Valence - Staff Software Engineer, Applied AI
Requirements
• Technical foundation: 3+ years of experience in software engineering, AI/ML, data-intensive systems, AI/ML development (ideally including a Master's or Ph.D. in Computer Science, ML, Data Science, or a related field). • Technical foundation: • AI systems mindset: Familiarity with language systems (e.g., NLP, conversational interfaces, IR) and comfort reasoning about model behavior, context, and evaluation - both theoretical and practical knowledge. • AI systems mindset: • Data tooling & analysis: Experience with core data science tools such as NumPy, scikit-learn, Pandas, PySpark, plus SQL and common visualization tools (e.g., matplotlib, Seaborn, Plotly, or BI tools) to explore and communicate insights. • Data tooling & analysis: • NumPy, scikit-learn, Pandas, PySpark • visualization tools • Cloud & deployment experience: Comfortable developing and deploying services in cloud environments (AWS, GCP, Azure) and working with containerization/orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes). • Engineering excellence: Strong software engineering skills, including writing maintainable code, debugging distributed systems, and collaborating in cross-functional teams. • Engineering excellence: • Growth orientation: Eagerness to tackle unfamiliar problems, learn new technologies, and contribute to shaping our platform and culture. • Growth orientation: • Communication: Ability to explain technical ideas clearly and work effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders. • Communication: • Nice-to-have (but not required): experience with ML lifecycle tools (e.g., MLflow, Weights & Biases), familiarity with Cloud ML services, or past work building generative AI applications. • What You'll Get • What You'll Get • 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 • AI-First Operator • 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
Responsibilities
• Build the paved roads. Design and operate shared platform primitives used by multiple teams (authorization and routing guardrails, secure logging, rollout controls, observability, queue infrastructure, and the centralized LLM gateway) so teams build on standards instead of reinventing them. • Make change safe by default. Own the reliability and change-safety systems that let the org move fast without breaking trust: CI/CD gates, migration safety patterns, progressive delivery, rollback automation, and kill switches. • Enforce security at the platform layer. Ship secure defaults, policy enforcement frameworks, auditability, and data-access guard libraries so the safe path is the easy path. • Run global delivery controls. Implement single-domain strategy, region pinning and routing, residency-aware behavior, and cross-region config consistency checks for enterprise customers worldwide. • Raise the operational bar. Establish SLOs, synthetic checks, alerting standards, and incident runbooks and drills that drive faster detection and recovery. • Build the internal developer platform. Create service templates, blessed internal-tool paths, and standard deploy, monitoring, and auth patterns that make the right thing the default thing. • Operate an AI-native engineering plane. Build issue-to-PR automation infrastructure with governance, human-in-control workflows, and audit logs that convert signals into auditable, human-approved execution outcomes. • Valence is committed to protecting the privacy of all applicants. Information you submit will be used for recruiting, evaluation, legal compliance, and recordkeeping purposes only. We do not require access to personal account credentials at any stage of the hiring process. For more information, see our Candidate Privacy Notice.
Benefits
• 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 • Meaningful ownership in a venture-backed company at a growth inflection point • Financial upside that comes from scaling fast • Top-up grants as we scale and you deliver exceptional performance — your compensation grows alongside your impact • Top-Performing Culture • A culture built for top talent: intensity to win, growth without limits, and a team that solves hard problems and celebrates big wins together • Learn more about us and meet our team here • Location and Work Environment • If candidates are based in NYC or Toronto they can 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]. • Employment Verification & Commitment
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