Software Engineer I, RLE

Job Description

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 revenueAbout 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 performanceWhat 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 productionNice to Have

Experience with simulation systems or evaluation platforms

Exposure to ML systems or working with research teams

Experience in fast-moving, operations-heavy environmentsWhat 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 dataPerks

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

Compensation Range: $157.5K - $175K

Full-time

Hybrid remote