Staff Software Engineer, RLE at Handshake

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