Everyone is welcome at Handshake. We know diverse teams build better products and we are committed to creating an inclusive culture built on a foundation of respect for all individuals. We strongly encourage candidates from non-traditional backgrounds, historically marginalized or underrepresented groups to apply.

Your impact

We’re seeking a hybrid researcher and product strategist—someone who speaks the language of cutting-edge AI labs and advanced research teams yet can translate their needs into actionable product roadmaps. Your mission: build deep relationships with technical buyers at top research labs and guide Handshake’s most ambitious AI-driven product initiatives.

This will be at our San Francisco location and this team is traditionally in the office five days a week. 

Your role

• Own Relationships with Top AI Researchers & Technical Buyers: Serve as Handshake’s primary liaison to leaders at frontier AI labs. Maintain active communication channels—so that when they face a critical AI talent challenge, you’re their first call.
• Be Our Research & Customer Whisperer: Dig beyond the surface of customer requests to uncover unarticulated needs. Bridge the gap between technical buyers and our product team, ensuring we solve the right problems before customers even realize they have them.
• Solve the Hardest Product Challenges in AI Talent: Define and prioritize roadmaps addressing tough questions like “How do we QA superhuman-level reasoning?” Collaborate with engineering and operations to scope, prototype, and launch solutions that push the boundaries of AI evaluation and deployment.

Key Responsibilities

• Customer-Centric Product Strategy: Translate AI research challenges into clear product objectives, ensuring we target high-impact areas.
• Technical Research & Prototyping: Stay current with the AI/ML research landscape—particularly large language models (LLMs) and agent-based systems—and turn cutting-edge ideas into proof-of-concepts.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Work with engineering, operations, and business teams to deliver end-to-end solutions, from concept through production.

Your experience

• AI/ML Expertise: Advanced degree (PhD preferred) or equivalent experience in Machine Learning, Computer Science, or related fields. Hands-on experience with LLMs and proficiency in frameworks like PyTorch, JAX, or TensorFlow—so you can meaningfully scope and evaluate technical approaches. Track record of publishing in top ML venues (ACL, EMNLP, NAACL, NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, COLM, etc.) or equivalent real-world research impact.
• Customer-Facing & Strategic Mindset: Exceptional communication skills, comfortable presenting complex technical topics to audiences ranging from C-suite to PhD-level researchers. Ability to empathize with customer needs, influence decision-makers, and drive internal alignment on strategic priorities.
• Problem-Solving in Ambiguous Environments: Proven capacity to define problems, propose solutions, and execute effectively in fast-moving, high-stakes contexts. Strong bias toward action and a willingness to innovate beyond traditional product playbooks.
• Technical Chops: Comfort debugging ML models and iterating on experiments at scale. Familiarity with cloud technology stacks (AWS, GCP, or similar) and ability to handle data workflows or ML pipelines in a production environment.

Why Join Us

• At Handshake, you’ll be at the forefront of shaping how the world’s leading AI labs discover and leverage top talent. This is more than just a product role—it’s a chance to define entire categories of AI-driven solutions in a rapidly evolving market. If you’re passionate about bridging advanced research with real-world impact, we’d love to talk.

Compensation range

• $200,000-$300,000

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 us

Handshake is the career platform for Gen Z. With a community of over 17 million students, alum