Director, Applied ML — Scale Post-Training & RL Infra

Handshake; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity ownership

401(k) match

Parental leave

Medical/dental/vision

Learning stipend

Commuting support

Job summary

Handshake is seeking a Director of Applied ML to lead the interface between frontier AI research and enterprise-ready delivery. You will own post-training and RL environments, scalable post-training infrastructure, and strategic project support across lab partnerships, while balancing technical depth with client-facing strategy.

You’ll build and grow a team, set standards for collaboration with frontier labs, and shape the roadmap as we scale.

Qualifications

• Experience leading and growing technical teams, ideally with a research background in applied ML or AI.
• Deep understanding of applied AI systems design and post-training work (GRPO/PPO, or similar).
• Experience building and scaling teams or infrastructure in production environments.
• Strong cross-functional leadership across engineering and operations.
• Excellent client-facing communication translating technical work into business impact.

Responsibilities

• Lead post-training and RL environment strategy with lab experience guidance.
• Build and scale post-training infrastructure across use cases.
• Own strategic project support across lab engagements and evolving roadmap.
• Manage and grow AI Engineers, Researchers, and AI Forward Deployed Engineers.
• Partner with AI lab researchers and internal stakeholders to translate priorities.
• Maintain direct customer relationships, communicating progress and building trust.

Skills

Applied ML

Team leadership

Cross-functional leadership

Client-facing communication

Production systems

Tools

PPO

Post-training infrastructure

Evaluation tooling

Job description

Handshake is seeking a Director of Applied ML to lead the interface between frontier AI research and enterprise-ready delivery. You will own post-training and RL environments, scalable post-training infrastructure, and strategic project support across lab partnerships, while balancing technical depth with client-facing strategy.

You’ll build and grow a team, set standards for collaboration with frontier labs, and shape the roadmap as we scale.