Software Engineer II at Handshake in San Francisco, CA

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 As a Software Engineer II on Fellow Development, you’ll build the learning, feedback, and community systems that help Handshake AI’s network of AI trainers do their best work. You'll own features end-to-end, drive technical design, and ship tools that directly shape how tens of thousands of people train and evaluate AI models. This role rewards engineers who are curious about the problem, not just the code. You'll work closely with PMs, operators, and the L&T team to understand what makes a great fellow experience, translate that into reliable, scalable systems, and own the outcome from first line of code to launch. Location: San Francisco, CA | 5 days/week in-office - Own features end-to-end across frontend and backend, from scoping and technical design through launch and iteration - Build the full-stack systems that power how fellows learn, get feedback, and improve their work - Partner closely with product and design to translate ambiguous requirements into polished, reliable user experiences - Contribute meaningfully to architecture discussions and help establish patterns the team can build on - Write clean, well-tested, maintainable code and actively participate in code reviews - Collaborate across engineering, L&T, and operations to understand how your work lands and iterate based on real usage - Proactively identify and address technical debt, reliability gaps, and performance bottlenecks DESIRED CAPABILITIES - 3–5 years of professional software engineering experience building full-stack applications - Strong proficiency in TypeScript across frontend and backend surfaces - Hands-on experience with modern web stacks (React, Next.js, GraphQL) - Solid command of relational databases (PostgreSQL) and thoughtful data modeling - Track record of owning features independently and driving them to completion - Strong communicator who collaborates well with product, design, and cross-functional partners - Comfortable navigating ambiguity and making sound tradeoffs in a fast-paced environment EXTRA CREDIT - Strong user-facing product instincts — you care as much about the experience as the implementation - Background in edtech, learning platforms, or tools that help people improve at something - Familiarity with workflow orchestration tools like Temporal or async job systems 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, $500 wellness stipend 📚 Growth: $2,000 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.