R&D Strategy & Ops Lead, AI Frontier

Handshake; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity in the company

401(k) match

Parental leave

Medical, dental, and vision coverage

Wellbeing stipend

Learning stipend

Free lunch and gym in SF office

Flexible PTO and holidays

Team outings and referral bonuses

Job summary

Handshake is seeking a Strategy & Operations Manager for R&D to extend Handshake's S&O function into frontier AI development. You will work at the intersection of scalable reinforcement learning environments and large-scale coding projects to push AI capabilities in real-world problems.

This role is a force multiplier, deploying to urgent business problems, building self-sustaining operating systems, and collaborating with the R&D S&O leader across two units to elevate how teams use AI in their

Qualifications

• 6–8+ years in strategy & operations or related roles in fast-moving R&D environments.
• Proven track record deploying across complex, multi-team organizations and building durable operating systems.
• AI-fluent operator who uses the latest tools and can build agentification playbooks.

Responsibilities

• Deploy to high-priority initiatives across R&D and build sprint operating structures.
• Develop trusted relationships with engineering and product leads and push back when needed.
• Identify process friction across R&D and own playbooks, including agentification of workflows.
• Run org-wide operating rhythms: quarterly planning, execution rhythms, org comms, and cross-team reporting.
• Escalate to the S&O lead with context, and a plan.

Skills

Strategy & operations

Cross-functional leadership

Executive presence

AI fluency

Relationship building

Operating systems

Ambiguity handling

Job description

Handshake is seeking a Strategy & Operations Manager for R&D to extend Handshake's S&O function into frontier AI development. You will work at the intersection of scalable reinforcement learning environments and large-scale coding projects to push AI capabilities in real-world problems.

This role is a force multiplier, deploying to urgent business problems, building self-sustaining operating systems, and collaborating with the R&D S&O leader across two units to elevate how teams use AI in their