Handshake is the career network for the AI economy. 25 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:
Handshake AI is the fastest-growing, most critical, and most revenue-generating part of Handshake's business. We power expert-labeled data collection at scale, matching domain experts with leading AI companies to train frontier models—and we're already a top-three player in one of the fastest-growing sectors in AI: human data. We have the opportunity to do for the AI data economy what LinkedIn did for professional networking: become the default platform where the work happens.
We're hiring a VP of Product to lead product for Handshake AI. This is not a "head of" role in name only—you will be the product leader for one of the fastest-growing AI startups in the country, owning the strategy, roadmap, and execution that determines how fast and how well we scale. You'll sit at the center of a business that is compounding quickly: new customers, new data modalities, a growing operator and fellow ecosystem, and an increasingly complex set of platform needs. Your job is to turn that complexity into a coherent product organization—one with clear strategy, strong PM talent, and a roadmap that keeps pace with (and gets ahead of) the business. You'll report into the CPO, sit on the senior team, and partner directly with Engineering, Design, Operations, and Sales/Customer leadership to shape where Handshake AI goes next.
Product Strategy & Vision. Set the product strategy for Handshake AI as a whole—across data modalities, the operator and fellow platforms, and customer-facing surfaces. Translate "become the career network and data engine for the AI economy" into a concrete, sequenced roadmap. Team Leadership. Build, lead, and grow a product organization of PMs across modalities and platform pods (e.g., Operator Experience, Fellow Experience, modality-specific pods like Coding). Hire exceptional product talent, set the bar for craft and rigor, and develop the managers and ICs on your team. Cross-Functional Partnership. Be the connective tissue between Engineering, Design, Operations, and GTM. Ensure the product org's priorities reflect both what customers need and what will scale the business fastest, and that trade-offs across pods are made coherently rather than in silos. Executive-Level Prioritization. Make and own the hard calls: which modalities to invest in, which platform capabilities to build now vs. later, and where to say no. Communicate strategy and trade-offs clearly to the exec team and the board. Metrics & Accountability. Define what success looks like for the product org—revenue enablement, quality outcomes, operator/fellow efficiency, time-to-launch for new modalities and customers—and hold the org accountable to it. Customer & Market Fluency. Spend real time with AI labs, enterprise customers, and internal stakeholders to understand how the market is evolving. Use that fluency to keep Handshake AI ahead of where the human-data category is heading, not just responsive to it. Scaling the Platform. Ensure the underlying product and operational platform can flex to new customer types, data types, and volumes—so growth in revenue doesn't require linear growth in headcount or one-off engineering.
Handshake delivers benefits that help you feel supported and thrive at work and in life. The below benefits are for full-time US employees.
Explore our mission, values, and comprehensive US benefits at joinhandshake.com/careers .
