Thinking Machines Lab's mission is to empower humanity through advancing collaborative general intelligence. We're building a future where everyone has access to the knowledge and tools to make AI work for their unique needs and goals.
We are scientists, engineers, and builders who’ve created some of the most widely used AI products, including ChatGPT and Character.ai, open-weights models like Mistral, as well as popular open source projects like PyTorch, OpenAI Gym, Fairseq, and Segment Anything.
The IT team builds secure infrastructure and efficient processes that enable our employees to move quickly. We operate an all-Mac environment and manage our endpoint fleet as a distributed platform, applying production-engineering practices to device management and security.
Our endpoint configurations, security policies, scripts, and software deployments are increasingly managed through version-controlled workflows with testing, review, staged rollouts, and rollback capabilities. This role will work closely with IT, Security, Identity, and Infrastructure to deliver a secure and reliable employee computing experience.
What You’ll Do- Endpoint Configuration as Code: Author, review, test, and progressively deploy macOS configuration profiles, security policies, queries, and remediation scripts. Build code review, staging, canary, validation, and rollback processes into endpoint changes.
- MDM Platform Engineering: Operate our MDM platform as a production service, including configuration as code, observability, upgrades, reliability, incident response, and integrations with other IT and Security systems.
- MDM Migration: Lead the evaluation, design, testing, and execution of our planned migration from Iru to Fleet. Establish functional requirements, identify configuration and security-control gaps, develop a phased migration plan, and move the fleet with minimal disruption to employees.
- Santa and Rudolph: Own the architecture and operation of Santa and its Rudolph synchronization service. Manage binary-authorization policies, rule distribution, application approvals, telemetry, observability, infrastructure, and incident response.
- Zero Trust and Device Trust: Partner closely with Security and Identity to make device trust a core component of our Zero Trust architecture. Integrate endpoint posture signals into authentication, authorization, and conditional-access decisions.
- Continuous Posture Evaluation: Build systems that continuously evaluate device health and security posture, including MDM enrollment, OS version, patch status, disk encryption, endpoint protection, security-control status, and configuration compliance. Automatically identify and remediate drift or restrict access when a device no longer meets requirements.
- Patch Management: Build and maintain automated macOS patching workflows that support rapid enforcement timelines while providing a thoughtful employee experience.
- Zero-Touch Provisioning: Design and improve Apple Business Manager and Automated Device Enrollment workflows that turn a new Mac into a secure, fully configured, and productive machine with minimal manual intervention.
- Software Distribution: Own application packaging, deployment, updating, and removal across the Mac fleet.
- Fleet Telemetry and Compliance: Query live device state at scale and turn endpoint telemetry into actionable policies, dashboards, compliance reporting, and early warnings for configuration drift.
- Automation: Build tools and AI-assisted workflows that reduce repetitive operational work and make endpoint management more reliable and scalable.
- Endpoint Security: Partner with Security on macOS hardening, binary authorization, vulnerability management, compliance controls, detection and response, and device-based access policies.
- Advanced Troubleshooting: Serve as the escalation point for complex macOS and endpoint-platform issues that cannot be resolved through standard IT support processes.
- Technical Leadership: Help define the endpoint roadmap, evaluate technologies, make architecture decisions, and lead complex initiatives from conception through production.
- 8+ years of experience building and operating secure IT or endpoint systems in complex environments.
- Experience managing a large fleet of macOS devices through a modern MDM platform.
- Experience managing endpoint configuration through scripted deployments, Git-based workflows, or a full GitOps model.
- Deep knowledge of macOS internals, enterprise deployment, security controls, and troubleshooting.
- Experience designing and operating zero-touch Mac provisioning, patching, and software-distribution workflows.
- Experience using device health and security signals to evaluate endpoint compliance.
- Experience successfully delivering complex technical projects from conception through production.
- Strong ability to solve ambiguous problems involving multiple teams and stakeholders.
- Ability to communicate technical concepts clearly to technical and nontechnical audiences.
- A product-engineering mindset toward IT systems, including testing, observability, reliability, and controlled change management.
- A consistent practice of creating clear technical documentation, architecture diagrams, runbooks, and operational procedures.
- Ability to work from either our New York or San Francisco office.
- Fleet: Experience deploying, operating, or contributing to Fleet, including its MDM, osquery, GitOps, software-management, and vulnerability-management capabilities.
- MDM Migration: Experience leading a production MDM migration, particularly in an environment using Apple Business Manager and Automated Device Enrollment.
- Iru: Experience managing macOS devices with Iru, formerly Kandji.
- Santa and Rudolph: Experience operating Santa at scale, including rule management, binary authorization, event telemetry, and a Rudolph synchronization service.
- Zero Trust: Experience designing device-trust and continuous-posture-evaluation systems that integrate with identity providers, conditional access, or other Zero Trust controls.
- MDM as a Service: Experience operating an MDM or device-management platform as a production service rather than only administering a SaaS console.
