Handshake is the career network for the AI economy. 20 million knowledge workers, 1,600 educational institutions, 1 million employers (including 100% of the Fortune 50), and every foundational AI lab trust Handshake to power career discovery, hiring, and upskilling, from freelance AI training gigs to first internships to full-time careers and beyond. This unique value is leading to unparalleled growth; in 2025, we tripled our ARR at scale.
Why join Handshake now:
Shape how every career evolves in the AI economy, at global scale, with impact your friends, family & peers can see & feel
Work hand-in-hand with world-class AI labs, Fortune 500 partners & the world's top educational institutions
Join a team with leadership from Scale AI, Meta, xAI, Notion, Coinbase, & Palantir, among others
Build a massive, fast-growing business with billions in revenue
Handshake is building the infrastructure layer that powers the next generation of AI agents across our platform. As a Senior Software Engineer on our Agentic Infrastructure team, you'll be at forefront of AI at Handshake, will architect & build the foundational systems that allow AI agents to plan, execute, & operate autonomously at scale. This is a rare greenfield opportunity to define how an AI-first company builds for the agentic era — at the intersection of infrastructure, AI, & direct product impact.
Architect & build the core agent orchestration layer — including tool use, memory, & multi-step reasoning systems — that powers AI-driven features for 20M+ users & 1M+ employers across Handshake's platform
Design evaluation, observability, & reliability frameworks that ensure agent behavior is safe, auditable, & production-ready at scale
Establish engineering standards for agentic development across Handshake's platform teams, enabling every engineer to build with AI
Partner with ML, product, & platform engineers to ship agent-powered features from infrastructure to production at Olympic pace
Must-Haves:
4-7 years of backend engineering experience, with strong proficiency in NodeJS, Typescript, &/or Python
Experience designing & operating distributed systems at significant scale for developer experience
Hands-on experience building with LLM orchestration frameworks (LangChain, LlamaIndex, or similar)
Deep understanding of agent architectures: tool use, multi-step reasoning, memory management, & evaluation
Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or Azure) & infrastructure-as-code tools like Terraform
Experience with Node, JavaScript, CICD, Docker
A track record of shipping production systems with high reliability, low latency, & strong observability
Strong communication skills & ability to drive alignment across engineering & cross-functional partners
Bonus Points:
Open-source contributions to LLM or agent frameworks
Prior experience at an AI-native company or on a dedicated AI platform team
Handshake delivers benefits that help you feel supported — and thrive at work and in life.
The below benefits are for full-time US employees.
🎯 Ownership: Equity in a fast-growing company
💰 Financial Wellness: 401(k) match, competitive compensation, financial coaching
🍼 Family Support: Paid parental leave, fertility benefits, parental coaching
💝 Wellbeing: Medical, dental, & vision, mental health support, $500 wellness stipend
📚 Growth: $2,000 learning stipend, ongoing development
💻 Remote & Office: Internet, commuting, & free lunch/gym in our SF office
🏝 Time Off: Flexible PTO, 15 holidays + 2 flex days
🤝 Connection: Team outings & referral bonuses
Explore our mission, values, & comprehensive US benefits at joinhandshake.com/careers.
Skills Required
- 4-7 years of backend engineering experience
- Strong proficiency in NodeJS, Typescript, or Python
- Experience designing and operating distributed systems
- Hands-on experience building with LLM orchestration frameworks
- Cloud infrastructure experience (AWS, GCP, or Azure)
- Experience with infrastructure-as-code tools like Terraform
- Experience with CI/CD and Docker
- Strong communication skills
Handshake Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Handshake and has not been reviewed or approved by Handshake.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time-off practices include flexible/unlimited PTO, companywide recharge weeks in summer and winter, plus additional volunteer and personal holiday time. Feedback suggests sabbaticals and coordinated breaks help people actually use rest time.
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Parental & Family Support — Parental leave is described as extended for primary and secondary caregivers, and family-oriented policies are highlighted. Fertility and family-support resources are referenced in public materials.
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Healthcare Strength — Core coverage spans medical, dental, and vision, with added mental-health resources and wellness programming. Feedback suggests these supports contribute meaningfully to overall wellbeing.
Handshake Insights
What We Do
Handshake is the #1 place to launch a career with no connections, experience, or luck required. The platform connects up-and-coming talent with 650,000+ employers - from Fortune 500 companies like Google, Nike, and Target to thousands of public school districts, healthcare systems, and nonprofits. Earlier this year, we announced our $200M Series F funding round. This Series F fundraise and new valuation of $3.5B will fuel Handshake’s next phase of growth and propel our mission to help more people start, restart, and jumpstart their careers.
Why Work With Us
How someone builds their career is foundational. We believe in working with the higher education community to help students build meaningful careers. We are at the nexus of universities, students and employers— and we’re able to connect the very best pieces of each side. We’re proud to create a community where students can be more successful.
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