Senior Product Designer II

Apply; San Francisco, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

401(k) match

Parental leave

Wellbeing stipend

Learning stipend

Remote & Office benefits

Flexible PTO

Team events

Job summary

Handshake is seeking a Senior Product Designer II for the Jobs team to shape the core experience students use to find and land opportunities. You will own search, discovery, details, and the end-to-end application flow while collaborating with product, engineering, data science, and content partners to deliver polished experiences.

You will help shape the Home surface to optimize early engagement, using user research and behavioral data to improve match quality, application completion, and

Qualifications

• 5+ years of product design experience for consumer-facing products at scale.
• Strong communication to explain design decisions and tradeoffs to product/engineering partners.
• Solid visual and interaction design skills with a track record of shipping high-quality experiences.
• Comfort using qualitative and quantitative insights to inform design decisions.
• Experience incorporating generative AI tools to accelerate ideation, prototyping, and iteration.
• Highly collaborative across product, engineering, data science, and content teams.
• Detail-oriented, craft-driven, with a bias toward small details and clarity.
• Motivated by Handshake's mission to help students build meaningful careers in AI economy.

Responsibilities

• Own design across the end-to-end jobs experience: search, discovery, details, application flow, and post-application status.
• Partner with product, engineering, data science, and content teams to define problems and ship polished experiences.
• Contribute to the Home experience to set students up for success in their job search.
• Translate user research, funnel data, and qualitative feedback into design decisions to improve match quality and completion.
• Rapidly iterate through wireframes, prototypes, and experiments to validate directions.
• Collaborate with design leadership to align with broader Jobs and Network strategy.
• Bring strong craft to visual and interaction design across surfaces.

Skills

Product design

Cross-functional collaboration

User research

Visual design

AI tools in design

Job description

About Handshake

Handshake is the career network built for the AI economy. With 20 million knowledge workers, 1,600 educational institutions, 1 million employers—including 100% of the Fortune 50—and every major AI lab trusting Handshake to power career discovery, hiring, and upskilling, we sit at the intersection of talent and opportunity at a pivotal moment in history. From freelance AI training gigs to first internships to full-time careers, Handshake is where professional journeys begin and evolve. That unique position is driving extraordinary growth: in 2025, we tripled our ARR at scale.

About the Role

As a Senior Product Designer II on the Jobs team at Handshake, you'll design the core experience that millions of students rely on to find and land their next opportunity—job search, job application, and everything that happens after someone hits "apply." You'll also help shape the Home experience, the surface where students land and discover what's relevant to them, ensuring it connects seamlessly into the broader jobs journey.

This team owns one of the most heavily used, highest-stakes surfaces on Handshake. You'll work closely with product, engineering, data science, and content partners to make job discovery faster, applications easier, and the post-application experience clearer and less anxiety-inducing—turning a process students often find opaque and stressful into one that feels transparent and within their control.

Your Role

• Own design across the end-to-end jobs experience: search and discovery, job details, application flow, and post-application status and follow-up.

• Partner with product, engineering, data science, and content teams to define problems, propose solutions, and ship polished, high-quality experiences.

• Contribute to the Home experience, helping ensure what students see first sets them up to succeed in their job search.

• Translate user research, behavioral data, and qualitative feedback into design decisions that improve match quality, application completion, and student confidence throughout the process.

• Rapidly iterate through wireframes, prototypes, and experiments to test and validate design directions.

• Collaborate with a Staff Designer and design leadership to ensure your work ladders up to the broader Jobs and Network strategy.

• Bring strong craft to every surface you touch—visual design, interaction design, and attention to the small details that make an experience feel trustworthy and easy to use.

Your Experience

• 5+ years of product design experience, ideally building consumer-facing products at scale.

• Experience designing complex, multi-step flows (e.g., search, application, checkout, onboarding) where completion and drop-off really matter.

• Strong communicator who can clearly explain design decisions, tradeoffs, and the thinking behind them to product and engineering partners.

• Solid visual and interaction design skills, with a track record of shipping high-quality experiences.

• Comfortable using qualitative and quantitative insights (user research, funnel data, experiment results) to inform and validate design decisions.

• Comfortable incorporating generative AI tools into the design process to accelerate ideation, prototyping, and iteration.

• Highly collaborative, with the ability to work effectively across product, engineering, data science, and content.

• Detail-oriented and craft-driven, with a bias toward getting the small things right.

• Impact-driven, able to prioritize and focus on what matters most for students trying to land a job.

• Gritty and hands-on—willing to dig into ambiguous problems and take ownership of your surface area.

• Deeply motivated by Handshake's mission and committed to helping students build meaningful careers in the AI economy.

• Curious and always learning, with a growth mindset.

Bonus Points

• Experience designing search, discovery, or marketplace matching experiences.

• Experience with application/funnel flows where conversion and completion rate are key metrics.

• Familiarity with career services, recruiting, or early-career talent pipelines.

• Experience designing "home" or landing surfaces that personalize content for different user segments.

We Offer

Handshake delivers benefits that help you feel supported and thrive at work and in life.

The below benefits are for full-time US employees.

• Ownership: Equity in a fast-growing company
• Financial Wellness: 401(k) match, competitive compensation, financial coaching
• Family Support: Paid parental leave, fertility benefits, parental coaching
• Wellbeing: Medical, dental, and vision, mental health support, $500 wellness stipend
• Growth: $2,000 learning stipend, ongoing development
• Remote & Office: Internet, commuting, and free lunch/gym in our SF office
• Time Off: Flexible PTO, 15 holidays + 2 flex days
• Connection: Team outings & referral bonuses

Explore our mission, values, and comprehensive US benefits at joinhandshake.com/careers.