Member of Technical Staff (Coding Agents)

Handshake; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health Insurance

Fertility and family forming

LGTBQ+ coverage

Mental health

Tax savings

Life & disability insurance

401k match

Equity

Financial management

Learning & development

Community leader support

Parental leave

Flexible time off

Sabbatical

Volunteer time off

Job summary

Handshake is seeking a Member of Technical Staff to help define how frontier coding agents are benchmarked and improved. You will partner with world-class AI researchers and thousands of software engineers to develop benchmarks, reward and verifier systems, agent-evaluation methodologies, and data-quality techniques for AI-powered coding.

Early team members will influence technical direction and open-source projects.

Qualifications

• Extremely passionate about building software with agents and tinkering with coding agents.
• Published research on AI for Software/Code-Generation at NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML, COLM, etc.
• Extensive software engineering experience or strong GitHub OSS contributions with deep knowledge of agent harnesses.
• Comfort operating in an ambiguous, fast-moving environment with substantial ownership.
• Previous experience working on a Coding benchmark.

Responsibilities

• Create/publish Coding benchmarks that challenge state-of-the-art frontier agents.
• Understand/shape the frontier of coding agents and publish studies of findings.
• Help leading AI labs improve their models for coding.
• Contribute to the field through benchmarks, open-source tools, research, and technical writing.

Job description

• We are hiring a Member of Technical Staff to help define how frontier coding agents are benchmarked and improved. This is a broad, high-ownership role for researchers who build


• You will partner with the world’s top AI researchers and thousands of software engineers to develop new benchmarks, reward and verifier systems, agent-evaluation methodologies, and data-quality techniques, centered around applications of AI for Coding


• You will work on questions at the center of frontier AI progress: what should be measured, how to design evaluations that reflect real capability, how to create high-signal feedback, and how to build the environments and data systems that make those answers actionable


• Early members of the team will have unusual influence over our technical direction, operating culture, and the open-source software, benchmarks, and research products we build. We care more about demonstrated research capability, technical judgment, and a builder’s mindset than a specific title, degree, or career path


• Create/publish Coding benchmarks that challenge state-of-the‑art frontier agents


• Understand/shape the frontier of coding agents and where the space is headed, publishing studies of interesting/impactful findings


• Help the world’s top AI Labs improve their models for coding


• Publicly contribute to the field through benchmarks, open‑source tools, research, and technical writing


• At least one of the following:

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.


• 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.


• Equity: Our equity program includes grants at hire, refresher grants after two years of tenure, and grants alongside promotions.


• Financial management: Handshake partners to provide free professional financial planning services.


• 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

You’re extremely passionate about building software with agents, and regularly tinkering with the latest coding agentsPublished research on AI for Software / Code-Generation at NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML, COLM, etcExtensive software engineering experience or strong GitHub profile of OSS contributions, along with deep knowledge of agent harnessesComfort operating in an ambiguous, fast-moving environment with substantial ownershipPrevious experience working on a Coding benchmarkAt least one of the following: