Strategic Projects Lead, Coding/RLE

Handshake; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity in a fast-growing company

401(k) match

Parental leave and fertility benefits

Wellbeing: health coverage and stipend

Learning stipend and development

Job summary

Handshake is seeking a Strategic Projects Lead, Coding/RLE, to run large-scale coding data initiatives for AI and platform teams in San Francisco. You will coordinate SWE Fellows, design evaluation workflows, and own delivery, margins and customer relationships.

You will build rubrics, automate QA and analytics, and communicate progress to stakeholders while staying hands-on with code and data quality. A strong coding background is required.

Qualifications

• 2+ years in technical or analytical roles such as software engineering, data, analytics, or technical product.
• Hands-on coding experience with Python/SQL or similar.
• Strong coding skills and familiarity with tests, CI, version control, and basic infra.

Responsibilities

• Lead multi-week to multi-month coding data initiatives with SWE Fellows.
• Design and own evaluation and annotation workflows and ensure delivery and quality.
• Write and validate coding assessments and rubrics for reviews.
• Create scripts/infrastructure to automate QA, analytics and reporting.
• Manage stakeholders and maintain customer relationships across teams.

Skills

Python

TypeScript/Node

SQL

Unit tests

CI/CD

Data analysis

Stakeholder mgmt

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science/Engineering/Data Science

Tools

Git

Infra basics

Job description

The Role

As a Strategic Projects Lead, Coding/RLE you'll run multi-week to multi-month coding data initiatives for leading AI and platform teams. You'll coordinate hundreds to thousands of highly skilled SWE Fellows, design and own technical evaluation and annotation workflows, and be accountable for delivery, margins, quality and customer relationships.

You'll write and validate coding assessments, build rubric-driven code review processes, instrument quality signals, and quickly adapt workflows when systems and people need to flex to meet deadlines. This role bridges ML/product/engineering and operations - hands-on with code, fluent with metrics, and ruthless about data quality. What you'll do:

What you'll do:

• Multi-million ARR-equivalent program scope and delivery metrics.
• End-to-end delivery of coding-data programs: scoping → assessment design → Fellow selection → annotation → QA → customer feedback.
• Design and run technical screens (take-homes, unit-test driven tasks, live coding) that populate the SWE Talent Bench.
• Create rubrics, audit processes and tooling to ensure code annotations/model labels meet production quality.
• Create scripts/infrastructure (Python/TypeScript/SQL) to automate QA, analytics and reporting.

You Have

• 2+ years of experience in technical or analytical roles such as software engineering, data, analytics, or technical product. We are also open to people who come out of non-technical jobs that have a coding background or degree.
• A technical degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science or similar and/or hands-on experience with coding (Python, SQL, or similar).
• Strong coding skills (Python, TypeScript/Node, Java or equivalent) and practical experience with unit tests, CI, version control, and basic infra.
• Strong analytical and data driven problem solver, with a first principles approach to scaling and operational challenges.
• Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills, able to work closely with technical teams and customers while juggling multiple high priority projects.
• Entrepreneurial, high ownership mindset, with a high degree of agency, comfort with ambiguity, and pride in end to end outcomes.
• Fast learner with deep curiosity about AI, able to quickly pick up complex and technical concepts and stay up to date on LLMs and AI trends.

You don't need to be a full-time engineer in this role, but you should be technical enough to reason deeply about systems, data quality, and tradeoffs, and to earn credibility with technical stakeholders.

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