About Handshake

Handshake is the career network for the AI economy. With 20M+ knowledge workers, 1,600 educational institutions, 1M employers (including 100% of the Fortune 50), and every major AI lab on the planet, we sit at the intersection of talent, education, and frontier AI. In 2025, we tripled ARR at scale - and we’re just getting started.

Why join Handshake now:

• Shape how careers evolve in the AI economy, at global scale

• Work directly with frontier AI labs, Fortune 500 companies, and top universities

• Join a leadership team with alumni from Scale AI, Meta, xAI, Notion, Coinbase, and Palantir

• Build and scale a business with a credible path to billions in revenue

The Role

We are hiring a General Manager, India to own Handshake AI’s presence, operations, and growth in the region. This role is accountable for execution, talent, operating rigor, and long-term scale in India. You will stand up and lead one of Handshake’s most critical global hubs, ensuring India becomes a durable, high-performing engine for AI delivery and innovation.

You will operate with broad autonomy and real authority, partnering closely with US-based executives and teams while building local leadership, systems, and culture. Your success will directly impact Handshake’s ability to serve frontier AI labs with speed, quality, and reliability at global scale.

• Own Handshake AI’s India operations end-to-end, acting as the senior-most leader and decision-maker in-region

• Build, scale, and lead multi-layered teams delivering high-stakes human data and evaluation programs with consistent quality and on-time execution

• Establish and operate end-to-end delivery systems (staffing, workflows, metrics, reviews) to increase throughput, utilization, and cost efficiency across strategic initiatives

• Develop local leadership: grow managers into strong operators and people leaders capable of scaling orgs, not just teams

• Establish scalable processes and operating norms that enable seamless collaboration across India and US teams with minimal dependency and handoffs

• Partner with global stakeholders on strategy, resourcing, and long-term expansion plans

You Have

Must-Haves:

• 10+ years in execution-heavy, operationally complex environments (AI/data operations, marketplaces, large-scale services, strategy & ops)

• 5+ years leading managers and senior operators with clear accountability for outcomes

• Proven ability to stand up organizations, systems, and operating cadence in ambiguous, fast-scaling environments

• Strong business judgment and ownership mindset — you run the business, not just the org chart

• Hands-on leadership style; comfortable stepping into the details when execution is at risk

• Deep people leadership skills across hiring, performance management, coaching, and succession planning

• Experience working with globally distributed teams across time zones

• Track record of building culture, discipline, and operational excellence from scratch

Bonus Points:

• Background in AI, data labeling, evaluation, or technical services organizations

• Prior GM, Country Manager, or Head-of-Region experience

• Experience scaling offshore or international hubs from early stage to maturity

• Experience in high-growth startups or zero-to-one team builds

Perks

• Competitive base salary + generous equity grant (4-year vest)

• Well-defined performance bonus (10–100% of base)

• Housing bonus spread across the first year

• Comprehensive medical insurance

• Food credit for every in-office day