AI Tutor, Music Specialist (contract), Handshake AI

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.

Your impact

As an AI Tutor, Music Specialist, you will help shape the future of AI-powered creativity by evaluating and refining music-related outputs generated by advanced AI systems. Your deep expertise in composition, music theory, and production will ensure the technical, stylistic, and conceptual accuracy of musical data used to train and improve machine learning models. This is a unique opportunity to apply your artistic judgment and analytical rigor to an emerging frontier of music and AI.

This is a contract remote position with variable time commitments. The services to be provided by the Contractor under this agreement are supplementary and not integral to the Handshake’s primary business operations. The Contractor’s services are distinct and separate from the core business activities of Handshake.

Your role

• Evaluate AI-generated musical content for accuracy, creativity, musicality, and genre/style adherence.
• Use internal tools to score, annotate, and critique examples across a variety of musical formats and tasks (e.g. compositions, arrangements, melodic or harmonic completions).
• Provide expert feedback on structure, harmony, orchestration, and production quality.
• Help curate, refine, or author musical examples across multiple genres and traditions to support training datasets.
• Collaborate with AI and engineering teams to fine-tune annotation protocols and evaluation frameworks.
• Stay adaptable as task requirements evolve and model capabilities advance.

Your experience

• PhD in Composition, Experimental Music, Music Theory, Music Technology, or a closely related discipline.
• Exceptional aural and analytical skills — able to dissect and interpret music with precision and clarity.
• Hands-on production expertise — fluent with DAWs (e.g., Logic, Ableton, Pro Tools), mixing, arranging, and digital synthesis techniques.
• Genre versatility — demonstrated fluency across styles including classical, jazz, pop, EDM, film/game scores, world music, and experimental idioms.
• Deep understanding of harmony, form, orchestration, and style — with the ability to critique or create musical material from a structural perspective.
• Strong pedagogical instincts — experienced in teaching, tutoring, or mentoring musical analysis or creative practice.
• Interest or experience in AI-assisted music tasks — such as evaluating model outputs, tagging musical features, or generating example-based training data.

Bonus areas of expertise

• Released works (e.g. albums, EPs) or notable professional credits (e.g. commissions, film/game scoring, major live performances).
• Published academic work in music theory, cognition, or technology.
• Experience with notation software (e.g. Sibelius, Finale, Dorico) or music engraving.
• Familiarity with computational musicology, MIR, or symbolic music representations (e.g., MIDI, MusicXML).

Additional Requirements

• Availability to work evenings and weekends as needed.
• Ability to quickly adapt to new skills and evolving requirements.
• Personal device must support Windows 10 or macOS Big Sur 11.0 or later.
• Reliable access to a smartphone.

Location & Work Expectations

• Fully remote position.
• No visa sponsorship available.
• Not hiring in Wyoming or Illinois at this time.

Compensation range

• $100/hr

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 building the future of human data for AI.

We partner directly with top AI labs to power large language model (LLM) training and evaluation with high-quality, expert-generated data. As AI models become more sophisticated, the demand for specialized human input continues to grow—and Handshake is uniquely positioned to meet it. We power career platforms at 92% of the top U.S. universities, giving us direct access to verified expert talent across a wide range of domains.

Our AI team is rapidly building a new generation of human data products—from expert annotation platforms to AI interviewers and seamless payout infrastructure—all designed to accelerate research and improve model performance.

We’ve assembled a world-class team from YC, Notion, Scale, Coinbase, Palantir, and more, and we’re working directly with many of the world’s leading AI research labs. This is a unique opportunity to join a fast-growing team shaping the future of AI through better data, better tools, and better systems—for experts, by experts.

Handshake is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or reasonable accommodation, please let your recruiter know during initial communications.