Head of IT Systems Engineering

Asana•San Francisco, CA

6d•$252,000 - $296,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Asana is hiring a Head of IT Systems Engineering to lead the team responsible for the systems that support how Asana employees work. Reporting to the Head of IT, this San Francisco-based role owns the strategy, architecture, and operations for SaaS productivity applications, corporate endpoints, identity, and the employee lifecycle. The role sets standards and roadmaps and influences how Asana evaluates, adopts, and governs employee tools and platforms. It leads the Client Platform Engineering, Application Engineering, and Identity & Integrations teams and has one manager-level direct report. The role develops a multi-year vision and roadmap aligned with company priorities and AI strategy; leads and grows engineering teams; and oversees endpoint management, SaaS application management, identity, and user lifecycle operations. It also advances AI adoption and automation, establishes governance in partnership with Security, Legal, and Privacy, and works with IT Support, IT Infrastructure, and Security to improve security, reliability, and employee experience. The position is based in Asana’s San Francisco office and follows an office-centric hybrid schedule, with standard in-office days Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Working from home on Wednesdays is generally available; Friday arrangements depend on the work and partner teams.

Requirements

10+ years of IT experience, including 5+ years directly leading teams of systems engineers and software engineers in a fast-paced, cloud-first environment.
Proven ownership of purchasing, inventory management, and budgeting at scale.
Strong, hands-on knowledge of current IAM practices and cloud-based identity, SSO, SAML, and SCIM.
Experience with hosted cloud applications, including Okta, Google Workspace, Asana, Figma, and Slack.
Experience establishing governance for emerging technology, including AI usage policy, data protection, and vendor risk review.
Track record of setting strategy and roadmaps, delegating effectively, and staying close enough to details to coach and unblock.
Experience with configuration management and automation tools such as JAMF, Intune, Puppet, and Munki.
Working knowledge of scripting and API integration, such as REST, OAuth, Python, PowerShell, or Bash, or equivalent.
Hands-on experience with enterprise AI platforms such as Claude and OpenAI, including deployment, administration, and integration through APIs, connectors, and MCP servers.
Curiosity about AI tools and emerging technologies, and willingness to learn and use them to enhance productivity, collaboration, or decision-making.
Strong problem-solving skills and a positive, service-oriented attitude.
Excellent communication and documentation skills, with the ability to influence senior stakeholders and cross-functional partners.
Curiosity and a bias toward experimenting with AI in one’s own work, and the ability to lead a team through rapid change.

Responsibilities

Develop the multi-year vision, roadmap, and architecture for Systems Engineering, aligned with Asana’s business priorities and broader AI strategy.
Help teams across Asana adopt tools and reduce friction from manual work as part of building an Agentified Asana.
Partner with leaders to build and maintain an efficient portfolio of SaaS tools that enables employees to do their best work.
Lead, develop, and grow the Client Platform Engineering, Application Engineering, and Identity & Integrations teams, including hiring, performance management, succession planning, and career development.
Own the strategy and operations for corporate endpoint management, SaaS application management, identity, and the full user lifecycle.
Drive IT’s AI strategy, including evaluating and governing platforms such as Claude, Gemini, and OpenAI, and building AI agents and automation for onboarding, access requests, support, and compliance workflows.
Partner with Security, Legal, and Privacy to establish AI usage policies, data access controls, and vendor risk standards, including identity-based access and data loss prevention for AI tools and integrations.
Set client platform standards and drive system performance, patching, and configuration compliance.
Partner with IT Support, IT Infrastructure, and Security leadership to resolve issues, reduce risk, and improve the employee experience.
Represent Systems Engineering to senior stakeholders and communicate priorities, tradeoffs, and results clearly.
Own purchasing, inventory management, and budgeting at scale.