Handshake Salary

💰 $165K–$238K salary range

Median: $198K  ·  Based on 60 public Handshake job postings  ·  Updated October 23, 2026

This Handshake salary benchmark is built from public job postings — no private placement data. Figures reflect base salary only (equity is separate) and are refreshed as new postings are collected.

📊 Salary breakdown

Highest-paying open roles at Handshake

• Senior Director - AI Commercial Counsel — $304K–$380K · General & Administrative
• Senior AI Product Counsel — $266K–$380K · General & Administrative
• Member of Technical Staff, Post-Training — $200K–$350K · HAI Research
• Member of Technical Staff, Evals — $200K–$350K · HAI Research
• Member of Technical Staff, Coding Agents — $200K–$350K · HAI Research
• Member of Technical Staff, AI Engineering — $200K–$350K · HAI Research
• Partnerships Lead - Integrations & Ecosystem — $276K–$345K · Strategy and Operations
• Senior Forward Deployed Engineer, Enterprise AI — $220K–$300K · Engineering
• Senior Frontend Engineer, Enterprise AI — $205K–$300K · Engineering
• Strategic Account Executive — $275K–$300K · Employer Revenue

Handshake salary by department

• design: $238K median · $250K top base — Staff Product Designer, Autonomous Recruiting (view JD) (5 roles)
• engineering: $234K median · $300K top base — Senior Forward Deployed Engineer, Enterprise AI (view JD) (20 roles)
• hai delivery ops: $177K median · $275K top base — Senior Engagement Manager (view JD) (6 roles)
• employer revenue: $173K median · $300K top base — Strategic Account Executive (view JD) (12 roles)
• general & administrative: $155K median · $380K top base — Senior Director - AI Commercial Counsel (view JD) (6 roles)

Handshake salary by location

• San Francisco: $224K median · $380K top base — Senior Director - AI Commercial Counsel (view JD) (45 roles)
• Remote: $181K median · $300K top base — Strategic Account Executive (view JD) (8 roles)
• New York: $160K median · $210K top base — Manager, Scaled Customer Success (view JD) (5 roles)

Remote work at Handshake

15% of Handshake's disclosed-pay roles are remote-friendly. Remote roles run a $181K median vs $198K onsite.

What Handshake looks for

Most-required skills across these postings: Python (14) · TypeScript (7) · JavaScript (5) · SQL (5) · GCP (4) · Kubernetes (4) · Go (4) · AWS (3) · Azure (3) · Terraform (3).

Benefits & perks at Handshake

Commonly listed: dental (59) · mental-health (59) · 401k (59) · parental (59) · food (59) · gym (59) · learning (59) · pto (58).

About Handshake

Handshake is Series F stage · 501–1,000 employees · founded 2014 · HQ San Francisco, California. This context shapes pay: later-stage, well-funded companies tend to anchor base salary higher.

Experience & background at Handshake

Roles typically ask for around 5 years of experience (up to 10+ for the most senior).

Posted pay vs. total compensation

The figures on this page are the midpoint of each posting's advertised salary range (which, for commission roles, includes on-target earnings). Equity is a separate — and often large — component of total compensation, especially at high-growth and AI-native companies; 98% of these postings reference equity. Equity is not included in the medians above.

Handshake hiring activity

Handshake has 60 open roles right now, and this benchmark draws on 60 public job postings with disclosed pay. 25 of these roles were first seen in the last 30 days (57 in the last 90).

💼 Similar companies hiring

Compare Handshake's pay with companies in the same space:

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Common questions

What does Handshake pay?
The median pay is $198K, with a typical range of $165K–$238K, based on 60 public job postings (2025–2026). Base only — equity is separate.

What is the highest-paying job at Handshake?
One of the highest-paying open roles is Senior Director - AI Commercial Counsel, at $304K–$380K base.

Which team pays the most at Handshake?
The design team, at a $238K median.

Where does this data come from?
Public job postings on company career pages and public job boards — no private placement or client data.

Methodology

Posted-range midpoints (USD) aggregated from 60 public Handshake job postings (2025–2026). Range = 25th–75th percentile; median = 50th percentile. Roles, departments, skills, and experience are parsed from the postings. Base salary only — equity excluded. Last refreshed October 23, 2026.

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