Handshake

Our mission is to democratize opportunity for students everywhere. We believe that every student should have an equal opportunity to build a meaningful career regardless of where they go to school, what they major in, or who they know. The Handshake community includes 14 million students and young alumni at more than 700 universities. We connect talent from across all 50 states with over 300,000 employers recruiting on Handshake - from every Fortune 500 company to thousands of local mom and pop shops, nonprofits, startups, and more.

We welcome all people. We celebrate diversity of all kinds and are committed to creating an inclusive culture built on a foundation of respect for all individuals. We seek to hire, develop and retain talented people from all backgrounds. Individuals from non-traditional backgrounds, historically marginalized or underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply.

If you are not sure that you’re 100% qualified, but up for the challenge - we want you to apply.

What does a Frontend Software Engineer do at Handshake?

Handshake is building a diverse team of dynamic engineers who value creating a high quality, high impact product. This role is for a Frontend Software Engineer who will be reporting to the Engineering Manager for the Frontend Platform team. We are looking for a Frontend Engineer with demonstrated experience shipping high quality and accessible user experiences. You will be supporting a team of talented engineers and designers by contributing to tools and libraries that are used by development teams and shipped to our users. You will be working on a small multi-functional team with other engineers, designers and product managers.

Here are some projects we're excited for you to work on at Handshake:

• Working with Designers to expand our existing Design System and Component Library that serve other teams.
• Develop libraries and contribute in ways that impact every engineer and our customers.
• Build tools to optimize the developer frontend work experience.
• Consult, educate, and empower engineers as they build & ship innovative software.
• Research, prototype and develop solutions in support of the adoption of new technologies.

About you:

• Proven experience over 6+ years designing and contributing to Design Systems and Component Libraries, enabling consistent, accessible, and developer-friendly user experiences.
• Strong foundation in building scalable, high-performance frontend platforms that support rapid development across teams and enable long-term maintainability.
• Experienced in driving successful architectural decisions across frontend systems that improve reliability, scalability, and development efficiency.
• You have a strong sense of ownership and a passion for efficiency and writing clean, high-quality code that scales and keeps large teams productive.
• You act with empathy when partnering with fellow engineers and coworkers.
• You appreciate strong documentation and repeatable procedures that improve team clarity and velocity.
• You are proud of your craft, and enjoy and value clean, maintainable code that enables scalable team contributions.
• You have experience in building consumer-facing web applications while supporting internal development in fast-moving environments.

Technologies you'll work with

• React, Styled Components (JavaScript), TypeScript, and Storybook
• Redux, GraphQL
• Webpack, ESBuild, Rollup
• Evolving CI/CD Pipelines in GitHub and Netlify

About us

Handshake is the career platform for Gen Z. With a community of over 17 million students, alumni, employers, and career educators, Handshake’s network is where career advice and discovery turn into first, second, and third jobs. Nearly 1 million companies use Handshake to build their future workforce—from Fortune 500 to federal agencies, school districts to startups, healthcare systems to small businesses. Handshake is built for where you’re going, not where you’ve been.

When it comes to our workforce strategy, we’ve thought deeply about how work-life should look at Handshake. With our hybrid-work model, employees benefit from collaboration and shared team experiences three days per week in our vibrant offices, and enjoy the flexibility of remote work two days per week (unless noted in the specific job posting). Handshake is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in New York, London, and Berlin.

What we offer

At Handshake, we'll give you the tools to feel healthy, happy and secure.

Benefits below apply to US employees in full-time positions.

• ???? Equity and ownership in a fast-growing company.
• ???? 16 Weeks of paid parental leave for birth giving parents & 10 weeks of paid parental leave for non-birth giving parents.
• ???? Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision policies including LGTBQ+ Coverage. We also provide resources for Mental Health Assistance, Employee Assistance Programs and counseling support.
• ???? Generous learning & development opportunities and an annual $2,000 stipend for you to grow your skills and career.
• ???? Financial coaching through Origin to help you through your financial journey.
• ???? Monthly internet stipend and a brand new MacBook to allow you to do your best work.
• ???? Monthly commuter stipend for you to expense your travel to the office (for office-based employees).
• ???? Free lunch provided 3x a week across all offices.
• ???? Referral bonus to reward you when you bring great talent to Handshake.
• ???? 401k Match: Handshake offers a dollar-for-dollar match on 1% of deferred salary, up to a maximum of $1,200 per year.
• ???? All full-time US-based Handshakers are eligible for our flexible time off policy to get out and see the world. In addition, we offer 13 standardized holidays, and 2 additional days of flexible holiday time off. Lastly, we have a Winter #ShakeBreak, a one-week period of Collective Time Off.
• ???? Handshake offers $500 home office stipend for you to spend during your first 3 months to create a productive and comfortable workspace at home.
• ???? Family support: Parental leave coaching and support provided by Parentaly. We partner with Maven Clinic to provide a lifetime coverage up to $15K for expenses related to fertility and family forming!
• ???? Lifestyle Savings Account: We offer you an annual stipend of $500 to use for purchases such as fitness classes, gym memberships, work-from-home setup, and more.

Looking for more? Explore our mission, values and comprehensive US benefits at joinhandshake.com/careers.

Handshake is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or reasonable accommodation, please let your recruiter know during initial communications.

Want to learn more about what it's like to work at Handshake? Check out these interviews from our team members!