Applied AI Engineer

Valence has built the first-ever, first-to-market AI coaching platform for enterprise, offering personalized, expert, and human-like guidance and support to any leader or employee. At Valence, we're not just talking about the future of work – we're actively shaping it.

From your first interaction with us, you'll notice we're different. We're not just offering a job; we're inviting you to help transform the future of work by bringing groundbreaking research into real-world applications that will enhance human skills and abilities in the workplace. 

At Valence you'll be helping to architect the future of leadership in the age of AI. And we'll be honest – this is not for everyone. But for those with an insatiable curiosity, a passion for innovation, and a desire to transform how businesses approach leadership, this could be the career-defining opportunity you've been waiting for.

The future of leadership development is waiting, and we want you to help shape it.

The Role

As a founding Applied AI Engineer at Valence, you'll spearhead the development of groundbreaking AI-driven leadership coaching, reporting directly to our Head of AI. This pivotal role places you at the intersection of cutting-edge generative AI and practical business applications, offering the opportunity to shape the future of workplace development. You'll pioneer AI coaching by developing and deploying advanced generative AI models that revolutionize leadership development, while crafting intelligent interactions through sophisticated natural language processing systems that provide personalized, context-aware guidance to leaders.

In this position, you'll optimize our AI systems for enterprise scale, building robust and scalable solutions capable of serving Fortune 500 clients with high performance and reliability across diverse corporate environments. Collaborating closely with our product and leadership teams, you'll drive product innovation by identifying new opportunities for AI integration and constantly pushing the boundaries of what's possible in AI-assisted coaching. As a champion of ethical AI, you'll lead the charge in developing responsible AI practices, ensuring our coaching solutions maintain the highest standards of fairness, transparency, and user trust.

This role presents a rare opportunity to apply state-of-the-art AI techniques to transform how businesses approach leadership development. You'll tackle unique challenges at the intersection of AI, psychology, and leadership development, creating truly innovative solutions.

About Valence

We're a Series A B2B SaaS company, backed by Insight Partners, that's pioneering the first generative AI leadership coach for large enterprises. Our mission is to transform how the world's biggest companies approach learning and development, helping teams work better together. We've been featured in Harvard Business Review, and our client list reads like a who's who of global business, including Coca-Cola, Nestlé, General Mills, ServiceNow, AstraZeneca, Experian, and Bristol Myers Squibb.

What You'll Do

• Architect and develop enterprise-grade conversational AI solutions for leadership coaching
• Develop, design and implement improvements in user experience in conversational interactions leveraging LLMs in novel ways to advance product goals.
• Evaluate and improve existing conversational (LLM-based) models across dimensions of  effectiveness, scalability, and efficiency. 
• Implement, test, and deploy LLM-powered coaching agents that understand complex tasks, provide accurate and relevant responses, and adapt to diverse conversational contexts
• Integrate and manage diverse data sources to enhance the knowledge and contextual understanding of our AI coaching models
• Work with the product team to study user behavior and prioritize evolving product developments.
• Experiment at a high velocity to optimize user experience 
• Full stack - write, review and deploy code across back and front end as needed
• Streamlining data science processes to support rapid iteration and quality improvement. 
• Support other science and software development where required.

What We're Looking For

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, related field, or equivalent experience
• 3+ years of professional experience (or equivalent) in software engineering, AI/ML development (ideally including a Master's or Ph.D. in Computer Science, ML, Data Science, or a related field)
• Practical and theoretical knowledge of language systems in the areas of: conversational systems, NLP, and Information Retrieval with knowledge of relevant tools
• Strong software engineering skills with a track record of developing data-driven machine learning systems or products
• Proficiency in Python and relevant deep learning frameworks - both training (e.g. PyTorch, Tensorflow, JAX) and serving (e.g., Hugging Face TGI/Transformers/Adapters/outlines, vLLM)
• Experience with cloud deployment of ML systems (e.g., AWS, GCP, Azure) including and open systems (e.g. Docker and Kubernetes) and their associated ML services.
• Experience with Data Science tools and processes (e.g. NumPy, scikit-learn, Pandas, PySpark)
• Familiarity with ML lifecycle tools like MLflow, Weights & Biases
• Hands-on experience building Generative AI-powered applications, including Large Language Models
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Ability to communicate complex ideas and concepts effectively
• Exposure to early-stage startups, preferably B2B SaaS

What You'll Get

• Ownership of projects and strategic priorities regardless of seniority in our learning-focused environment.
• Strong ties to the executive team, a culture of transparency and engagement with strategic decisions.
• Options from day one, which means you will be on the ownership track right away.
• Competitive salary and equity packages.
• Comprehensive health coverage (medical, dental, and vision) from day 1.
• Provision of anything you need to be successful -  learning tools, hardware, office equipment, software.
• 401k optionality for US based employees
• Generous PTO, company-wide R&R shutdowns and paid leave for parents. 
• A WFH stipend, phone stipend and support to work in a We Work or other space as preferred.

Location and Work Environment

Candidates are based in NYC or Toronto and then are welcome to work hybrid in our offices, otherwise this role can be remote. Candidates must be comfortable working with colleagues in different time zones (UK), and have valid travel documents without work authorization restrictions in the US.

Diversity and Inclusion

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. If you have any questions, please reach out to Allison Langille, Head of People, at [email protected].