Chief of Staff, Handshake
Office of the CEO
$250-300k
+ Equity
The career platform for Gen Z
Open for applications
The career platform for Gen Z
1001+ employees
Open for applications
$250-300k
+ Equity
1001+ employees
Company mission
To democratize access to opportunity and ensure any student can build a great career no matter who they know, where they live or what school they attend.
Role
Who you are
- Management consulting from McKinsey, Bain, or BCG
- Or investment banking from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, or J.P. Morgan
- Plus: post-consulting/banking operator experience in business operations, strategy, or chief of staff roles at a top-brand tech company (pre-IPO, unicorn, Forbes Cloud 100 preferred)
- 4–8 years total experience, with at least 2–3 years at MBB or GS/MS/JPM, followed by 2–4 years in high-growth tech ops or strategy roles
- Bachelor’s degree from a top university; MBA optional but preferred
- Mastery of analytical problem-solving, executive communication, and extreme prioritization
- Relentlessly high output — thrives in fast paced work weeks with sustained intensity
- Able to context-switch across strategy, operations, and execution in minutes
- Holds an uncompromising bar for precision, pace, and quality of work
- Comfort operating in chaotic, founder-driven environments without guardrail
What the job involves
- We are seeking an exceptional operator to serve as Chief of Staff to our CEO — a role designed for the top 1% of business athletes from the world’s most competitive environments
- This is the opportunity to sit at the center of decision-making, operating as a force multiplier for a high-velocity founder/CEO scaling one of the most ambitious technology companies of our time
- Direct exposure to company-defining decisions and the highest levels of leadership
- Steep, accelerated learning curve — this is the equivalent of a decade of experience compressed into two years
- Launchpad into executive leadership, venture capital, or founder roles
- Company Strategy — Partner with the CEO and exec team to shape, refine, and operationalize company strategy across all functions
- Incubation of New Bets — Identify, launch, and operationalize high-potential growth initiatives from concept to scale
- Operating Rhythm — Own the cadence of business reviews, leadership meetings, and company-wide communication to maintain focus and execution at pace
- Investor & Board Engagement — Lead preparations and participate in high-stakes investor and board conversations, ensuring clarity, alignment, and strategic impact
- AI Lab Engagement — Directly represent Handshake AI with the world’s top AI research labs to deepen partnerships and explore new opportunities
- Drive mission-critical cross-functional projects that span product, go-to-market, and corporate functions
- Ensure flawless execution on CEO priorities — nothing drops, deadlines are met, and quality remains uncompromising
- Represent the CEO in select internal and external engagements, delivering consistent quality of message and outcomes
Our take
The three founders of Handshake established their company in an attempt to eliminate inequality and make the student hiring landscape fairer. The Handshake platform acts as a LinkedIn for college students, pairing students from every walk of life with more than 650K employers, including the entire Fortune 500, which includes Google and Nike.
The graduate recruitment platform is open to any student with a valid @.edu email address, with more than 17M active users from thousands of colleges and universities. With a student-first philosophy, the company generates revenue from both universities and employers rather than students.
Valued at $3.5B, Handshake has gained traction in a competitive market, although it has strong competition from recruiting giants LinkedIn and Indeed. It stands out, however, by helping students build new relationships and skills, rather than simply making connections to people they already know.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
2% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 7 rounds)
Jan 2022
$200m
SERIES F
May 2021
$80m
SERIES E
Total funding: $434m
Company benefits
- Health Insurance: Comprehensive medical , dental, and vision coverage
- Fertility and family forming: Through a partnership, Handshake offers comprehensive family benefits, including infertility treatments and a $15K stipend, to its employees.
- LGTBQ+ coverage: All medical plans cover transgender services.
- Mental health: Discounts on a variety of wellness apps and an Employee Assistance Program with access to five free counseling sessions.
- Tax savings: Tax-advantaged benefits to save money on healthcare, dependent care, and other expenses.
- Learning & development: Employees are provided with an annual stipend to use towards professional development, career development workshops, manager trainings, and 1-on-1 coaching through external partnerships
- Community leader support: Employee Resource Group leaders are compensated with a quarterly bonus for the high-impact work the role requires
- Parental leave: Leaves of 16 weeks for birth-giving parents and 10 weeks for non-birth-giving parents; the policy applies to adoptions as well. Handshake also partners to provide one-on-one coaching on preparing for leave and coming back from leave
- Flexible time off: No accrued time off or waiting period to take vacation. Two paid flexible holiday days off to observe holidays that closely align with religious, cultural, and personal needs
- Sabbatical: Paid six-week sabbatical to recharge and reset beginning at six years of continuous, full-time employment, and every four years thereafter
- Volunteer time off: Two days off for social and civil activism, volunteer work, and/or any related activities, including attending and participating in protests
- Life & disability insurance: Essential benefits and automatic coverage with basic life insurance, plus short-term and long-term disability coverage.
- 401k match: Dollar-for-dollar match up to 1% of pay, with a max of $1,200 per year.
Company HQ
Financial District, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Garrett Lord
(Co-Founder & CEO)Majored in Computer Science at Michigan Technological University. Interned at Palantir Technologies before co-founding Handshake in 2012.
Ben Christensen
(Co-Founder)Graduated from Michigan Technological University with a degree in Computer Networking & Systems Administration. Interned at Target and worked as a Developer at Up and Running Software. Was part of Arbor Networks' ASERT Security Research team.
Scott Ringwelski
(Co-Founder)Attained a degree in Computer Software Engineering from Michigan Technological University. Co-founded Handshake in 2012.
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