IT Systems & Automation Lead

Formic•Chicago, IL

4d•Onsite

About The Position

This is a hands-on role with a broad mandate. You’ll own the day-to-day technology experience for Formicans: computers, accounts, applications, permissions, onboarding and offboarding, endpoint management, IT support, office technology, and our relationships with our outside IT partner. You'll also be the onsite technology owner for our Bolingbrook office and warehouse. If the Wi-Fi is down, someone's badge doesn't work, a conference room isn't connecting, the TV needs to be ready for All Hands, or a new hire needs a laptop, you're the person who makes sure it gets handled. You aren't expected to personally pull every cable or install every camera; you are expected to own the outcome. We care more about capability, curiosity, and trajectory than a perfectly linear resume. You'll likely have 3 to 7 years of experience in IT operations, systems administration, technical support, security operations, or another hands-on technology environment. You don't need to be an expert in everything we do or use technically upon hire, although you will become one over time. You don't need to know every system we use today. We'd rather hire someone with strong fundamentals and an exceptional ability to learn. You do need to be highly capable at using AI to extend what you can do, resourceful enough to figure out problems you haven't encountered before, and accountable for seeing things through to resolution. Most importantly, we want someone who is genuinely excited about technology and AI and constantly asks: Why are we doing this manually? Can I automate it? Can I make this better? This is a meaningful part of the job, not a side project. We mean more than using ChatGPT to write emails. We want someone excited about connecting AI to actual systems and workflows. Most importantly, technology becomes something the company rarely has to think about because it simply works.

Requirements

Deeply curious about technology and learn new systems quickly.
Already a heavy user of modern AI tools and actively experiment with them.
Hands-on experience with Mac and Windows environments, endpoint management, identity/access, SaaS administration, and basic networking.
Can automate work using some combination of scripting, APIs, AI agents, integrations, or low-code/no-code tools.
Willing to work with physical equipment and troubleshoot problems onsite.
Know how to research and solve something you haven't encountered before.
Organized, responsive, and unusually good at following things through to completion.
Notice problems before someone has to assign them to you.
Care about the employee experience and understand that internal IT is ultimately a service function.
Want more ownership and responsibility than your years of experience might normally give you.

Nice To Haves

Worked in a startup or physical operating environment
Administered Google Workspace, MDM/RMM, EDR, or identity systems
Supported SOC 2
Managed an MSP
Worked with office networking or physical-security systems
Built scripts, bots, internal tools, integrations, or AI agents because you got tired of doing something manually
Have a home lab, side project, GitHub repo, Raspberry Pi graveyard, overly complicated Home Assistant setup, or other evidence that you genuinely enjoy messing with technology

Responsibilities

Own Employee IT: Be the internal owner for day-to-day IT support and troubleshoot issues across Mac and Windows devices, applications, accounts, authentication, peripherals, and connectivity.
Own employee onboarding and offboarding, including computers, accounts, applications, permissions, physical access, equipment recovery, and secure access removal.
Administer our device fleet, including MDM/RMM, patching, encryption, endpoint protection, software deployment, remote management, and remote lock/wipe.
Maintain an accurate hardware inventory and manage purchasing, receiving, configuration, repairs, replacements, shipping, returns, and lifecycle planning.
Administer systems such as Google Workspace, Slack, Notion, 1Password, Microsoft 365, Apple Business Manager, VPN, and other SaaS applications.
Manage accounts, groups, permissions, licenses, MFA, SSO, and application access.
Maintain useful documentation of our systems, configurations, processes, vendors, and administrative access.
Own Our Office Technology: You'll own the technology layer of our Bolingbrook office and warehouse and coordinate support for Oakland, as well.
Own internet, Wi-Fi, networking, conference rooms, TVs and displays, AV equipment, printers, shared devices, and other workplace technology.
Own door and badge access, security cameras, and other physical-security technology, partnering with People, Facilities, and outside specialists where needed.
Make sure conference rooms and shared technology are ready to use, including setting up and testing AV, TVs, cameras, microphones, and presentations for All Hands, customer visits, investor meetings, and company events.
Troubleshoot onsite issues and coordinate ISPs, network engineers, low-voltage contractors, security vendors, and other specialists when needed.
Support office moves, expansions, installations, and other technology projects.
Keep IT and office equipment, spares, cables, adapters, network closets, and technology storage organized and ready to use.
Automate Relentlessly: Use AI as a force multiplier in your own work and actively experiment with new tools.
Find repetitive work across IT and Formic that can be eliminated, simplified, or automated.
Build workflows using AI agents, APIs, scripts, integrations, and automation platforms.
Automate provisioning, onboarding, offboarding, support, inventory, documentation, reporting, and other repetitive processes wherever practical.
Build lightweight internal tools when buying another piece of software isn't the best answer.
Help Formic identify and adopt technology that makes us faster and more effective.
Own Security Operations & Our IT Partners: Be Formic's internal owner for our managed IT and security relationships.
Partner with outside specialists on endpoint security, EDR/MDR, networking, vulnerability management, monitoring, and incident response.
Maintain strong coverage for MFA, encryption, patching, endpoint protection, device management, and other baseline security controls.
Support SOC 2 and other compliance work through documentation, controls, system inventories, and evidence.
Know when to solve something yourself and when to escalate to a specialist.
Hold vendors accountable for responsiveness, quality, timelines, and outcomes.
Make sure Formic owns its credentials, documentation, systems, and technology decisions rather than relying on a vendor to understand our environment.
Ensure our partners are a technical bench, not a substitute for internal ownership.