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Handshake is a career platform powering 25 million job seekers, 1 million+ employers, and 1,600 educational institutions. In 2025, the company launched Handshake AI, a rapidly growing AI data business that has scaled from $0 to ~$1B run rate in a single year, working directly with frontier AI labs and Fortune 500 partners to create evaluations, benchmarks, and training data at scale.
The Director, Central Operations will lead the Central Ops team, which oversees Marketplace & Allocations, Trust & Safety, Payments, and Contractor Operations. Currently, these four functions operate as a lean, cross-functional team of ~10 people without dedicated leadership. This role brings structure and durable leadership to the organization as it scales, while remaining hands-on with high-priority work.
Reporting to the VP of Central Ops, you will combine hands-on program leadership with people management. Over time, you will take ownership of one or more of the four core functions as the team matures. Much of the near-term work involves operational build-out—automating largely manual processes in close partnership with Product and Engineering.
Key responsibilities include:
- Define and own strategy and roadmap for Central Operations functions
- Build, lead, and develop a high-performing team through hiring, coaching, and performance management
- Analyze performance data to identify trends, gaps, and improvement opportunities
- Build and optimize processes to improve efficiency, quality, and scalability
- Partner cross-functionally with Legal, Finance, Product, Engineering, Data Science, Delivery, Growth, and Executive Leadership
- Track and report on key metrics to ensure programs meet performance targets
- Drive continuous improvement through structured problem-solving and experimentation
Requirements:
- 6+ years of experience as a decision maker in a fast-paced work environment
- Prior people management experience with a track record of building and developing teams
- Strong analytical skills and ability to use data to inform decisions
- Experience using SQL to pull and analyze data
- Demonstrated ability to manage cross-functional projects and influence senior stakeholders
- Comfort operating in ambiguous environments and driving clarity
- Strong organizational skills and attention to detail
Bonus qualifications:
- Experience in Marketplace & Allocations, Trust & Safety, Payments, or Contractor Operations
- Engineering background before transitioning to operations/strategy
- Background in Business Operations, Strategy & Operations, Management Consulting, or MBA
- Excellent communication skills for articulating insights to senior stakeholders
