, and is looking to be a part of building a growing investment practice in one of the most consequential markets of our time - compute. Prior investing experience is not required. Deep technical understanding of compute is also not required.

We're hiring for learning velocity, genuine curiosity about compute, and a deep network in San Francisco to support your growth, not a finished resume. This is a career-defining bet for the right person: help plant Primary's flag in San Francisco and grow into one of the firm's next great investors.

Based in San Francisco, Hybrid in-office 3x/week

What You'll Do
  • Source and build relationships with founders, engineers, and operators across the San Francisco compute and AI ecosystem
  • Run diligence on prospective investments - technical differentiation, competitive dynamics, market sizing - alongside the compute pod
  • Represent Primary and our Compute100 efforts across community events, dinners, and podcast tapings to build the firm's brand and network in the Bay Area
  • Help develop and pressure-test investment theses across the compute stack
  • Support the existing compute portfolio, including Etched, as needed
  • Build and maintain a running map of high-signal people and companies worth tracking
  • Help extend Primary's reach into the technical communities - Neo, top engineering orgs, research labs - that produce the next generation of compute founders


About You
  • Must be available to work full-time in SF with periodic travel to NYC
  • 2-4 years of experience with at least 1-2 years of experience in a production engineering role at a leading tech company, AI lab, or high-growth startup
  • Computer Science degree or equivalent experience
  • Deeply plugged into the San Francisco technical and AI scene
  • Genuine, self-directed curiosity about compute
  • Comfortable operating with real ambiguity and building process where none exists yet
  • Down-to-earth, collaborative, and able to build trust quickly

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