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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 partners with frontier AI labs to create evaluations and benchmarks. The business has scaled from zero to ~$1B run rate in under a year and pays ~$60M monthly to over 30,000 individuals.
The India team is expanding strategically as a critical hub for Handshake AI's growth. This HR Manager role is the first dedicated HR function for the Bangalore office, which has grown 3x in the past six months. You will be the primary HR point of contact for India-based employees, working closely with the US-based People team to support rapid scaling.
Key Responsibilities:
- Own front-line employee relations and HR compliance for the Bangalore team, resolving day-to-day policy, leave, and benefits questions same-day
- Independently triage and resolve routine employee complaints and workplace concerns; escalate complex cases to HRBP leadership with clear context and recommendations
- Maintain HR policies, documentation, and statutory compliance (POSH, PF, ESI, Shops & Establishments Act, gratuity) to keep the company audit-ready as the India team scales
- Partner with recruiting on onboarding, offer logistics, and new-hire compliance
- Collaborate cross-functionally with the US-based People team on shared processes and projects
- Support light workforce and team planning—tracking headcount, leave, and org changes to enable accurate manager and HRBP planning
- Manage the complete employee lifecycle from onboarding through offboarding, ensuring smooth transitions, compliance, and positive employee experience
This is a hands-on role with real scope: foundational HR execution done well, with room to stretch into higher-judgment HRBP-style partnering as the team builds.
Requirements:
- 4–6 years of experience in an HR Manager, HR Generalist, or Associate HRBP role, ideally at a fast-growing tech or startup company
- Working knowledge of Indian labor law and statutory compliance requirements (POSH, PF, ESI, Shops & Establishments Act, gratuity)
- Track record of resolving employee questions and routine ER issues independently, with good judgment on escalation
- Strong stakeholder management and partnership skills; comfortable building trust with employees, managers, recruiting, and US-based People teams
- Ability to handle sensitive employee situations with discretion, empathy, and professionalism
- Strong written and verbal communication skills; ability to translate policy into plain, practical language
- Experience with HRIS, payroll/EOR, or ticketing tools (e.g., Deel, Workday, Freshservice)
- High attention to detail and comfort operating with ambiguity in a fast-moving environment
- Genuine excitement about Handshake's mission and the AI economy
Bonus:
- Experience working cross-functionally with US-based teams, including comfort with some overlap hours
- Exposure to contractor, gig, or data-annotation workforce models
- Familiarity with Employers of Record (EOR) like Deel or Rippling
- Prior experience flexing between generalist HR execution and higher-judgment HRBP-style partnering
