About the position
Handshake AI is a human data labeling business that leverages the scale of the largest early career network. We work directly with the world’s leading AI research labs to build a new generation of human data products. From PhDs in physics to undergrads fluent in LLMs, Handshake AI is the trusted partner for domain-specific data and evaluation at scale. We are located at 225 Bush St, right off the Montgomery BART exit, and this is an in-office position. We’re looking for a Product Lead to own one of the most ambitious initiatives at Handshake AI: building our AI Interviewer and job matching product. This system will be the foundation for how we understand candidates and jobs, extracting structured data from unstructured interviews, matching people to roles they'd actually say yes to, and enabling employers to make faster, higher-signal hiring decisions. You’ll lead a cross-functional team of engineers and designers to bring this product to life, owning everything from 0→1 MVPs to scaled experiences across our user base. As a Product Lead at Handshake AI, you will take direct ownership of product strategy and execution for a key area of Handshake AI's business. You’ll lead initiatives that align with the company’s highest priorities, while working cross-functionally with teams and stakeholders across the organization. Product leaders in this role will influence beyond their immediate team and deliver outcomes that drive impact at the organizational and company-wide level.
Responsibilities
- Lead product development for a comprehensive, AI-powered talent matching engine.
- Build a system of record for candidates and jobs.
- Design AI-first experiences (like voice interviews) to capture key info on candidates’ skills, interests, and experiences.
- Capture structured data from hiring managers on open roles, ideal profiles, and must-have traits.
- Match people to jobs they’ll actually take.
- Use LLMs to extract, structure, and reconcile candidate and job data from interviews.
- Build a matching algorithm that ranks opportunities for each candidate, and ranks candidates for each role.
- Deliver matches with rationales and allow candidates to express interest.
- Enable hiring managers to screen at scale.
- Let HMs define the interview questions and rubrics for their role.
- Run personalized automated interviews for top-matched candidates.
- Score candidate responses against rubric criteria and surface the best profiles for in-person interviews.
- Drive measurable impact by shortening time-to-hire with better pre-screening.
- Increase signal for in-person interviews.
- Establish a data-driven feedback loop to continuously enhance match quality.
- Build usage analytics to optimize product performance and team workflows.
Requirements
- Founder, early-stage, or high-growth experience preferred.
- 6+ years of product management experience, ideally in consumer or marketplace products.
- Experience building and launching 0→1 products with strong technical and design partners.
- Proven ability to lead and grow technical teams (5+ people including engineers).
- Strong product sense: able to prioritize high-impact bets and ruthlessly scope.
- Experience working with LLMs or AI-powered user experiences (or eagerness to dive in).
- Exceptional communication and storytelling: you're comfortable interfacing with execs, engineers, users, and customers alike.
Nice-to-haves
- Experience with job matching, HR tech, or ATS platforms.
- Experience building data pipelines or structured knowledge bases.
- GTM, sales, or customer-facing experience (especially for B2B2C products).
- Comfort with SQL, prototyping tools, or writing light code.
- Background in cognitive science, linguistics, or education.
Benefits
- Equity in a fast-growing company.
- 401(k) match, competitive compensation, financial coaching.
- Paid parental leave, fertility benefits, parental coaching.
- Medical, dental, and vision, mental health support, $500 wellness stipend.
- $2,000 learning stipend, ongoing development.
- Stipends for home office setup, internet, commuting, and free lunch/gym in our SF office.
- Flexible PTO, 15 holidays + 2 flex days, winter #ShakeBreak where our whole office closes for a week!
- Team outings & referral bonuses.
