About the role
About Handshake Handshake is the career network for the AI economy. 20 million knowledge workers, 1,600 educational institutions, 1 million employers (including 100% of the Fortune 50), and every foundational AI lab trust Handshake to power career discovery, hiring, and upskilling, from freelance AI training gigs to first internships to full-time careers and beyond. This unique value is leading to unparalleled growth; in 2025, we tripled our ARR at scale. 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 Work hand-in-hand with world-class AI labs, Fortune 500 partners and the world’s top educational institutions Join a team with leadership from Scale AI, Meta, xAI, Notion, Coinbase, and Palantir, among others Build a massive, fast-growing business with billions in revenue About the Role We’re hiring a Software Engineer to build our Reinforcement Learning Environments (RLE) platform—the interactive systems where frontier AI models learn to complete real-world work. This role owns meaningful components end-to-end and plays a key part in scaling systems that power model training and evaluation. Location: San Francisco, CA (in-office, 5 days/week) What You’ll Do Build and scale core components of RLE environments and infrastructure Design and implement backend systems and data pipelines Translate ambiguous product and research needs into production systems Develop modular, reusable workflow domains Improve reliability, observability, and system performance What We’re Looking For 4-6 years of experience in backend, distributed systems, or ML-adjacent infrastructure Strong proficiency in ReactJS and TypeScript Solid experience with relational databases (PostgreSQL) and data modeling Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS/GCP) and CI/CD Ability to independently drive projects from design to production Nice to Have Experience with simulation systems or evaluation platforms Exposure to ML systems or working with research teams Experience in fast-moving, operations-heavy environments What Success Looks Like Owns and delivers key RLE components end-to-end Improves system scalability and developer velocity Enables faster launch of new domains with high-quality data 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 💻 Office: Commuting support, free lunch, and gym in our SF office 🏝 Time Off: Flexible PTO, 15 holidays + 2 flex days 🤝 Connection: Team outings & referral bonuses