Talent Sourcing Specialist (Contract)

About Handshake

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 the Role

We're seeking a driven Talent Sourcing Specialist to join our Handshake AI team partnering closely with the Growth team to own top-of-funnel recruiting. This is a high-volume, high-velocity role focused on sourcing and screening candidates for the Handshake AI Fellowship.

Based in our San Francisco office, you’ll identify and engage top talent across diverse domains, taking full ownership of your pipeline in a fast-paced, goal-oriented environment.

Own top-of-funnel sourcing for the Growth team, partnering closely on role requirements, intake, and pipeline priorities.

Source and engage passive talent through creative outreach, boolean search, research, and market mapping — with a focus on technical and STEM-background candidates .

Provide market insights and strategic guidance , leveraging your close partnership with the team to advise on what’s working, what isn’t, and broader market trends.

Conduct initial candidate screens and manage handoffs to the project teams.

Track and report recruiting metrics, ensuring data integrity in Ashby and other tools, and leverage insights to refine sourcing strategies and improve outcomes.

Desired Capabilities

Experience: ~2–4 years of recruiting or sourcing experience. We welcome both agency and in-house backgrounds, particularly candidates interested in transitioning into a high-growth tech environment

Sourcing Expertise: Proven ability to find and engage niche talent pools.

Technical / Industry Knowledge: Experience sourcing candidates from specialized fields, including STEM, data, or technical backgrounds

Drive & Urgency: You thrive in fast-moving environments with shifting priorities and big goals.

Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to quickly build trust with both candidates and hiring managers.

Metrics-Minded: You care about your numbers and use data to improve. Familiarity with tracking source, conversion, and grow metrics is a plus.

Tools: Proficiency with ATS platforms (Ashby a plus), LinkedIn Recruiter, and other sourcing tools, with a strong ability to quickly learn and adapt to new technologies.

Work Hours: Must be ok working PST hours.

Comfort with ambiguity and a willingness to help shape processes, not just follow them.

Extra Credit

Prior agency or executive search experience, especially in high-volume or hard-to-fill markets.

Experience recruiting for go-to-market, sales, or growth-focused teams.

If you are local to San Francisco, bonus points for willingness to come into the office

Explore our mission and values at joinhandshake.com/careers .