About Handshake
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 and peers can see and feel
Work hand-in-hand with world-class AI labs, Fortune 500 partners and the world’s top educational institutions
Join a team with leadership from Scale AI, Meta, xAI, Notion, Coinbase, and Palantir, among others
Build a massive, fast-growing business with billions in revenue
About the Role
As a Senior Software Engineer, you will drive the design and development of the core experiences that help students find opportunities, spanning search, discovery, jobs, and job search. You will set technical direction, uplevel engineering quality, and play a key role in scaling our platform and AI-powered experiences.
In this role, you will:
• Design and implement scalable, high-availability systems powering search and discovery experiences across our platform.
• Lead the development of agentic AI experiences for students, including our conversational AI agent for resume help, job search, and interview prep.
• Work with OpenAI real-time APIs and agentic frameworks to deliver intelligent, conversational features, and guide best practices for their use across teams.
• Collaborate with cross-functional partners (Product, Design, Data, GTM) to define, build, and iterate on features that drive member value and engagement.
• Own projects end-to-end, from technical design and implementation to rollout and monitoring, ensuring reliability and performance at scale.
• Champion engineering excellence through code reviews, technical mentorship, and improving our tooling, standards, and architecture.
Desired Capabilities
5+ years of experience in software engineering, ideally with consumer platforms, marketplaces, or social apps at meaningful scale.
Proficiency in programming languages such as Python, Java, or JavaScript, with a track record of delivering robust, production-quality systems.
Strong product sense and user empathy, with experience shaping features that create real value for members and measurable business impact.
Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud) and modern architectures (microservices, event-driven systems, or distributed systems).
Ability to break down complex problems, make pragmatic technical decisions, and communicate trade-offs clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with experience mentoring other engineers and contributing to a healthy engineering culture.
Extra Credit
Experience with AI, chatbots, or conversational interfaces.
Background working with search, recommendations, ranking systems, or other relevance-focused products.
Perks
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, and vision, mental health support, wellness stipend
📚 Growth: Learning stipend, ongoing development
💻 Remote & Office: Internet, commuting, and 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, and comprehensive US benefits at joinhandshake.com/careers.
Top Skills
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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