About the role
Opportunity Overview
Handshake is looking for senior engineering leaders to support AI research through flexible, part-time contract work. This is not a traditional job. You’ll draw on your experience leading engineering teams and running multi-week or multi-month projects, across fields such as electrical, mechanical, civil, structural, industrial, chemical, controls, and aerospace engineering, to evaluate AI-generated work and provide feedback that helps AI reason like an experienced engineering lead. The Handshake AI program runs year-round, with project opportunities opening periodically across different areas of expertise.
This is an ongoing, project-based opportunity you can take on alongside your current role.
What You’ll Do
Write the project briefs a lead would hand to a team, including scope, workstreams, and inputs, for engineering work that takes weeks or months to complete
Create rubrics that evaluate the full set of deliverables for a project
Review and evaluate AI-generated work on long, multi-step projects for technical accuracy, completeness, and alignment with how engineering work is actually run
Provide clear, structured written feedback to help improve AI model performance
Work remotely and complete tasks at your own pace, with no set schedule or minimum hour requirement
Qualifications
Hands-on experience: At least 5 total years of professional engineering experience in industry (with at least 2 of those years being hands-on engineering work, such as design, analysis, test, build, or commissioning)
Leadership experience: At least 3 years leading work in your own engineering field, as a team lead, manager, director, or project or program lead running multi-week or multi-month projects
Domain: Experience in one or more of the following areas:
Electrical, mechanical, civil, or structural engineering
Industrial, manufacturing, or physical engineering
Chemical and process engineering
Controls and PLC systems
Aerospace engineering
Biomedical devices
Piping, MEP, or construction project management with a technical engineering background
Additional qualifications (not required, but strengthen your application)
Experience writing detailed technical documents, such as specifications, test plans, SOPs, white papers, regulatory filings, or bills of materials
Experience in verification and validation, commissioning, or quality assurance
Experience coordinating across functions or with vendors, or leading work that spans multiple engineering disciplines
Experience in regulated industries, such as medical devices, aerospace and defense, oil and gas, or utilities
Prior experience with AI training or prompt writing
This may not be a fit if
Your engineering experience has primarily been in academia (holding a PhD is fine if your career has been in industry)
Required for all applicants
Must be based in the United States and have US work authorization
Must have 10+ years of total engineering experience, with 3+ years being in a engineering leadership position
Strong written communication and attention to detail
Ability to explain complex engineering concepts clearly
Ability to work independently in a remote, asynchronous environment