---
title: 'Senior Forward Deployed Engineer at Handshake'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-forward-deployed-engineer-handshake-india-7bjd7rfna8xj'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-14'
---

# Senior Forward Deployed Engineer at Handshake

- **Company:** [Handshake](https://feeny.ai/companies/handshake)
- **Location:** India
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-07-23
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-14
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/handshake/c57961b2-fdfa-4537-84b0-6416c42de9e4

## 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 Senior Forward Deployed Engineer to work directly with frontier AI labs to solve their most complex engineering challenges. As a Senior Forward Deployed Engineer, you'll own the end-to-end lifecycle of customer deployments—from understanding technical requirements to architecting, building, and scaling production systems that improve customer workflows and model performance. You'll operate across the stack, partnering closely with Engineering, Research, Product, and Operations teams in both India and the US to deliver solutions for our most strategic customers. This is a unique opportunity to combine deep software engineering with customer partnership, helping shape how Handshake AI delivers solutions to the world's leading AI labs. Location: Bengaluru, India. This is an in-office role.

## What You'll Do

- Partner directly with frontier AI labs to understand complex technical challenges and translate them into scalable engineering solutions
- Partner closely with Engineering, Research, Product, and Operations teams in the US to execute against a shared roadmap
- Design, build, and deploy production-grade applications that solve high-impact customer problems
- Own technical architecture for customer deployments with a focus on reliability, scalability, security, and maintainability
- Rapidly prototype, test, and iterate on solutions based on customer feedback
- Build reusable tools, frameworks, and deployment patterns that improve delivery across customer engagements
- Mentor engineers through technical leadership, code reviews, and engineering best practices
- Help establish a strong engineering culture as we continue building our India engineering organization

## What We're Looking For

- 6+ years of professional software engineering experience
- Experience leading technically complex customer-facing, solutions engineering, or forward deployed engineering projects
- Strong proficiency with TypeScript, React, and modern backend architectures
- Deep understanding of relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL), system design, distributed systems, and cloud infrastructure
- Experience building and operating production systems on AWS or GCP
- Strong technical judgment and the ability to solve complex engineering problems in fast-moving, ambiguous environments
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills
- Experience collaborating effectively with globally distributed engineering teams, including teams based in the US

## Nice to Have

- Experience building AI-powered products, LLM infrastructure, or machine learning platforms
- Experience working directly with enterprise customers or strategic technical partners
- Familiarity with Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD pipelines
- Experience supporting applied AI or ML research teams
- Experience working in a fast-growing startup or high-growth engineering organization

What Success Looks Like

- Customer deployments launch successfully and deliver measurable value
- Technical solutions become reusable across multiple customer engagements
- Deployments are reliable, scalable, and easy to maintain
- Customer feedback directly informs platform improvements and future product capabilities
- You become a trusted technical partner across customers and engineering teams in both India and the US

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.

## 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

- [Software Engineer II, Reinforcement Learning Environments](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-ii-reinforcement-learning-environments-handshake-india-fra8kaeep512) — India
- [Member of Technical Staff, Coding Agents](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-coding-agents-handshake-san-francisco-3enam33akj0c) — San Francisco, CA
- [Partnerships Lead - Integrations & Ecosystem](https://feeny.ai/job/partnerships-lead-integrations-ecosystem-handshake-united-states-tspy61x42312) — United States
- [Member of Technical Staff, Post-Training (India)](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-post-training-india-handshake-india-cxbfffpyvn0v) — India
- [Member of Technical Staff, AI Engineering (India)](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-ai-engineering-india-handshake-india-ntg51nad631j) — India
- [Senior Marketing Manager - Fellows](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-marketing-manager-fellows-handshake-san-francisco-jc7g3q2bdryk) — San Francisco, CA
- [HR, Manager - India](https://feeny.ai/job/hr-manager-india-handshake-india-vxw9svjvsrhj) — India
- [Forward Deployed Engineer I](https://feeny.ai/job/forward-deployed-engineer-i-handshake-india-v1y7tgkpw6yz) — India
- [Marketing Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/marketing-lead-handshake-nashville-ft3br6nsqvnz) — Nashville, TN
- [Machine Learning Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/machine-learning-engineer-handshake-san-francisco-030gj3b0c6ts) — San Francisco, CA