About Handshake AI

Handshake is building the career network for the AI economy. Our three-sided marketplace connects 18 million students and alumni, 1,500+ academic institutions across the U.S. and Europe, and 1 million employers to power how the next generation explores careers, builds skills, and gets hired.

Handshake AI is a human data labeling business that leverages the scale of the largest early career network. We work directly with the world’s leading AI research labs to build a new generation of human data products. From PhDs in physics to undergrads fluent in LLMs, Handshake AI is the trusted partner for domain-specific data and evaluation at scale.

This is a unique opportunity to join a fast-growing team shaping the future of AI through better data, better tools, and better systems—for experts, by experts.

Now’s a great time to join Handshake. Here’s why:

• Leading the AI Career Revolution: Be part of the team redefining work in the AI economy for millions worldwide.

• Proven Market Demand: Deep employer partnerships across Fortune 500s and the world’s leading AI research labs.

• World-Class Team: Leadership from Scale AI, Meta, xAI, Notion, Coinbase, and Palantir, just to name a few.

• Capitalized & Scaling: $3.5B valuation from top investors including Kleiner Perkins, True Ventures, Notable Capital, and more.

About the Role

Handshake AI is hiring a Commercial Finance Lead reporting to the Controller. In this role you will manage and improve the systems and processes involved in payments to Handshake AI fellows and specialists, including onboarding, contract management, incentives, and collaborating with cross-functional teams such as Product, Engineering, and Accounting. The position also involves supporting customer and project operations by maintaining revenue and profitability reporting, streamlining finance systems, and overseeing customer billing.

Additionally, the role plays a key part collaborating with corporate accounting, FP&A and core business operations on budget, key metrics and forecasting process. This is a great opportunity for someone who enjoys establishing new processes and building workflows, is able to adapt quickly, and can collaborate and plan with various cross-functional stakeholders.

• Lead analysis and reporting initiatives for tracking performance and revenue metrics, identify process gaps and recommend improvements.

• Maintain short- and long-term revenue forecasts at varying levels of granularity. Manage weekly, monthly, and quarterly financial reporting cycles, including project-level revenue, cost, and profitability analysis.

• Collaborate with Accounting and Operations teams on customer billing and work delivery progress, providing variance analyses and actionable insights.

• Provide inputs to the revenue recognition policies in partnership with the financial reporting team, monitor changes in customer agreements and their implications for reporting and planning.

• Work closely with FP&A, and Business Operations on budgeting, forecasting, and budget-versus-actual reviews; develop and maintain dashboards for management and board-level reporting.

• Support and update financial models inputs, analyze performance against key metrics, and evaluate the financial impact of new customer or contractor arrangements.

• Lead ongoing automation and data streamlining efforts to enhance scalability and efficiency in revenue and delivery tracking

Desired Capabilities

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Business Administration, Accounting, or a related field

• Experience: 3+ years in finance, accounting, or project management, with a proven track record of managing complex financial projects

• Financial Analysis: Expertise in financial modeling, budgeting, forecasting, and reporting; ability to analyze financial data and provide actionable insights

• Project Management: Strong project planning, execution, and monitoring skills; ability to deliver projects on time, within scope, and on budget

• Strong quantitative skills and the willingness to dig into data. Proven experience in building internal dashboards and translating complex datasets into clear, actionable insights. Proficiency in Microsoft Excel is required; experience with BigQuery is a strong plus.

• Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills for liaising with stakeholders, preparing reports, and presenting findings

• Collaboration: Ability to work cross-functionally with teams such as Accountin