Manager, Strategic Projects

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.

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.

As Manager, Strategic Projects, you will lead an SPL team that sits at the center of our most critical AI data and evaluation work. This is a high intensity, high visibility role where you own delivery, quality, and scalability across some of our most important customer and lab programs.

You will manage a team of SPLs across multiple high stakes AI data projects, set the standard for operational excellence, and act as the connective tissue between customers, researchers, procurement partners, Operations leadership, and Product and Engineering. You are comfortable in environments with high pressure and fast change, and you know how to keep teams aligned, motivated, and executing at a very high bar.

• Your SPL team consistently delivers on or ahead of commitments for our most important AI data and evaluation programs, with clear, referenceable wins.

• Key operational metrics across your portfolio improve materially, such as quality, on time delivery, throughput, and margin.

• SPLs see you as a trusted and supportive leader who raises the bar on performance while providing clear direction and coaching.

• Product, Engineering, and Engagement teams proactively involve you in planning and scoping for new programs because they trust your judgment and operational instincts.

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  5+ years in operationally intensive roles such as marketplace operations, data operations, strategy and operations.

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  2+ years managing high performing teams in fast paced, execution focused environments.

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  Prior experience in investment banking, private equity or management consulting strongly preferred.

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  Experience leading complex, multi stakeholder projects from definition through delivery, ideally with AI, data, or technical workflows.

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  Background in AI data operations, ML ops, or technical services is a strong plus.

• Want to own a critical piece of the Handshake AI delivery engine and be directly accountable for team performance and outcomes

• Enjoy leading and coaching high performing operators, setting a clear bar, and giving direct feedback

• Can move between high level systems thinking (process design, staffing, metrics) and detailed execution reviews with SPLs

• Are comfortable in high intensity environments where priorities shift quickly and customer or lab needs can change week to week

It is not a good fit if you want narrow individual contributor scope, highly predictable days, or heavy top down structure. There will be sustained periods of high intensity, including early, late, and weekend work when programs or launches are at critical inflection points. You will often be the person responsible for getting projects back on track.

• Operations or strategy and operations leadership roles at early stage or high growth startups

• Marketplace, data, or technical services companies where they managed teams and owned delivery metrics

• Management consulting or investment banking backgrounds that moved into hands on operational leadership

• Team lead or manager roles in AI data operations or other scaled, process heavy environments

Prior experience in AI is helpful but not required; strong operational leadership and systems thinking matter more.