Director, Central Operations — Remote & Strategy

Handshake; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 224,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity in company

401(k) match

Parental leave

Fertility benefits

Mental health support

Learning stipend

Free lunch and gym in SF office

Flexible PTO

Holidays + 2 flex days

Team outings

Job summary

Handshake is seeking a Director of Central Operations to lead Marketplace & Allocations, Trust & Safety, Payments, and Contractor Operations at Handshake AI. You will define the strategy, build a high-performing team, and partner with Product and Engineering to automate critical workflows.

You’ll collaborate with Legal, Finance, Data Science, Growth, and Exec Leadership to raise operational maturity, track metrics, and drive continuous improvement across the function you own.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience in a fast-paced environment with decision-making responsibilities.
• Proven people management experience and team development.
• Strong analytical skills and data-driven decision making.
• Experience using SQL to pull and analyze data.
• Demonstrated ability to manage cross-functional projects and influence leaders.
• Comfort operating in ambiguous environments and driving clarity.
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the strategy and roadmap for Core Central Operations functions.
• Build, lead, and develop a high-performing team with coaching and performance management.
• Analyze performance data to identify trends and improvement opportunities.
• Build and optimize processes to improve efficiency, quality, and scalability.
• Partner cross-functionally to launch and iterate on operational initiatives.
• Track and report on key metrics to ensure targets are met.
• Drive continuous improvement through structured problem solving and experimentation.

Skills

Decision making

People management

Analytics

SQL

Cross-functional leadership

Ambiguity tolerance

Attention to detail

Job description

Handshake is seeking a Director of Central Operations to lead Marketplace & Allocations, Trust & Safety, Payments, and Contractor Operations at Handshake AI. You will define the strategy, build a high-performing team, and partner with Product and Engineering to automate critical workflows.

You’ll collaborate with Legal, Finance, Data Science, Growth, and Exec Leadership to raise operational maturity, track metrics, and drive continuous improvement across the function you own.