Six Figure Work

Director of Communications, Careers

Handshake

Company websitejoinhandshake.com (Handshake, opens in new tab)

Base salary $192K  to $255K

Employer-published annual base salary, USD. Advertised base range in San Francisco, CA

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  • LocationSan Francisco, CA
  • WorkplaceOn-site
  • Status at last checkSource accepting applications when checked
  • Last checked (3 h ago) · observed since

About this job

About Handshake

Handshake was founded on a simple belief: everyone deserves a path to a great career, regardless of where they went to school or who they know. Today Handshake is the career network for the AI economy, connecting 30 million job seekers, more than a million employers and 1,600 educational institutions. Handshake AI puts the expertise of that network to work with leading AI labs and enterprises, and Handshake's learning products help people build the skills the AI economy demands.

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 looking for a communications lead to own the story of our Careers business: the network 30 million students, graduates and professionals start on, the 1,600 institutions and million employers who rely on it, and the learning products we're building on top of it.

You'll report to the Chief Communications Officer and work directly with the President and COO, who runs Careers, and with our Chief Education and Workforce Officer, our research and economics team, and Careers product and marketing. You'll be the single owner of how Careers shows up in the press, in our executives' voices, in our research, and with the universities, employers and policymakers who work with us.

  • Own the Careers communications strategy integrated with the company-wide comms calendar and set the priorities each quarter, tied to the business unit's growth goals, and measure impact against clear KPIs

  • Run media relations for Careers: build relationships with reporters covering careers, workplace, higher education, workforce policy and AI's effect on jobs

  • Serve as executive communications partner to the President and COO and the Chief Education and Workforce Officer

  • Turn our research and data (Network Trends, the Class of 2026 series, monthly labor-market data) into stories, with our in-house economist and research team

  • Lead launch communications for Careers products and partnerships, with product marketing

  • Own communications to and about our university and employer partners, with the education and employer teams

  • Handle Careers inbound inquiries and issues with Legal and the CCO

  • Support the Careers story in international markets as the business grows

This is a senior individual-contributor role to start. It may grow into a people-manager role as the function scales.

Desired Capabilities

  • 8–12 years in communications, with substantial media relations and executive communications experience; consumer, marketplace, education, workforce or HR-technology background is a plus

  • Working relationships with reporters on the careers, workplace, higher-education and future-of-work beats, and a record of tier-one placements

  • Exceptional writer and editor who can write in an executive's voice across formats, from a short LinkedIn post to a 1,200-word op-ed to an all-hands script

  • Comfortable with data

  • Judgment under pressure

  • Builds systems, not just stories

  • AI-native working style, using AI to research, draft and measure, while owning every word that leaves the building

  • Bonus: higher-education or workforce-policy background

Perks

Handshake delivers benefits that help you feel supported—and thrive at work and in life.

The below benefits are for full-time US employees.

🎯 Ownership: Equity in a fast-growing company

💰 Financial Wellness: 401(k) match, competitive compensation, financial coaching

🍼 Family Support: Paid parental leave, fertility benefits, parental coaching

💝 Wellbeing: Medical, dental, and vision, mental health support, wellness stipend

📚 Growth: Learning stipend, ongoing development

💻 Remote & Office: Internet, commuting, and free lunch/gym in our SF office

🏝 Time Off: Flexible PTO, 15 holidays + 2 flex days

🤝 Connection: Team outings & referral bonuses

Explore our mission, values, and comprehensive US benefits at joinhandshake.com/careers.

Source: Handshake on Ashby · View original posting (opens in new tab)

Pay in context

This role's base floor ($192,000) is above 78% of the 151 Communications & Media roles in California listed on this site; 1 other lists the same floor. Their median floor is $150,000; the middle half runs from $125,000 to $184,323.

Only jobs on this site count, and each one publishes a base salary of $100,000 or more, so this compares six-figure jobs with each other, not with the whole market. Computed Nov 8, 2026.

This range next to 6 other live Handshake roles with the nearest advertised base floor
Chart as a table
This range next to 6 other live Handshake roles with the nearest advertised base floor
RolePublished base
Director of Communications, Careers (this listing)$192K - $255K
Director, Product Marketing$196K - $245K
Member of Technical Staff, Post-Training$200K - $350K
Member of Technical Staff, Evals$200K - $350K
Director, Learning and Training$200K - $260K
Member of Technical Staff, Coding Agents$200K - $350K
Member of Technical Staff, AI Engineering$200K - $350K

Same $100K to $400K scale as every card. All Handshake roles · How to read the bar

Observed changes

  1. First observed on the employer's board
  2. Began meeting the published-salary criteria
Observed since
Employer-stated posting date
2026-10-21
Where this pay comes from

Location as the employer wrote it: San Francisco, CA

USD 192,000 – 255,000 · 1 YEAR · Salary

Method
Structured pay field published by the employer
Checked
Rule set
us-base-v2

The employer's job board publishes this pay as a dedicated data field. We read the field directly; no interpretation was needed.

What we verified

  • The pay figures come from the employer's own listing, quoted exactly above.
  • The pay is an annual base salary in US dollars with a minimum of at least $100,000.
  • The role was publicly listed on the employer's job board when last checked.

We do not verify what the employer will actually offer, whether the employer is still recruiting for the role, or anything beyond what the employer published. Full methodology.

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