Staff Software Engineer, Applied AI

Valence has built the only first-to-market AI native coaching platform for enterprise, offering personalized, expert, and human-like guidance and support to any leader or employee. We’re not just talking about the future of work — we’re building it now, with the most innovative Fortune 500 companies across healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, and technology. Learn more about our work with Microsoft: Valence Brings AI Coaching More Deeply Into the Flow of Work with Microsoft 365 https://www.valence.co/blog/valence-microsoft-365-may-2026 Our focus is on the problems that actually decide whether AI changes how organizations operate — the ones with no playbook, no obvious answers, and no guarantee of success. If you want to be part of the small group that defines how AI transforms the future at a global scale, this is your chance. And this isn’t for everyone. We’re not looking for people who want predictability or incremental progress. We only want those who are restless at the edge of what’s possible, who get bored when things feel “done,” and who are driven to redefine what AI can mean for leaders, companies, and the world. Because at Valence, the work worth doing is the kind that redefines work itself. THE ROLE As a founding Applied AI Engineer at Valence, you will help define and build the future of AI-powered leadership coaching, working directly with our Head of AI and cross-functional product and engineering teams. You’ll be at the intersection of generative AI research and product execution - helping design, build, and refine intelligent systems that deliver context-aware, personalized coaching at enterprise scale. This role is purposefully broad and adaptable: we don’t expect any one candidate to check every technical box, but we do look for engineers who are eager to learn, iterate rapidly, and contribute meaningfully across a range of challenges from model behavior to production systems. You’ll tackle real-world AI problems - from transforming enterprise data into actionable context, to optimizing conversational experiences, to shaping how AI engages with users in meaningful and responsible ways. Your work will directly impact how our platform performs in high-stakes enterprise deployments and how leaders around the world grow through AI-facilitated insights. ABOUT VALENCE We're the only company pioneering leadership coaching for large enterprises in an AI-first way. Our mission is to transform how the world's biggest companies approach learning and development, helping teams work better together through AI-powered personalization that adapts to individual goals and organizational culture using the latest advances in machine learning and natural language processing. We've been featured in Harvard Business Review, TIME, World Economic Forum, Financial Times, Forbes and an Inc. 5000 fastest-growing private companies in America. Our clients represent the most diverse and sophisticated enterprise AI implementations globally, including Coca-Cola, Delta, Nestlé, General Mills, Schneider Electric, Deutsche Telekom, AstraZeneca, Prudential, CVS and Bristol Myers Squibb. Working at Valence means you'll work directly with Fortune 500 technology leaders, building expertise through the most complex enterprise deployments while gaining insight into diverse organizational approaches to AI transformation. These aren't just any enterprise clients - they're the companies defining what AI-first business transformation looks like across every major industry. WHAT YOU'LL DO - 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 sources of structured and unstructured data to improve contextual understanding and output quality. - Partner closely with product, engineering, and design to translate user needs into…