Handshake was founded on a simple belief that everyone deserves a path to a great career, regardless of where they went to school or who they know. Today, we power 25 million job seekers, 1 million+ employers, and 1,600 educational institutions.
In 2025, we started Handshake AI and built the fastest-growing AI data business in history. We work directly with frontier AI lab researchers to create evaluations, publish benchmarks, and push the boundary of data. We’ve grown from $0 to ~$1B run rate and pay ~$60M to over 30K individuals every month.
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
Partner hand-in-hand with world-class AI labs, Fortune 500 partners and the world’s top educational institutions
Work together with engineers, scientists, operators, and more from Palantir, Meta, Scale AI, and former YC founders
Build a massive, fast-growing business with billions in revenue
About Handshake AI
Human data is the core infrastructure to AI advancement. Frontier AI labs currently improve model capabilities with various data-intensive post-training techniques. We believe that data spend for AI training will increase by 3-5x in the next few years and continue for much longer as models take on new domains. Handshake AI supports all of the frontier AI labs, working on their most complex data at the largest scale.
About the RoleAs a Software Engineer II at Handshake, you'll own meaningful pieces of our core product—building the systems that power how millions of users discover opportunities, connect with employers, and launch their careers. You're past the fundamentals and ready to take on more: driving features end-to-end, contributing to technical design, and raising the bar for the engineers around you.
You'll work closely with product managers, designers, and senior engineers to ship full-stack experiences that are reliable, scalable, and user-obsessed. This is a role for someone who wants real ownership, not just tickets.
Location: San Francisco, CA | 5 days/week in-office
Own features end-to-end across frontend and backend, from technical design through production and iteration
Build scalable full-stack systems powering core user journeys—search, discovery, matching, and onboarding flows
Ship backend APIs, async workflows, and frontend experiences with a high bar for reliability and performance
Contribute meaningfully to architecture discussions, helping establish patterns the team can build on
Write clean, well-tested, maintainable code and actively participate in code reviews
Partner with product and design to translate ambiguous requirements into polished user experiences
Identify and address technical debt, system reliability gaps, and performance bottlenecks proactively
Desired Capabilities
3–5 years of professional software engineering experience building full-stack applications
Strong proficiency in TypeScript across frontend and backend surfaces
Hands-on experience with modern web stacks (React, Next.js, GraphQL, Ruby on Rails)
Solid command of relational databases (PostgreSQL) and thoughtful data modeling
Track record of owning features independently and driving them to completion
Strong communicator who collaborates well with product, design, and cross-functional partners
Comfortable navigating ambiguity and making sound tradeoffs in a fast-paced environment
Extra Credit
Experience building AI-powered products, conversational interfaces, or agentic frameworks (e.g., OpenAI APIs)
Familiarity with workflow orchestration tools like Temporal or async job systems
Exposure to marketplaces, matching systems, or multi-step onboarding flows
Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP) and deployment pipelines
Background at high-growth or scaling technology companies
Familiarity with design systems and component libraries for rapid deployment
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
- 3-5 years professional software engineering experience building full-stack applications
- Strong proficiency in TypeScript across frontend and backend
- Hands-on experience with React, Next.js, GraphQL, and Ruby on Rails
- Solid command of PostgreSQL and thoughtful data modeling
- Track record of owning features independently and driving them to completion
- Strong communicator who collaborates well with product, design, and cross-functional partners
- Comfortable navigating ambiguity and making sound tradeoffs in a fast-paced environment
- Experience building AI-powered products, conversational interfaces, or agentic frameworks (e.g., OpenAI APIs)
- Familiarity with workflow orchestration tools like Temporal or async job systems
- Exposure to marketplaces, matching systems, or multi-step onboarding flows
- Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP) and deployment pipelines
- Background at high-growth or scaling technology companies
- Familiarity with design systems and component libraries
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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