Associate Software Engineer, RLE

For cash compensation, we set standard ranges for all U.S.-based roles based on function, level, and geographic location, benchmarked against similar stage growth companies. In order to be compliant with local legislation, as well as to provide greater transparency to candidates, we share salary ranges on all job postings regardless of desired hiring location. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors, including geographic location as well as candidate experience and expertise, and may vary from the amounts listed above., We’re hiring an Associate Software Engineer to help build our Reinforcement Learning Environments (RLE) platform-the systems where frontier AI models learn to complete real-world work.

This is a hands-on, growth-oriented role where you’ll contribute to building core systems, learn quickly from senior engineers, and gain exposure to cutting-edge AI infrastructure., * Contribute to building RLE environments and supporting infrastructure

• Implement features across backend systems and frontend interfaces
• Work with senior engineers to improve system reliability and performance
• Help build modular workflow domains (e.g., engineering, finance, legal)
• Support data pipelines that power model training and evaluation

• 0-2 years of experience (internships or full-time) in software engineering
• Familiarity with backend development and APIs
• Working knowledge of ReactJS and TypeScript
• Understanding of databases (e.g., PostgreSQL) and basic system design
• Eagerness to learn and operate in fast-paced environments

Nice to Have

• Exposure to cloud platforms (AWS, GCP)
• Experience with data pipelines or ML-adjacent systems
• Interest in AI/ML or simulation systems

Pulled from the full job description

• Referral program
• Paid parental leave
• Food provided
• Parental leave
• Health insurance
• 401(k) matching
• Paid time off, Financial Wellness: 401(k) match, competitive compensation, financial coaching

Family Support: Paid parental leave, fertility benefits, parental coachin

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: $135K - $150K

Handshake was founded on a simple belief that everyone deserves a path to a great career, regardless of where they went to school or who they know. Today, we power 25 million job seekers, 1 million+ employers, and 1,600 educational institutions.

In 2025, we started Handshake AI and built the fastest-growing AI data business in history. We work directly with frontier AI lab researchers to create evaluations, publish benchmarks, and push the boundary of data. We’ve grown from $0 to ~$1B run rate and pay ~$60M to over 30K individuals every month.

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
• Partner hand-in-hand with world-class AI labs, Fortune 500 partners and the world’s top educational institutions
• Work together with engineers, scientists, operators, and more from Palantir, Meta, Scale AI, and former YC founders
• Build a massive, fast-growing business with billions in revenue

About Handshake AI

Human data is the core infrastructure to AI advancement. Frontier AI labs currently improve model capabilities with various data-intensive post-training techniques. We believe that data spend for AI training will increase by 3-5x in the next few years and continue for much longer as models take on new domains. Handshake AI supports all of the frontier AI labs, working on their most complex data at the largest scale.