- Progressive Delivery: Experience building automated endpoint rollout systems with staging, canary groups, rollback capabilities, and promotion decisions based on telemetry.
- Open-Source Tooling: Experience deploying, operating, or contributing to open-source macOS endpoint-management or security tools.
- Infrastructure as Code: Experience managing endpoint or cloud infrastructure through Terraform or another infrastructure-as-code framework.
- Cloud Infrastructure: Experience operating AWS services such as Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB, containers, managed databases, and monitoring systems.
- Endpoint Development: Proficiency in Swift or Go for building macOS endpoint tools, agents, or supporting services.
- AI-Assisted Operations: Experience using LLMs to automate operational work or a strong interest in applying them to endpoint engineering.
- Python and shell scripting.
- macOS internals, including launchd, configuration profiles, Transparency, Consent, and Control (TCC), system extensions, Endpoint Security, FileVault, Secure Token, and bootstrap tokens.
- Apple Business Manager, Automated Device Enrollment, and Apple’s MDM and Declarative Device Management frameworks.
- Modern Apple MDM platforms, particularly Iru, Fleet, Jamf, or equivalent.
- Santa binary authorization and Rudolph synchronization infrastructure.
- Fleet-scale querying and osquery.
- Git, pull-request workflows, GitOps, and CI/CD for endpoint configuration.
- Terraform and infrastructure as code.
- Public-cloud fundamentals, including serverless infrastructure, containers, managed databases, and monitoring.
- Device lifecycle automation, including zero-touch enrollment, patching, software distribution, and secure deprovisioning.
- Endpoint security, Zero Trust, device trust, continuous posture evaluation, compliance, and automated remediation.
- Location: This role is based in San Francisco, California or New York, New York.
- Compensation: Depending on background, skills and experience, the expected annual salary range for this position is $200,000 - $325,000.
- Visa sponsorship: We sponsor visas. While we can't guarantee success for every candidate or role, if you're the right fit, we're committed to working through the visa process together.
- Benefits: Thinking Machines offers generous health, dental, and vision benefits, unlimited PTO, paid parental leave, and relocation support as needed.
- As set forth in Thinking Machines' Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.
As set forth in Thinking Machines' Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.
Thinking Machines Lab will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of the California Fair Chance Act, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, and any other applicable state or local fair chance ordinance or law.
Skills Required
- 8+ years building and operating secure IT or endpoint systems in complex environments.
- Experience managing a large fleet of macOS devices through a modern MDM platform.
- Experience managing endpoint configuration through scripted deployments, Git-based workflows, or a GitOps model.
- Deep knowledge of macOS internals, enterprise deployment, security controls, and troubleshooting.
- Experience designing and operating zero-touch Mac provisioning, patching, and software-distribution workflows.
- Experience using device health and security signals to evaluate endpoint compliance.
- Experience successfully delivering complex technical projects from conception through production.
- Strong ability to solve ambiguous problems involving multiple teams and stakeholders.
- Ability to communicate technical concepts clearly to technical and nontechnical audiences.
- Product-engineering mindset toward IT systems, including testing, observability, reliability, and controlled change management.
- Consistent practice of creating clear technical documentation, architecture diagrams, runbooks, and operational procedures.
- Ability to work from either the New York or San Francisco office.
- Proficiency with Python and shell scripting.
- Familiarity with macOS internals including launchd, TCC, system extensions, Endpoint Security, FileVault, Secure Token, and bootstrap tokens.
- Experience with Apple Business Manager, Automated Device Enrollment, and Apple MDM/Declarative Device Management frameworks.
- Experience with modern Apple MDM platforms (Iru/Kandji, Fleet, Jamf, or equivalent).
- Experience operating Santa binary authorization and Rudolph synchronization infrastructure.
- Fleet-scale querying and osquery experience.
- Experience with Git, pull-request workflows, GitOps, and CI/CD for endpoint configuration.
- Experience with Terraform and infrastructure as code.
- Public-cloud fundamentals and experience operating AWS services, containers, managed databases, and monitoring.
- Experience building device lifecycle automation including enrollment, patching, software distribution, and secure deprovisioning.
- Experience with endpoint security, Zero Trust, device trust, continuous posture evaluation, compliance, and automated remediation.
What We Do
Thinking Machines Lab is an artificial intelligence research and product company. We're building a future where everyone has access to the knowledge and tools to make AI work for their unique needs and goals. While AI capabilities have advanced dramatically, key gaps remain. The scientific community's understanding of frontier AI systems lags behind rapidly advancing capabilities. Knowledge of how these systems are trained is concentrated within the top research labs, limiting both the public discourse on AI and people's abilities to use AI effectively. And, despite their potential, these systems remain difficult for people to customize to their specific needs and values. To bridge the gaps, we're building Thinking Machines Lab to make AI systems more widely understood, customizable and generally capable. We are scientists, engineers, and builders who've created some of the most widely used AI products, including ChatGPT and Character.ai, open-weights models like Mistral, as well as popular open source projects like PyTorch, OpenAI Gym, Fairseq, and Segment Anything.
