Lead People Business Partner

Your impact

We’re looking for a high-impact People Business Partner. This role is for someone who thrives as a strategic operator and wants to help scale a performance-driven, mission-aligned organization.

You’ll partner closely with senior leaders across the business, serving as a sounding board, challenger, and architect of our talent strategy. This isn’t a support function, it’s an embedded, high-trust role where you’ll influence how we design orgs, assess performance, enable leaders, and raise the talent bar.

Your role

• Partner closely with senior leaders to shape org design, workforce planning, and team effectiveness as the business scales

• Drive rigorous performance management ensuring clarity of expectations, timely feedback, and decisive action on both high and low performance

• Coach senior leaders and managers through organizational growth, leadership development, and team evolution

• Translate business needs into actionable people strategies across the talent lifecycle

• Lead the execution of core People program including compensation reviews, feedback cycles, and organizational changes in close partnership with COEs

• Use data, tools, and feedback to assess what’s working, spot issues early, and inform decisions that improve the employee experience

• Continuously evaluate and evolve our People practices to ensure they scale effectively and align with Handshake’s mission and pace

Your experience

• Bring 8-10 years of progressive HR experience, including 4+ years as an HRBP/People Partner in high-growth, fast-paced environments

• Approach talent with a first-principles mindset - not defaulting to the same playbooks, but designing better ones for the context

• Communicate clearly and strategically, with the ability to synthesize complex org dynamics and influence executive decisions

• Comfortable with hard conversations and operating with empathy, urgency, and a bias for action

• View HR as a strategic multiplier for scaling teams, improving performance, and driving business results

Compensation range

• $148,000 - $215,000 + RSUs

For cash compensation, we set standard ranges for all U.S.-based roles based on function, level, and geographic location, benchmarked against similar stage growth companies. In order to be compliant with local legislation, as well as to provide greater transparency to candidates, we share salary ranges on all job postings regardless of desired hiring location. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors, including geographic location as well as candidate experience and expertise, and may vary from the amounts listed above.

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.