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
As a Senior Software Engineer on the Handshake AI Enterprise team, you'll own the product experience layer of AI applications we deploy directly into enterprise customer environments. You'll work closely with customers to deeply understand their workflows, translate ambiguous needs into crisp product decisions, and build end-to-end solutions that are genuinely delightful to use, not just functional.
This is not a role for engineers who treat product quality as an afterthought. We believe engineering craft is a meaningful part of what makes AI applications succeed in enterprise environments, and you'll be the person who holds that bar across every deployment.
This is a unique opportunity to pair direct customer impact with founding-team ownership, helping define what high-craft enterprise AI product looks like from the ground up.
Location: San Francisco, CA | 5 days/week in-office
What You'll Do
Own the product experience of AI applications deployed into enterprise customer environments, from initial discovery through iteration
Work directly with customers to understand their workflows, pain points, and what "great" looks like in their context
Translate ambiguous customer needs into clear, well-crafted product and technical decisions
Build high-quality, full-stack features, from data models and APIs to the interfaces people actually use
Collaborate closely with Applied AI and Platform engineers on your deployment team to ship cohesive, production-grade solutions
Iterate rapidly based on real usage and customer feedback, with tight feedback loops
Establish product engineering standards and reusable patterns that help the team scale quality as we grow
Surface insights from customer deployments that inform Handshake's core product direction
What We're Looking For
5-6+ years of product engineering experience with strong fullstack instincts and a high bar for product quality
Experience at a company where craft was a genuine priority, you've helped hold that bar, not just ship features
Proficiency across the stack: comfortable with modern backend frameworks, APIs, and data modeling, as well as React/TypeScript on the frontend
Strong opinions about product experience, you notice when things feel off and you fix them, regardless of which layer the problem lives in
Ability to make pragmatic technical decisions that serve the product, not just the architecture
Comfort working in ambiguous, fast-moving environments with real customers and real stakes
Strong communication skills, you'll be in customer conversations regularly and need to translate between business needs and technical decisions
Extra Credit
Experience building or integrating AI-powered features in production, customer-facing products
Background working in or alongside enterprise deployment environments
History of close collaboration with designers, or a background in design yourself
Experience at a company with a forward-deployed or embedded engineering model
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, $500 wellness stipend
📚 Growth: $2,000 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.
Skills Required
- 5-6+ years of product engineering experience
- Expert-level proficiency with ReactJS
- Expert-level proficiency with TypeScript
- Strong frontend and product sensibility
- 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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