---
title: 'HR, Manager - India at Handshake'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/hr-manager-india-handshake-india-vxw9svjvsrhj'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-14'
---

# HR, Manager - India at Handshake

- **Company:** [Handshake](https://feeny.ai/companies/handshake)
- **Location:** India
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-10-09
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-14
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/handshake/2b95294a-2c55-4216-96df-2db25f2b939d

## 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 0to~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. We are building our India team to help accelerate the development of frontier models. This team is a critical, strategic investment for us - we have grown the team 3x in the past six months to help fuel our next phase of growth. India-based teammates will work hand-in-hand with US-based teams to scope, execute, and deliver critical human data projects to Frontier Labs and other customers.

## About the Role

Handshake AI's Bangalore team is growing fast, and we need an HR Manager who can be the reliable first point of contact for our India-based employees - someone equally comfortable answering a benefits question, keeping us compliant with local labor law, and flexing up to help resolve a sensitive employee relations issue or support light workforce planning. This is a hands-on role with real range: mostly foundational HR work, done well, with room to stretch into higher-judgment partnering as you build.

- Own front-line employee relations and HR compliance for our Bangalore team, resolving day-to-day policy, leave, and benefits questions accurately and on the same day
- Independently triage and resolve routine employee complaints and workplace concerns, escalating complex cases to HRBP leadership with clear context and a recommended path
- Maintain HR policies, documentation, and statutory compliance (POSH, PF, ESI, Shops & Establishments Act, gratuity, etc.) that keep Handshake AI audit-ready as the India team scales
- Partner closely with recruiting on onboarding, offer logistics, and new-hire compliance, and collaborate cross-functionally with our US-based People team on shared processes and projects
- Support light workforce and team planning - tracking headcount, leave, and org changes - so managers and HRBPs have accurate, up-to-date data to plan against
- Manage the complete employee lifecycle, from onboarding through offboarding, ensuring smooth transitions, compliance, and a positive employee experience at every stage.

You Have:

- 4-6 years of experience in an HR Manager, HR Generalist, or Associate HRBP role, ideally at a fast-growing tech or startup company
- Working knowledge of Indian labor law and statutory compliance requirements (POSH, PF, ESI, Shops & Establishments Act, gratuity)
- A track record of resolving employee questions and routine ER issues independently, with good judgment on what to escalate and when
- Strong stakeholder management and partnership skills - comfortable building trust with employees, managers, recruiting, and a US-based People team
- Comfort handling sensitive employee situations with discretion, empathy, and professionalism
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate policy into plain, practical language
- Experience with HRIS, payroll/EOR, or ticketing tools (e.g., Deel, Workday, Freshservice) to manage employee inquiries at scale
- High attention to detail and comfort operating with some ambiguity in a fast-moving environment
- Genuine excitement about Handshake's mission and the AI economy.

Bonus points:

- Experience working cross-functionally with a US-based team, including comfort with some overlap hours
- Exposure to contractor, gig, or data-annotation workforce models
- Familiarity partnering with Employers of Record (EOR) like Deel or Rippling
- Prior experience flexing between generalist HR execution and higher-judgment HRBP-style partnering.

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.

## About Handshake

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Handshake is the career network for the AI economy, connecting job seekers with internships, full-time roles, freelance gigs, and AI training work through a three-sided marketplace.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series F; total funding $434M across 6 rounds)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, USA
- **Founded**: 2014
- **Founders**: Garrett Lord (CEO), Ben Christensen, Scott Ringwelski

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Career platform / Job marketplace / AI workforce infrastructure
- **Target customers**: B2C (job seekers, from students to experienced professionals) and B2B (employers including 100% of Fortune 500 and all foundational AI labs; also educational institutions)
- **Mission**: Expand access and improve outcomes for job seekers, helping the workforce stay ahead in the AI economy.

## Products & Services
- **Handshake Core Platform**: A three-sided marketplace connecting 25 million knowledge workers, 1,600+ schools, and 1 million employers. Features dynamic profiles, intelligent job matching, and interactive skill-building.
- **Handshake AI Enterprise**: AI-powered tools for employers and job seekers, including AI-driven matching, safety features, and pay management.
- **AI Trainer Gigs**: Paid, flexible, remote work for individuals to train and evaluate AI models (e.g., AI Evaluation Specialist, up to $40/hr) – no prior AI experience required.
- **Handshake Network**: Community events, career advice, and networking for students, experts, and professionals in AI and other fields.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding $434M (6 rounds); annual revenue $56.5M (LinkedIn estimate)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Board includes representatives from General Catalyst, Kleiner Perkins, EQT Ventures, True Ventures, and Niantic. Strategic partners include 100% of the Fortune 500 and foundational AI labs.
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount at 5,272 employees (+708.8% YoY per LinkedIn); 1M+ companies on platform; 25M users; expansion into AI trainer gig economy; new roles in HAI (Handshake AI Enterprise) such as Applied AI Engineer, AI Platform Engineer, and Forward Deployed Engineer.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Network effects**: The only three-sided marketplace linking students, employers, and educational institutions at scale.
- **AI-first positioning**: Deep integration of AI into job matching, skill-building, and new freelance training roles – creating a unique ecosystem for the AI economy.
- **Trusted by elite institutions**: 1,600+ partner schools and every Fortune 500 company provides unparalleled reach into early-career talent.

## Strategic Focus
- **AI economy expansion**: Building the “career network for the AI economy” – expanding beyond college students to all knowledge workers, and adding AI training gigs as a new revenue and engagement stream.
- **Product innovation**: Heavy investment in Handshake AI Enterprise (HAI), including AI matching, safety, and pay infrastructure.
- **Global scaling**: Offices in San Francisco, New York, UK, and Bangalore; operating in 32 countries.

## Why Work Here
- **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.

## Sources
1. [joinhandshake.com/about](https://joinhandshake.com/about/)
2. [joinhandshake.com/careers](https://joinhandshake.com/careers/)
3. [linkedin.com/company/team-handshake](https://www.linkedin.com/company/team-handshake)
4. [joinhandshake.com](https://joinhandshake.com/)

## Other roles at Handshake

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- [Partnerships Lead - Integrations & Ecosystem](https://feeny.ai/job/partnerships-lead-integrations-ecosystem-handshake-united-states-tspy61x42312) — United States
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