Manager, R&D Strategy & Operations

Handshake•San Francisco, CA

2d•$160,000 - $190,000•Remote

About The Position

The Strategy & Operations Manager for RAD will extend Handshake's S&O function into the frontier of AI development. Primarily deployed in Handshake AI (HAI), this person works at the intersection of the most consequential and fast-moving work in the company: scalable reinforcement learning environments, systematic quality frameworks for training frontier models, and large-scale coding projects pushing the boundaries of what AI can do on a massive, real-world problem set. This is not a program management role and it's not a permanent execution owner. It's a force multiplier: someone who deploys to wherever the business problem is most urgent, builds the operating system to make it self-sustaining, and moves on. They work alongside the RAD S&O leader to extend strategic reach across two business units with different operational needs and up level how teams across RAD operate with AI in their toolkit.

Requirements

6–8+ years 6 to 8 years in strategy & operations, chief of staff, or a hybrid role in a fast-moving R&D driven environment
Proven track record deploying across complex, multi-team organizations and building operating systems that outlast their involvement
Strategic range to move fluidly between a technical AI research environment and a consumer marketplace without losing effectiveness
High judgment under ambiguity: goes to where the problem is, not where the job description points
Executive presence to operate alongside senior leaders and push back when something is at risk
AI-fluent operator who uses the latest tools and is excited to build the agentification playbook for others
Relationship-builder who earns trust quickly across engineering, product, and design stakeholders

Responsibilities

Deploy to the highest-priority initiatives across RAD, build the operating structure for each sprint, and hand off when it's self-sustaining
Build trusted relationships with engineering and product leads; be informed enough to push back and credible enough to be heard
Identify process and tooling friction across RAD and own the playbooks to fix it, including agentification of manual workflows
Run org-wide operating rhythms, including quarterly planning, execution rhythms, org comms, and cross-team reporting
Escalate to the S&O lead with context and a point of view, and a plan