AI Technical Lead
About Us:At Valdera, we help manufacturers bring their ideas to life by transforming how they source materials. Our platform makes it easy to find the best materials and suppliers, enabling them to build high-quality products at scale and deliver to millions worldwide.We are a fast-growing team with a proven track record of working with Fortune 500 industrial manufacturers, beauty brands, and chemical companies. We hire talented, driven individuals who thrive in high-performance environments and want to grow their careers quickly.Our culture empowers top talent to take on meaningful challenges, collaborate with industry leaders, and see the real impact of their work. If you’re looking for a fast-paced environment where your ideas drive change, Valdera is the place for you.Join us and help shape the future of manufacturing.Role Description:We are looking for a talented Senior Software Engineer with startup experience. You’ll work very closely with our executive team to build end-to-end systems for our buyers, suppliers, and internal stakeholders. We prefer to use an open source stack with proven technologies. Since products like ours tend to acquire a lot of complexity over time we are looking for engineers who can make mature and principled decisions in the face of competing priorities.Role Responsibilities:Architect our Data Engine: Design and build the end-to-end data infrastructure for our AI systems, including ingestion pipelines, annotation workflows, and quality assurance loops for complex chemical and supplier data.Engineer our Core Intelligence: Develop and fine-tune sophisticated models—likely leveraging Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)—that can accurately map the global chemical supply chain, understanding specifications, pricing, and availability with unparalleled precision.Pioneer Autonomous Agents: Build and deploy a suite of autonomous agents that automate critical workflows. These agents will handle everything from market analysis and user onboarding to intelligent supplier matching and proactive engagement.Lead Foundational Research: Drive research and strategy to identify and integrate novel data sources (pricing, market trends, logistics) to give our AI a comprehensive, real-time understanding of the market.Own the AI Roadmap: Act as the key technical authority and thought partner on AI, making the critical decisions on model selection, data strategy, infrastructure, and team composition needed to win.Ship with Impact: Take full ownership to launch features and systems, keeping speed and quality as the two top priorities. Ensure release makes a step change for our customers and our business.Experience & Qualifications:You have significant experience building and shipping complex software systems, with a demonstrable focus on AI/ML in recent years, ideally in a fast-paced startup environment.You possess deep, hands-on experience with the modern AI stack: LLMs, RAG architectures, vector databases, and data annotation frameworks.You are obsessed with the fast evolving AI landscape, constantly experimenting with new models, techniques (e.g., agentic frameworks), and infrastructure.You have proven experience designing and building data ingestion and annotation pipelines from scratch, and you have strong opinions on how to ensure data quality at scale.You are a deeply independent and resourceful operator, capable of navigating ambiguity, making principled decisions, and executing on a vision with minimal oversight.You have a history of collaborating closely with executive leadership to align technical strategy with core business objectives.You excel at communicating complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.You are located in the United States and eligible to work here. We are unable to provide VISA sponsorship at this time.Benefits: Valdera offers generous benefits to employees. Full time employees are eligible for premium healthcare, dental, and vision insurance coverage. You will be provided a more detailed breakdown of your options prior to joining Valdera.Equal Opportunity Employer Statement:Valdera is an equal-opportunity employer committed to building a diverse and inclusive team. We are dedicated to maintaining a workplace free from discrimination, where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to contribute.Please note that Valdera uses E-Verify to confirm the identity and employment eligibility of all new hires.