Handshake

Forward Deployed Engineer I, Handshake AI

San Francisco, CA · Full-time

Sponsorship not specifiedDetected 8 hours ago

TypeScriptReactFull-Stack DevelopmentCode ReviewPostgreSQLAWSGCPCloud PlatformsLLMsDesign SystemsCommunication

About the role

As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you'll work at the intersection of our engineering organization and our most strategic customers, including leading AI labs.
You'll operate across the stack in ambiguous, fast-changing environments, working closely with senior engineers to shape how we approach our most critical partnerships.

Partner with AI labs and cross-functional stakeholders to understand technical challenges, help translate requirements into actionable engineering plans, and contribute to alignment across teams.
Build and iterate on tailored, production-grade solutions for complex customer needs, often with guidance from senior engineers and minimal existing playbooks.
Contribute to architectural discussions around reliability, scalability, and security, and help implement repeatable deployment patterns.
Eagerness to learn from and collaborate with senior engineers, with growing interest in raising the bar on engineering practices.

Some experience with performance optimization of full-stack applications.
Interest in or early experience with forward-deployed, solutions engineering, technical consulting, or customer facing work.

Participate actively in code reviews and contribute to best practices for forward-deployed work.
1-4 years of professional software engineering experience, ideally including some exposure to customer-facing, solutions-oriented, or forward-deployed work.
Strong proficiency with ReactJS and TypeScript, with a solid bar for code quality, usability, and accessibility.
Some experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP), deployment pipelines, and production operations.
Demonstrated ability to contribute to technical projects in ambiguous environments with shifting requirements.
Exposure to architecting or delivering systems for LLMs or other AI-powered products in customer-facing environments.

Rapidly prototype, test, and iterate on tools in response to real-time feedback, balancing speed of delivery with long-term maintainability.

💰 Financial Wellness: 401(k) match, competitive compensation, financial coaching

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
🏝 Time Off: Flexible PTO, 15 holidays + 2 flex days
Explore our mission, values, and comprehensive US benefits at joinhandshake.com/careers http://joinhandshake.com/careers.
Partner hand-in-hand with world-class AI labs, Fortune 500 partners and the world's top educational institutions
Build a massive, fast-growing business with billions in revenue
💻 Remote & Office: Internet, commuting, and free lunch/gym in our SF office

Handshake was founded on a simple belief that everyone deserves a path to a great career, regardless of where they went to school or who they know.
Today, we power 25 million job seekers, 1 million+ employers, and 1,600 educational institutions.
In 2025, we started Handshake AI and built the fastest-growing AI data business in history.
We work directly with frontier AI lab researchers to create evaluations, publish benchmarks, and push the boundary of data.
We've grown from $0 to ~$1B run rate and pay ~$60M to over 30K individuals every month.
Team outings & referral bonuses

This listing is sourced directly from Handshake's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.