---
title: 'Strategic Projects Lead, Coding at Handshake'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/strategic-projects-lead-coding-handshake-india-e1za26fs7zw6'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-14'
---

# Strategic Projects Lead, Coding at Handshake

- **Company:** [Handshake](https://feeny.ai/companies/handshake)
- **Location:** India
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-10-05
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-14
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/handshake/1f996bb7-53b5-4150-be1e-4bdf183b83dc/application

**Skills:** Python, SQL, TypeScript, Node, Java, Unit tests, CI, Version control, AI, ML, Data operations, Workforce management, Data labeling, Model evaluation

> Runs multi-week to multi-month coding data initiatives for AI teams, coordinating skilled fellows and designing technical evaluation workflows. Bridges ML, product, and engineering with operations to ensure delivery, quality, and customer satisfaction.

## 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. 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.

## The Role

As the Strategic Projects Lead you’ll run multi-week to multi-month coding data initiatives for leading AI and platform teams. You’ll coordinate hundreds to thousands of highly skilled SWE Fellows, design and own technical evaluation and annotation workflows, and be accountable for delivery, margins, quality and customer relationships. You’ll write and validate coding assessments, build rubric-driven code review processes, instrument quality signals, and quickly adapt workflows when systems and people need to flex to meet deadlines. This role bridges ML/product/engineering and operations — hands-on with code, fluent with metrics, and ruthless about data quality. What you'll do:

- Multi-million ARR-equivalent program scope and delivery metrics.
- End-to-end delivery of coding-data programs: scoping → assessment design → Fellow selection → annotation → QA → customer feedback.
- Design and run technical screens (take-homes, unit-test driven tasks, live coding) that populate the SWE Talent Bench
- Create rubrics, audit processes and tooling to ensure code annotations/model labels meet production quality.
- Create scripts/infrastructure (Python/TypeScript/SQL) to automate QA, analytics and reporting.

You Have

- 4+ years of experience in technical or analytical roles such as software engineering, data, analytics, or technical product.
- A technical degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or similar and/or hands-on experience with coding (Python, SQL, or similar).
- Strong coding skills (Python, TypeScript/Node, Java or equivalent) and practical experience with unit tests, CI, version control, and basic infra.
- Strong analytical and data driven problem solver, with a first principles approach to scaling and operational challenges.
- Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills, able to work closely with technical teams and customers while juggling multiple high priority projects.
- Entrepreneurial, high ownership mindset, with a high degree of agency, comfort with ambiguity, and pride in end to end outcomes.
- Fast learner with deep curiosity about AI, able to quickly pick up complex and technical concepts and stay up to date on LLMs and AI trends.

You don’t need to be a full-time engineer in this role, but you should be technical enough to reason deeply about systems, data quality, and tradeoffs, and to earn credibility with technical stakeholders.

Desired Capabilities

- Technical background (CS degree or proficiency in SQL/Python for analytics).
- Experience in AI, ML, or data operations, particularly in workforce management, data labeling, or model evaluation.
- Previous experience in a high-growth startup or an AI-focused company.

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.
- Are ambitious and looking for a stepping stone into leadership roles in operations or client strategy

## 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