Software Engineer, Applied AI

Valence builds an AI‑native coaching platform that provides personalized guidance to enterprise leaders and employees.

As a founding Applied AI Engineer you will help define and build the future of AI‑powered leadership coaching, working directly with the Head of AI and cross‑functional product and engineering teams. You’ll be at the intersection of generative‑AI research and product execution, designing, building, and refining intelligent systems that deliver context‑aware, personalized coaching at enterprise scale. The role is broad and adaptable: we expect you to be eager to learn, iterate rapidly, and contribute across challenges from model behavior to production systems.

• Architect and build enterprise‑grade AI and conversational systems that power coaching workflows and user experiences.
• Develop, evaluate, and refine LLM‑based components, balancing performance, scalability and reliability in real use cases.
• Integrate and manage diverse structured and unstructured data sources to improve contextual understanding and output quality.
• Partner closely with product, engineering and design to translate user needs into impactful technical solutions.
• Rapidly prototype and iterate on systems that span backend services, data pipelines and frontend interactions as needed.
• Build tooling, tests and automation to support reliable model deployment, observability and continuous improvement.
• Help streamline data and science workflows, enabling fast experimentation and data‑driven decisions.

• Technical foundation: 8+ years of experience in software engineering, AI/ML and data‑intensive systems, ideally with a Master’s or Ph.D. in Computer Science, ML, Data Science or a related field.
• AI systems mindset:
  Familiarity with language systems (NLP, conversational interfaces, IR) and comfort reasoning about model behavior, context, and evaluation.
• Data tooling & analysis:
  Experience with Num Py, scikit‑learn, Pandas, PySpark, SQL and visualization tools (matplotlib, Seaborn, Plotly, BI tools).
• Cloud & deployment experience:
  Comfortable developing and deploying services in cloud environments (AWS, GCP, Azure) and with containerisation/orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Engineering excellence:
  Strong software engineering skills, writing maintainable code, debugging distributed systems, collaborating cross‑functionally.
• Growth orientation:
  Eagerness to tackle unfamiliar problems, learn new technologies and contribute to shaping the platform.
• Communication:
  Ability to explain technical ideas clearly to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Nice‑to‑have: experience with ML lifecycle tools (MLflow, Weights & Biases), Cloud ML services or past work building generative AI applications.

• Ownership & rapid growth
• Outsized missions from day one, with direct responsibility for company‑defining projects
• Work alongside the executive team with transparency into strategy and decision‑making
• Influence on direction through real‑time customer feedback and market insights
• AI‑first operator experience
• Work directly with cutting‑edge AI models and next‑generation platforms
• Build expertise in enterprise AI implementation across Fortune 500 companies and multiple industries
• Establish yourself as a recognized leader among peers in shaping how AI transforms work at a global scale
• Compensation: competitive salary including base + bonuses
• Comprehensive health coverage (medical, dental, vision) from day one
• Generous PTO, company‑wide R&R shutdowns, and paid parental leave
• Retirement plan support for US and global employees
• Equity and meaningful ownership in a venture‑backed company at a growth inflection point
• Financial upside that comes from scaling fast
• Top‑performance culture: intensity to win, growth without limits, and a team that solves hard problems and celebrates big wins together

If you are based in NYC or Toronto you can work hybrid in our offices; otherwise the role is remote. Candidates must be comfortable working with colleagues in different time zones (including the UK) and have valid travel documents without work‑authorization restrictions in the US.

We are dedicated to creating a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone feels valued and supported. We encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds and offer accommodations upon request throughout the hiring process.