Senior Software Engineer, Consumer Experience

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 Senior Software Engineer on the Consumer Experience 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. Your Role Lead the design and development of consumer-facing features that enhance user engagement and streamline the student-employer connection process Architect and scale distributed systems to support millions of users, ensuring high availability and performance Influence technical direction by collaborating with cross-functional teams to align engineering efforts with business goals Bring a startup mindset — ship quickly, iterate based on real user feedback, and favor pragmatic solutions that deliver value over premature polish Mentor and elevate engineers across the team, fostering a culture of growth and technical excellence Champion engineering best practices that raise the bar on product quality and team efficiency Desired Capabilities 5+ years of software engineering experience with a proven track record of owning and delivering large-scale, complex distributed systems Ability to work independently on well-scoped technical problems, with growing influence on team-level technical decisions Strong proficiency in Go, Python, or Typescript with a focus on maintainable, high-quality production systems Solid experience with relational databases, particularly PostgreSQL, including schema design and query performance Solid understanding of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and modern system design principles Comfort operating with ambiguity and moving fast in a fast-paced, results-oriented environment Exceptional communication skills with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to diverse audiences Extra Credit Background in search, recommendations, ranking systems, or personalization Experience building AI-powered agentic systems, including LLM-based applications 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.