Strategic Projects Associate, India Full Time

Handshake was founded on a simple belief that everyone deserves a path to a great career, regardless of where they went to school or who they know. Today, we power 25 million job seekers, 1 million+ employers, and 1,600 educational institutions.

In 2025, we started Handshake AI and built the fastest-growing AI data business in history. We work directly with frontier AI lab researchers to create evaluations, publish benchmarks, and push the boundary of data. We’ve grown from $0 to ~$1B run rate and pay ~$60M to over 30K individuals every month.

Why Join Handshake Now

• Shape how every career evolves in the AI economy, at global scale, with impact your friends, family and peers can see and feel
• Partner hand-in-hand with world-class AI labs, Fortune 500 partners and the world’s top educational institutions
• Work together with engineers, scientists, operators, and more from Palantir, Meta, Scale AI, and former YC founders
• Build a massive, fast-growing business with billions in revenue

About Handshake AI

Human data is the core infrastructure to AI advancement. Frontier AI labs currently improve model capabilities with various data-intensive post-training techniques. We believe that data spend for AI training will increase by 3-5x in the next few years and continue for much longer as models take on new domains. Handshake AI supports all of the frontier AI labs, working on their most complex data at the largest scale.

About The Role

As a Strategic Project Associate (SPA), you will be a key driver in making sure Handshake AI delivers flawlessly for our customers. This role blends execution, analysis, and problem-solving with a unique opportunity to contribute to projects that directly impact the training of state-of-the-art AI models.

You will work hand-in-hand with Strategic Project Leads, Delivery Leads, and Operations leadership gaining a front-row seat to how the human data layer of AI is being built. This is a launchpad role with significant growth potential, designed to prepare you for higher-impact leadership roles in project delivery and client strategy.

We work 5 days in-office.

Key Responsibilities

• Run the Core Engine: Drive the day-to-day execution of projects from setting up operational workflows to ensuring deadlines are met and deliverables exceed client expectations.
• Build and Maintain Expert Networks: Support onboarding of hundreds of domain experts across diverse industries, keeping pipelines healthy and engagement high.
• Own Project Visibility: Track KPIs, maintain dashboards, and provide regular updates to leadership, ensuring stakeholders always have a clear view of project health.
• Partner with Senior Leaders: Work closely with Strategic Project Leads to translate client requirements into action plans and unblock execution bottlenecks.
• Elevate Quality & Efficiency: Propose and implement process improvements and automations that scale our ability to deliver at speed and quality.
• Support Client Impact: Help prepare updates and progress reports that showcase results to clients and highlight opportunities for expansion and upsell.

Desired Capabilities

• Bachelor’s degree in STEM, business or a related field.
• 1–4 years of professional experience in operations, consulting, research, project management, or related domains preferred (relevant internships may also be considered).
• Analytical mindset with comfort using spreadsheets (Excel/Google Sheets) and project management tools (Notion, Asana, Jira, etc.).
• Clear communicator with excellent written and verbal English.
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and driven to deliver outcomes rather than just complete tasks.

You’ll Thrive Here If You

• Are motivated by solving operational problems that have direct, measurable impact.
• Want to be part of a company shaping the future of AI through human data.
• Can navigate ambiguity, act with urgency, and keep multiple workstreams moving in parallel.
• Are ambitious and looking for a stepping stone into leadership roles in operations or client strategy

Perks

• Generous Equity Grant vested over 4 years
• Housing Bonus: 1.3 Lakhs spread throughout the first year
• Well Defined Performance Bonus ranging between 10 – 100% of base
• Medical Insurance Coverage
• Food credit for every in person day that should cover for lunch and dinner