Human Resources Business Partner, Handshake
$112-140k
Offers Equity
The career platform for Gen Z
Be an early applicant
The career platform for Gen Z
1001+ employees
Be an early applicant
$112-140k
Offers 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
- 5-7 years of HR experience, ideally in a tech or growth-stage environment
- Strong foundation in core HR functions (employee relations, performance, org change, coaching)
- Comfort operating in ambiguity and shifting priorities
- Clear, empathetic communication and an instinct for balancing people and business needs
- Collaborative working style — enjoys partnering across teams
Desirable
- Experience supporting a high-intensity, operational environment
- Experience working with international entities (e.g., India)
- Familiarity with compensation frameworks and people analytics tools
- Exposure to scaling teams and org change
What the job involves
- We’re hiring an HR Business Partner to support Handshake AI. You’ll work closely with leaders and employees to help scale our culture, processes, and people programs as we grow
- This role will be part traditional HRBP work (performance management, HR support, etc.) and part building processes and systems to help scale the business
- We're looking for someone who is comfortable with ambiguity, rapidly changing priorities, and intense operational cultures
- This is a great opportunity for someone with business experience looking to transition into the People space (e.g., consultant, BizOps, product) while working in a fast-moving tech environment
- Partnering & Advisory
- Act as a trusted partner to managers on day-to-day people topics — performance, growth, engagement, and team dynamics
- Support business leaders in building high-performing, inclusive teams through thoughtful people programs and data-driven insights
- Help identify org design and talent needs as the team scales
- People Programs & Operations
- Drive execution of core people processes (performance, compensation, promotions, headcount planning)
- Support onboarding, learning, and development initiatives
- Collaborate with People Ops, Recruiting, and Total Rewards to ensure smooth employee experiences
- Employee Experience & Culture
- Help managers and employees navigate employee relations topics with judgment and care
- Gather feedback and insights to inform improvements to our people programs and tools
- Design and manage in-person programs and events for the team
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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