Senior Program Lead, Fellow Experience

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

The Role

The Senior Program Lead, Fellow Experience is a senior individual contributor role responsible for designing, operating, and continuously improving a dedicated Fellow program in partnership with one of Handshake AI’s top frontier AI lab customers. This role owns the structure, systems, and execution of a single, high-impact, cohort-based program that supports advanced AI research and data initiatives for a flagship customer.

Handshake AI is a rapidly growing startup, and this role is well-suited for someone who thrives in early-stage environments while holding a high bar for rigor, consistency, and professionalism. You will be responsible for bringing clarity, structure, and repeatability to a complex, customer-specific program, while partnering closely with teams across Operations, Product, Learning, and Strategic Project Leads.

As the first dedicated Program Lead for Fellow Experience, you will play a foundational role in shaping how customer-specific programs are designed, run, and scaled over time. This role requires strong judgment, executive presence, and the ability to balance near-term delivery for a single, demanding customer with longer-term system building. You will operate with significant autonomy and influence, without relying on formal authority.

What You’ll Own

Program Design & Execution

• Design, launch, and operate a cohort-based Fellow program dedicated to a single frontier AI lab customer, working closely with Delivery pods to balance delivery requirements, Fellow retention, and operational efficiency.

• Own program structure, timelines, onboarding models, and communication standards for this customer’s cohorts.

• Translate ambiguous customer and internal objectives into clear program plans and operating cadences in partnership with Strategic Project Leads.

Fellow Experience & Retention

• Own the end-to-end Fellow experience for this specific customer program, from onboarding through program completion and ongoing engagement.

• Partner closely with Delivery Leads, Product and Learning teams to ensure Fellows are set up for success against customer-specific expectations and quality standards.

• Drive measurable improvements in Fellow retention, engagement, satisfaction, and program completion for the customer program.

• Identify recurring friction points that impact Fellow performance, morale, or delivery quality and implement durable, scalable solutions.

Operational Excellence, Scalable Systems & Automation

• Build and refine playbooks, workflows, and lightweight systems that enable consistency today and scalability over time.

• Design program operations with leverage in mind, creating reusable frameworks and documentation that can be applied to future customers and cohorts.
Identify and implement opportunities to use automation, internal tooling, and AI-powered workflows to reduce manual effort, improve quality, and increase reliability.

• Reduce program-level escalations through stronger structure, clearer communication, and system-level improvements.

Cross-Functional Leadership & Influence

• Partner closely with Delivery Leads, Product Managers, Learning, and other teams supporting the frontier AI lab.

• Serve as a trusted point of contact for program-level issues related to this customer that span multiple teams or functions.

• Represent the Fellow Experience perspective in customer-specific planning, risk discussions, and escalation management.

Data, Automation & Continuous Improvement

• Use data, Fellow feedback, and direct observation to iterate on program design and execution in alignment with customer needs.

• Synthesize insights and share recommendations that inform improvements across Fellow Experience, Product, and Operations, particularly for high-stakes customer programs.

• Experiment thoughtfully with automation and AI tools to improve Fellow experience, operational consistency, and internal efficiency, and codify successful approaches into repeatable playbooks.

You Have

• Approximately 5-7+ years of experience in program management, operations, or related roles, ideally within high-growth or early-stage environments.

• Demonstrated success stabilizing, scaling, or improving complex programs or operational systems.

• Comfortable operating as a senior individual contributor with broad ownership, autonomy, and accountability.

• Strong judgment and emotional intelligence; able to set high standards while building trust and collaboration.

• Proven ability to influence cross-functional partners who own adjacent or overlapping responsibilities.

• Experience building or implementing scalable systems, automations, or tooling in program or operations contexts.

• Highly organized and operationally rigorous, with a data-informed approach to decision-making.

• Excellent written and verbal communicator, capable of engaging technical, academic, and operational audiences.

• Empathetic toward Fellows while maintaining a clear point of view on performance, accountability, and program outcomes.

• Motivated by working closely with emerging AI technologies and contributing to a mission-driven startup environment.

We Offer
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 atjoinhandshake.com/careers.