Software Engineer I, RLE

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 Software Engineer to build our Reinforcement Learning Environments (RLE) platform—the interactive systems where frontier AI models learn to complete real-world work.

This role owns meaningful components end-to-end and plays a key part in scaling systems that power model training and evaluation.

Location: San Francisco, CA (in-office, 5 days/week)

WHAT YOU’LL DO

- Build and scale core components of RLE environments and infrastructure

- Design and implement backend systems and data pipelines

- Translate ambiguous product and research needs into production systems

- Develop modular, reusable workflow domains

- Improve reliability, observability, and system performance

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR

- 2–4 years of experience in backend, distributed systems, or ML-adjacent infrastructure

- Strong proficiency in ReactJS and TypeScript

- Solid experience with relational databases (PostgreSQL) and data modeling

- Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS/GCP) and CI/CD

- Ability to independently drive projects from design to production

NICE TO HAVE

- Experience with simulation systems or evaluation platforms

- Exposure to ML systems or working with research teams

- Experience in fast-moving, operations-heavy environments

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

- Owns and delivers key RLE components end-to-end

- Improves system scalability and developer velocity

- Enables faster launch of new domains with high-quality data

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