Senior Software Engineer, Operator Tooling

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

As a Senior Software Engineer on Operating Tooling, you’ll build internal products and automation that help Handshake’s operators run the business at high quality and speed. This team functions like an embedded/consulting engineering group: you’ll partner directly with operators, learn their workflows deeply, and deliver pragmatic solutions that remove friction, improve quality, and enable new operational capabilities.

This role is highly collaborative and communication-heavy. Success requires strong technical fundamentals plus high EQ—someone who can translate ambiguous operational needs into reliable systems, and iteratively ship improvements that stick.

In this role, you will:

• Embed with operators to understand processes, pain points, and success metrics; translate them into clear technical requirements and deliverables.

• Architect and build internal tools, automations, and workflows that improve operational throughput, accuracy, and visibility.

• Lead projects end-to-end: discovery, scoping, technical design, implementation, rollout, and iteration.

• Balance speed and quality by making thoughtful tradeoffs, ensuring maintainability, and building with operational reliability in mind.

• Collaborate closely with cross-functional partners (operators, engineering, product) to drive adoption and measurable impact.

• Mentor other engineers and help establish strong engineering practices for an internal-tools environment.

Desired Capabilities

• 5+ years of software engineering experience, with comfort owning systems end-to-end (from requirements through production support).

• Strong communication skills and stakeholder management; able to partner deeply with non-engineering teams and operate with high empathy/EQ.

• Experience building internal tools, workflow systems, or automation for operations-heavy teams (or analogous customer-embedded roles like FDE / solutions engineering).

• Strong engineering judgment: can design scalable systems, pick the right level of abstraction, and avoid over-building.

• Track record of delivering iterative, high-leverage improvements in ambiguous environments.

Extra Credit

• Experience with workflow/backlog systems, intake processes, and operational analytics (instrumentation, dashboards, QA).

• Comfort operating in a “player-coach” environment (mix of hands-on building plus lightweight coordination/mentorship as the team grows).

• Background building tooling for knowledge-work operations (e.g., case management, review/approval flows, data quality tooling).

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.