Information Technology Engineer

Clara Foods is a San Francisco based start-up creating animal-free food ingredients for a more sustainable food system. Following a successful Series B raise in 2019 and with major technology advancements in 2020, the organization is accelerating commercialization of the world's first animal-free egg protein, working with industry collaborators to produce products with higher levels of protein and unique functionalities.

Clara’s data team brings together scientists, engineers, and designers to weave data products into the fabric of the company from machine learning in genomics data to process optimization and mining on flavor. We are excited to welcome a new IT Engineer to work alongside the rest of the team to build a safe, productive, and user-centered digital ecosystem.

Reports to: Director of Data Science & Technologies

FLSA Status: Exempt, Full Time

Location: South San Francisco

About You

You are creative in finding user-centered secure IT solutions. You enjoy helping employees make the most out of their machines, partnering with users as they work through various different packages and services from specialized biotech platforms to everyday video conferencing tools. To that end, you know your way around a terminal and may even do some scripting or automation. Of course, you are a good communicator and a kernel panic doesn’t scare you. Finally, you advocate for IT needs and collaborate with internal software engineers, helping them improve the usability of their systems and supporting them in new releases of custom-made tools.
 

Responsibilities

Like others on the team, you will have a big impact on the organization through collaborative projects. Your responsibilities may include:

• Co-design IT policies and practices for usability and security.
• Participate in the on-boarding and off-boarding of employees.
• Respond to user help requests in the form of helpdesk tickets.
• Aid in software, machine, and network configuration tasks.
• Help in the administration of cloud services.
• Assist engineers, scientists, and designers with the release and support of internally developed software.
• Support the IT needs of the lab / office including local network administration and hardware configuration.
• When appropriate, automate certain tasks and workflows.
• Participate in a light emergency 24/7 on-call rotation, sharing the burden with others on the team.

Skills and Requirements

We are building a team of diverse skills and backgrounds so encourage folks to apply even if they don’t have all of the following desired skills but want to work with many different tools and technologies. Position may be available at different levels of seniority.
 

• Familiarity with help desk operations.
• Ability to administer macOS, Windows, and Linux machines. This includes device security tasks such as malware prevention / management.
• Capability to manage productivity platforms such as Google Workspace, Zoho Suite, Office 365, etc.
• Knowledge of AV equipment as well as communications / video-conferencing solutions such as Zoom, Slack, or HipChat.
• Skill in administering local networks and performing basic webmaster tasks such as DNS configuration.
• Strong communication skills and willingness to conduct internal training as required.
• Prior experience in a lab environment or with companies that have internal software engineering a plus but not required.
• Programming capabilities, especially in Python, a plus but not required.
• Familiarity with protocols such as SFTP, MODBUS, SCADA, or OPC are a plus but not required.

What Clara can Offer:

• Generous benefits package; 100% medical, dental, and vision employee coverage, 401k matching, and stock
• Optional benefits; FSA, HSA, Commuter, Pet Care, and additional life insurance
• Flexible PTO and 10 paid company holidays per year
• Free parking, unlimited gym access, lounge, mini-golf patio, yoga and fitness classes onsite
• Unlimited supply of sparkling water, granola bars, snacks, local coffee and tea
• Weekly virtual happy hours & lunches
• Monthly all-hands meetings and 1:1 with CEO and leadership
• Close to South San Francisco BART and CalTrain stations, including free shuttle service

About Clara Foods™

Clara Foods™ is a Bay Area venture capital-backed company working towards a disruptive advance in food technology by producing animal proteins without the animal using fermentation. We join a new generation of entrepreneurs, activists, and scientists who recognize that the decades-old factory farm model cannot sustain the dietary needs of 7 billion people and counting - and that technology may hold a solution.

As much as the growing market demands for animal protein production exert pressure on food producers to improve their efficiencies and outputs, there is also growing public distaste for the environmental, animal welfare, and health compromises of industrial-scale animal agriculture.

Clara Foods™ aims to subvert this moral and economic deadlock by taking the animal out of the equation. We’re bringing products to the table that are produced completely animal-free, use less land and water inputs, while matching the taste, nutritional value, and unique culinary properties of animal proteins.

How to apply