Forward Deployed Engineer I at Handshake (India)
Handshake· India·
Role details
Handshake at a glance
Handshake is the career network for the AI economy, pairing a three-sided student-employer-school job marketplace with a fast-growing AI training-data business that supplies frontier labs.
Handshake runs a three-sided marketplace connecting job seekers, employers, and college career centers, with matching, profiles, and skill-building. In 2025 it launched Handshake AI, which turns its network of educated members into a contractor workforce that produces training data and evaluations for frontier AI labs.
$434M raised · latest: Series F · $200M · Jan 2022 · $3.5B valuation · backed by Coatue Management, Valiant Peregrine Fund, Kleiner Perkins, Spark Capital
Job description
ABOUT HANDSHAKE
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 ROLE
We're hiring a Forward Deployed Engineer I to join our Forward Deployed Engineering team, building production software that helps frontier AI labs solve real-world problems.
You'll partner with senior engineers to develop, deploy, and iterate on customer-facing solutions while working across the full software stack. As part of our growing engineering organization in India, you'll collaborate closely with teammates across India and have opportunities to work alongside Engineering, Research, Product, and Operations teams in the US on high-impact customer initiatives.
This role is ideal for engineers who enjoy solving challenging technical problems, learning quickly, and building software in a fast-moving, highly collaborative environment.
Location: Bengaluru, India. This is an in-office role.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
- Build and maintain production software supporting customer deployments
- Partner with senior engineers to design and deliver customer-facing solutions
- Collaborate with Engineering, Research, Product, and Operations teams to build scalable production systems
- Develop full-stack applications using React, TypeScript, and modern backend technologies
- Help translate customer requirements into reliable, scalable software solutions
- Improve system reliability, performance, and maintainability
- Continuously learn, grow, and contribute to a rapidly evolving engineering organization
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR
- 3+ years of professional software engineering experience
- Strong programming skills using TypeScript, React, and modern backend development
- Solid understanding of relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL), APIs, and software engineering fundamentals
- Experience building and maintaining production software
- Familiarity with cloud platforms such as AWS or GCP
- Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to thrive in fast-moving, ambiguous environments
- Excellent collaboration and communication skills
NICE TO HAVE
- Experience collaborating with globally distributed engineering teams, including teams based in the US
- Experience working on customer-facing products or implementation projects
- Experience with AI-powered applications or machine learning infrastructure
- Familiarity with Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD pipelines
- Experience working in a fast-growing startup or high-growth engineering organization
WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
- Customer deployments launch successfully and deliver measurable value
- Production systems are reliable, scalable, and maintainable
- Engineering work helps accelerate customer adoption and platform growth
- You become a trusted contributor across engineering teams in both India and the US
- You continue to grow technically while helping build Handshake AI's engineering organization in India
You’ll Thrive Here If You:
- Are motivated by solving operational problems that have direct, measurable impact.
- Want to be part of a company shaping the future of AI through human data.
- Can navigate ambiguity, act with urgency, and keep multiple workstreams moving in parallel.
Perks:
- Generous Equity Grant vested over 4 years
- Housing Bonus: 1.3 Lakhs spread throughout the first year
- Well Defined Performance Bonus ranging between 10 - 100% of base
- Medical Insurance Coverage
- Food credit for every in person day.
Why work at Handshake
- Culture: Values include “Students first,” “Leave nothing to chance,” “Own the outcome,” “Invent and reinvent,” and “Olympic pace.” Emphasis on ownership, urgency, and constant evolution.
- Remote/Hybrid policy: Many roles are based in San Francisco or New York, but some positions (e.g., Trust & Safety Specialist, Support Specialist) are remote in the US. Recent openings show both office and remote options.
- Benefits: Health & wellness support, financial support, time off, modern offices with meals, snacks, and social activities. Strong focus on career growth and learning.
- Career growth: Rapid headcount growth suggests ample internal mobility; roles range from engineering (ML, AI, data) to customer success, partnerships, and product management.