Summary
Lead the architecture and evolution of Handshake's Reinforcement Learning Environments (RLE) platform, defining how frontier AI models learn real-world work. This high-impact technical leadership role drives system design, cross-team alignment, and long-term technical direction for a critical AI infrastructure platform.
Job Description
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 Staff Software Engineer to lead the architecture and evolution of our Reinforcement Learning Environments (RLE) platform—the systems that define how frontier AI models learn real-world work.
This is a high-impact, technical leadership role responsible for system design, cross-team alignment, and setting the long-term technical direction of RLE.
Location: San Francisco, CA (in-office, 5 days/week)
What You’ll Do
Define and drive architecture for scalable, extensible RLE systems and data pipelines
Lead development of platform capabilities enabling rapid domain creation
Partner with Research, Product, and Ops to shape strategy and execution
Set standards for reliability, observability, performance, and data quality
Mentor engineers and elevate engineering excellence across the team
Identify and solve systemic bottlenecks in scaling environments and data generation
What We’re Looking For
8+ years of experience in distributed systems, backend infrastructure, or ML platforms
Deep expertise in system design, data modeling, and scalable architectures
Strong proficiency with TypeScript, backend systems, and modern web stacks
Proven experience operating high-scale production systems in cloud environments
Track record of technical leadership and cross-functional influence
Nice to Have
Experience with RL infrastructure, simulation systems, or evaluation frameworks
Background supporting applied AI/ML research teams
Experience building platform-level abstractions used across multiple teams
What Success Looks Like
RLE becomes a foundational, trusted platform across teams and use cases
New domains scale rapidly with minimal engineering overhead
Systems demonstrate step-function improvements in model quality and reliability
Engineering velocity and system robustness increase across the organization
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
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