Head Of Content & Community

Everyone is welcome at Handshake. We know diverse teams build better products and we are committed to creating an inclusive culture built on a foundation of respect for all individuals. We strongly encourage candidates from non-traditional backgrounds, historically marginalized or underrepresented groups to apply.

Content & Community at Handshake

Handshake’s mission is to democratize access to opportunity, and we want to help students and other early career job seekers start or accelerate their careers.

Handshake today is a thriving platform with millions of students finding and securing their internships and first job after graduation from thousands of employers—from all of the Fortune 100 to a wide array of other companies, non-profits, as well as state or federal agencies. Along with that we power the connection between students and their career center at more than 1,400 universities across the US, the UK, Germany, and France.

We’re always evolving our platform, and content and community are key to the next stage of Handshake. Students and others who are early in their career face serious challenges getting the guidance, inspiration, and information they need to choose a career path, land that dream job, and be successful on the job. They piece this together through their career centers, the internet, and family and friend networks, but this only works for the fortunate few. Our vision is to level the playing field by bringing content and community onto Handshake—and to provide authentic, quality, and engaging content from a trusted community.

We’re building a founding Content & Community team to help us launch this opportunity to help millions of students get the job and career experience they want, need, and deserve.

Your impact

We are looking for a Head of Content & Community to help define and create the future of the Handshake community. You will lead a small but mighty team responsible for driving this next wave of Handshake’s growth. This is a unique opportunity to build from "0-to-1", but in a platform with product/market fit, and resources available. You will wear multiple hats, hustle to make things happen, and build on the strength of Handshake’s existing marketplace.

You will be responsible for building meaningful connections with our diverse audiences, and help them create healthy engagement that leads to impact for early career seekers. You and your team will source and develop relationships with students, career centers, employers, and other creators to create an environment that brings together the early talent network to share knowledge, provide mentorship, and create meaningful connections.

Reporting to the Chief Design Officer, you’ll manage a team of three Content & Community Managers and be the leader strategizing, evolving, and managing the creator programs that your team runs. This role will be responsible for the full end-to-end creator growth strategy and implementation, from recruiting to building out short term campaigns and evergreen creator initiatives.

Your role

• Source, surface, and promote community-generated content that establishes Handshake as the go-to source for early career job seekers
• Be the bridge between the creator community and the R&D team by bringing data and voice-of-customer to influence product decisions
• Develop a set of measurable KPIs that demonstrate the value of the creator community and its impact on Handshake overall
• Serve as player-coach by setting goals and unblocking the team, but also roll up your sleeves to get the work done
• Launch the content community on Handshake by activating students, schools, and employers to connect through content and community, and developing incentives and engagement loops that keep them coming back

Your Experience

• Data-informed. You are analytical and have experience making data-driven decisions to optimize growth and engagement, but also comfortable developing and executing on a strong vision.
• Experimentation and entrepreneurial mindset. High agency, with a builder’s mentality, eager to experiment, iterate, learn, and make progress, quickly.
• People management experience with the ability to develop individual levels and team goals.
• 10+ years of experience working in creator and community management with content creators and relevant partners; preference for early stage startups, or other “0-to-1” experience.
• Experience influencing across teams and leading complex projects.
• Experience collaborating with product teams around product strategy, planning, and growth, ideally within a marketplace environment.
• Flexible and creative problem solver. You are scrappy, curious and can take on multiple roles to make things happen. When one door closes you find another way to accomplish your team’s goals.

Bonus areas of expertise

• Experience working with the legal team to develop contracts for content creators; knowledgeable on the current market rates and able to negotiate content contracts with creators.

Compensation Range

• $210,000-$240,000

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 #1 place to launch a career with no connections, experience, or luck required. The platform connects up-and-coming talent with 750,000+ employers - from Fortune 500 companies like Google, Nike, and Target to thousands of public school districts, healthcare systems, and nonprofits. In 2022 we announced our $200M Series F funding round. This Series F fundraise and valuation of $3.5B will fuel Handshake’s next phase of growth and propel our mission to help more people start, restart, and jumpstart their careers.

When it comes to our workforce strategy, we’ve thought deeply about how work-life should look here at Handshake. With our Hub-Based Remote Working strategy, employees can enjoy the flexibility of remote work, whilst ensuring collaboration and team experiences in a shared space remains possible. Handshake is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Denver, New York, London, and Berlin and teammates working globally.

Check out our careers site to find a hub near you!

What we offer

Benefits below apply to employees in full-time positions.

At Handshake, we'll give you the tools to feel healthy, happy and secure.

• 📚 Generous learning & development opportunities and an annual $2,000/£1,500 stipend for you to grow your skills and career.
• 💝 Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision policies including LGTBQ+ Coverage. We also provide resources for Mental Health Assistance, Employee Assistance Programs and counseling support.
• 🍼 16 Weeks of paid parental leave for birth giving parents & 10 weeks of paid parental leave for non-birth giving parents.
• 💻 Handshake offers $500/£360 home office stipend for you to spend during your first 3 months to create a productive and comfortable workspace at home.
• 💰 Equity and ownership in a fast-growing company.

(US Handshakers)

• 🏦 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 8 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.

(UK Handshakers)

• 🏝 Up to 25 days of vacation to encourage people to reset, recharge, and refresh, in addition to 8 bank holidays throughout the year.
• 🏦 Pension Scheme: Handshake will provide you with a workplace pension, where you will make contributions based on 5% of your salary. Handshake will pay the equivalent of 3% towards your pension plan, subject to qualifying earnings limits.

For roles based in Berlin and Romania: Please ask your recruiter about region specific benefits.

Looking for more? Explore our mission, values and comprehensive US benefits at joinhandshake.com/careers.