AI Research Engineer

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

• Design and implement post-training systems and methodologies in close partnership with research scientists and domain experts

• Build and maintain infrastructure that supports large-scale model training, specialized data processing, and benchmark evaluation

• Develop robust frameworks for verifying the quality and integrity of highly specialized domain datasets

• Create next-generation LLM benchmarks that push the boundaries of model evaluation and capabilities assessment

• Optimize performance across software and hardware layers to accelerate post-training experimentation and deployment

• Collaborate across disciplines to ensure rigorous validation of model improvements and benchmark reliability

Desired Capabilities

• Strong Python programming skills with attention to clean, efficient, and scalable code

• Experience building and operating large-scale systems for model post-training, specialized data processing, or benchmark evaluation

• Deep familiarity with PyTorch and modern post-training techniques (RLHF, constitutional AI, etc.)

• A background in applied machine learning, model evaluation, or large-scale data quality assessment

• Experience with benchmark design, evaluation methodologies, and performance measurement frameworks

• Clear communication skills and a collaborative mindset for cross-functional research teams

Extra Credit

• Experience optimizing deep learning models for performance (e.g., memory usage, training speed)

• Interest in the societal and ethical impacts of AI technologies

• Contributions to open-source ML infrastructure or tools

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

💻 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.