Senior Engagement Manager

Handshake is the career network for the AI economy — powering career discovery, hiring, and upskilling for 25 million job seekers, 1,600 educational institutions, and 1 million+ employers, from first internships to full-time careers to the frontier of AI training. In 2025, we launched Handshake AI on that same network and trust, and grew it into the fastest-growing AI data business in history — from $0 to a ~$1B run rate, now paying ~$60M a month to over 30,000 experts. Frontier AI labs work directly with us on their hardest, highest-scale data problems, because our decade of relationships with the world's most qualified students and experts is a moat no one else has.

As a Senior Engagement Manager on Handshake AI's Engagement Management team, you own full, end-to-end relationships for our largest frontier AI lab customers — accounts at $100M+ run rate — from first scope through expansion and renewal. You're the person these customers call first, acting as a thought partner rather than a traditional account manager, translating ambiguous, high-stakes problems into clear direction while Strategic Project Leads and Operations execute delivery. You'll sit at the intersection of customer, product, and engineering, making fast, high-judgment tradeoffs under pressure and protecting both the relationship and the quality bar.

• Own full end-to-end relationships across a portfolio of $100M+ frontier AI lab accounts, serving as the first call in high-stakes moments and the single throughline for value.

• Translate messy, evolving client goals into sharp requirements and priorities, partnering closely with Strategic Project Leads & Operations to turn strategy into delivery.

• Make fast, high-conviction tradeoffs on speed, quality, and cost — knowing when to commit, push back, or escalate to protect the relationship and the outcome.

• Partner with Sales to identify and help close expansion opportunities, growing account value and deepening Handshake AI's role in customers' model development.

• Define and report on success metrics (KPIs, SLAs, model quality) that keep leadership and clients aligned on what's working and what needs to change.

• 8+ years in high-ownership, customer-facing or high-stakes leadership roles — engagement management, management consulting, strategy & ops, elite military leadership, or founder/operating roles — ideally with exposure to AI, data, or complex operational products

• Meaningful time at a top-tier consulting firm (McKinsey, BCG, Bain, or equivalent), or an equivalent mix of consulting, elite institutional leadership, and high-intensity startup or operating experience

• Currently in an external, customer-facing role, or have held one within the last two years

• Genuine, demonstrated curiosity about AI — excited to learn from frontier researchers and build deep technical fluency in the space, not just drawn to the opportunity

• A track record leading complex, multi-stakeholder engagements to measurable outcomes for demanding enterprise customers

• Experience working directly with VP- and C-level stakeholders, and navigating complex, political organizations while still getting to an answer fast

• Comfort making high-judgment decisions with incomplete information, and shifting fluidly between executive relationship management and detailed data review

• Strong instincts for when to push back on a client ask versus when to flex, with the communication skill to do either without damaging trust

• Genuine energy for high-intensity, fast-changing environments, including periods that call for significant time investment — this isn't a fixed-hours, narrow-scope role

• Technical or STEM background (engineering, computer science, or related) alongside your customer-facing experience

• Prior experience in AI, data, or frontier model development

• Investment banking, private equity, or GM/BizOps background with strong analytical range

• Experience negotiating with sophisticated, technical buyers across multiple vendors