Senior Forward Deployed 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
As a Senior Forward Deployed Engineer, you'll serve as a technical leader at the intersection of our engineering organization and our most strategic customers, including leading AI labs. You'll own the end-to-end lifecycle of high-impact deployments—from scoping complex technical requirements to architecting, building, and scaling solutions that directly improve customer workflows and model performance. You'll operate across the stack in highly ambiguous, fast-changing environments, and your judgment will shape how we approach our most critical partnerships.
This is a unique opportunity to combine deep technical leadership with direct customer engagement—driving not just the "what" and the "how," but setting the standard for how Handshake delivers at the highest level.
Location: San Francisco, CA | 5 days/week in-office
Partner with AI labs and cross-functional stakeholders to deeply understand technical challenges, translate ambiguous requirements into actionable engineering plans, and drive alignment across teams.
Own the design, architecture, and delivery of tailored, production-grade solutions for complex, high-impact customer needs—often with minimal precedent or existing playbooks.
Mentor and uplevel other engineers through code reviews, architectural guidance, and establishing best practices for forward-deployed work.
Make key architectural decisions around reliability, scalability, and security, and set the technical direction for repeatable deployment patterns.
Rapidly prototype, test, and iterate on tools in response to real-time feedback, balancing speed of delivery with long-term maintainability.
Create and maintain technical playbooks, documentation, and frameworks that enable the team to scale deployments efficiently.
Desired Capabilities
5+ years of professional software engineering experience, with meaningful time spent in customer-facing, solutions-oriented, or forward-deployed roles.
Strong proficiency with ReactJS and TypeScript, with a high bar for code quality, usability, and accessibility.
Deep understanding of relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL), data modeling, and system design.
Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP), deployment pipelines, and production operations at scale.
Demonstrated ability to lead technical projects end-to-end in ambiguous environments with shifting requirements.
Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build trust with both technical and non-technical audiences.
Track record of mentoring engineers and raising the bar on engineering practices within a team.
Extra Credit
Experience architecting and delivering production systems for LLMs or other AI-powered products in real-world, customer-facing environments.
Background in building or contributing to component libraries, design systems, or reusable deployment frameworks.
Proven experience with performance optimization and scaling of full-stack applications under real-world constraints and high-traffic conditions.
Prior experience in a forward-deployed, solutions engineering, or technical consulting role at a high-growth company.
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.