Talent Sourcing Specialist (Contract)

Handshake
San Francisco, CA
RemoteCareer-pivot friendly

Who this role is best for

Best suited to candidates with sourcing experience in technical and STEM fields, working in a high-growth AI and data business environment.

Best fit for

  • Candidates with 2–4 years of sourcing experience in technical or STEM domains
    — “2–4 years of recruiting or sourcing experience”
  • Individuals who can engage passive candidates through boolean search and market mapping
    — “Source and engage passive talent through creative outreach, boolean search, research, and market mapping”
  • Professionals comfortable with shaping processes in fast-paced, high-velocity environments
    — “Comfort with ambiguity and a willingness to help shape processes, not just follow them”

Things to consider

  • Must be available to work in San Francisco office during PST hours
    — “Must be ok working PST hours”
  • Requires managing high-volume pipelines with a focus on AI and data roles
    — “high-volume, high-velocity role focused on sourcing and screening candidates for the Handshake AI Fellowship”

How to stand out

  • Highlight experience sourcing technical or STEM candidates in your resume and interview responses
    — “Experience sourcing candidates from specialized fields, including STEM, data, or technical backgrounds”
  • Demonstrate your ability to provide strategic market insights and refine sourcing tactics
    — “Provide market insights and strategic guidance, leveraging your close partnership with the team”
  • Showcase proficiency with Ashby and LinkedIn Recruiter in your application materials
    — “Proficiency with ATS platforms (Ashby a plus), LinkedIn Recruiter, and other sourcing tools”
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · MediumAutonomy · MediumDecision Impact · Team

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • top-of-funnel-sourcing
  • candidate-screening
  • market-insights
Typical background
recruiting-experiencesourcing-experience

Skills & requirements

Required

RecruitingSourcingTechnical-sourcingAts-platformsCommunication-skillsMetrics-mindset

Preferred

Agency-experienceExecutive-searchGrowth-focused-recruiting

Stack & domain

RecruitingSourcingTechnicalSTEMATS PlatformsLinkedin RecruiterAshbyDriveUrgencyCommunicationMetrics-mindedAmbiguityWillingness To Help Shape ProcessesAI

About the role

Original posting from Handshake via Ashby

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 http://joinhandshake.com/careers.

Source: Handshake careers (Ashby)

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