Senior Software Engineer, Consumer Experience
Skills
About the role
Location
San Francisco, CA
Employment Type
Full time
Department
Engineering
Compensation
$225K – $250K • Offers Equity
For cash compensation, we set standard ranges for all U.S.-based roles based on function, level, and geographic location, benchmarked against similar stage growth companies. In order to be compliant with local legislation, as well as to provide greater transparency to candidates, we share salary ranges on all job postings regardless of desired hiring location. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors, including geographic location as well as candidate experience and expertise, and may vary from the amounts listed above.
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.
Compensation Range: $225K - $250K
Compensation
This Software Engineer role pays $225k-$250k/yr. Within typical range for software engineer roles in United States.
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