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, you will play a critical role in building the products and systems that power Handshake’s core user experiences—from search and discovery to onboarding and beyond. You’ll work across the full stack, shipping features that directly impact how millions of users find opportunities, connect with employers, and launch their careers.
You’ll collaborate closely with product managers, designers, and other engineers to deliver polished, end-to-end experiences in a fast-paced, mission-driven environment. Whether you’re building AI-powered features, scaling backend systems, or crafting intuitive frontends, your work will have real, measurable impact on users at scale.
Location: San Francisco, CA | 5 days/week in-office
Design and implement scalable full-stack systems powering core user journeys, including search, discovery, matching, and onboarding flows.
Build and iterate on product features across frontend and backend surfaces, balancing speed with code quality and correctness.
Ship backend APIs, asynchronous workflows, and frontend experiences that are reliable, scalable, and intuitive.
Partner closely with product managers and designers to translate requirements into polished, end-to-end user experiences.
Write high-quality, maintainable code while contributing to code reviews and engineering best practices.
Debug and resolve issues related to system reliability, user flows, and performance.
Contribute to architectural decisions and help establish patterns for scalable, secure deployments.
Grow toward increased technical ownership by learning from senior engineers on the team.
Desired Capabilities
2+ years of professional software engineering experience building full-stack applications.
Strong proficiency in TypeScript, with comfort working across frontend and backend.
Experience with modern web stacks (e.g., React, Next.js, GraphQL, Ruby on Rails).
Solid understanding of relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL) and data modeling.
Product-oriented mindset with a focus on user experience and business outcomes.
Strong communication skills and comfort collaborating cross-functionally with product, design, and other engineering teams.
Comfortable working in a fast-paced, dynamic environment with a focus on continuous learning and improvement.
Extra Credit
Experience with AI-powered products, chatbots, conversational interfaces, or agentic frameworks (e.g., OpenAI APIs).
Familiarity with workflow orchestration tools such as Temporal or asynchronous job systems.
Exposure to matching systems, marketplaces, or multi-step onboarding flows.
Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP) and deployment pipelines.
Background at high-growth or scaling technology companies.
Familiarity with component libraries, design systems, and building reusable interfaces 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.
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
Gallery
.png)
