---
title: 'Senior Software Engineer, Growth at Handshake'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-growth-handshake-san-francisco-e9xnk0k0mt19'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-28'
---

# Senior Software Engineer, Growth at Handshake

- **Company:** [Handshake](https://feeny.ai/companies/handshake)
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Posted:** 2026-10-21
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-28
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/handshake/b99dd0a6-11f9-4d42-b8f7-970c32d4cd75

## 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 the Role

As a Senior Software Engineer on the Growth team, you'll build the products that connect millions of students with employers. You'll drive meaningful technical initiatives, shape the technical direction of the team, and deliver high-quality, scalable solutions that directly impact one of the fastest-growing career platforms in the world. This role is onsite 5 days a week in our SF office.

## Your Role

- Design, build, and ship experiments across the user funnel — onboarding, activation, retention, notifications — with a strong bias toward measurable impact
- Architect and scale distributed systems to support millions of users, ensuring high availability and performance
- Partner with Product Managers and Data Scientists to translate growth hypotheses into technical designs and shippable experiments
- Mentor and elevate engineers across the team, fostering a culture of growth and technical excellence
- Balance speed and rigor — know when to move fast with a lightweight test and when a feature needs production-grade durability

Desired Capabilities

- 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, ideally with exposure to consumer-facing or growth-focused products
- Strong fundamentals in backend and/or full-stack development (adjust based on your stack — e.g., Ruby on Rails, GraphQL, React, or equivalent)
- Experience building or working within experimentation platforms (e.g., feature flagging, A/B testing frameworks, statistical significance tooling)
- A track record of shipping iteratively and learning from real user data, not just building to spec
- Strong collaboration skills — you can work fluidly with PMs, designers, and data scientists, and can communicate trade-offs clearly
- A growth mindset: curiosity about why something worked or didn't, not just whether it shipped

Extra Credit

- Background in notification, acquisition, user authentication/authorization at scale
- Background in mobile growth (iOS/Android) alongside web
- Familiarity with LLM-powered features or AI-assisted product experiences
- Prior experience in high-growth or rapidly scaling environments

## Perks

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, wellness stipend 📚 Growth: 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](http://joinhandshake.com/careers).

## 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

- [Strategic Insights Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/strategic-insights-lead-handshake-san-francisco-b22enpvc91qw) — San Francisco, CA
- [Senior Enterprise Customer Success Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-enterprise-customer-success-manager-handshake-new-york-q5m58yt5zhgh) — New York, NY
- [Senior Recruiter, India](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-recruiter-india-handshake-india-90f737k03hp3) — India
- [Senior Sales Compensation Analyst](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-sales-compensation-analyst-handshake-san-francisco-hq1nq8rdmvjj) — San Francisco, CA
- [Workplace Experience Coordinator, India (Contract)](https://feeny.ai/job/workplace-experience-coordinator-india-contract-handshake-india-ns5vj37d2txc) — India
- [Manager, Strategic Projects (Safety)](https://feeny.ai/job/manager-strategic-projects-safety-handshake-seattle-bbhcp3bp3txa) — Seattle, WA
- [Strategic Account Executive](https://feeny.ai/job/strategic-account-executive-handshake-united-states-1nyc1b80454d) — United States
- [Director of Communications, Careers](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-communications-careers-handshake-san-francisco-66qa3155e7wg) — San Francisco, CA
- [Senior Software Engineer, Coding](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-coding-handshake-india-ywjxwgbv16yw) — India
- [Data Partnerships Representative](https://feeny.ai/job/data-partnerships-representative-handshake-nashville-tacv4vd39520) — Nashville, TN