Senior AI Engineer

At Talkspace we are committed to fostering a diverse equitable inclusive and belonging-centered workplace where everyone can thrive while making a difference in mental health. Want to help over two million people receive quality mental healthcare Come join our mission of getting therapy in the hands of everyone!

We are looking for an experienced Senior AI Engineer to join our team. The Senior AI Engineer will be a pivotal technical leader responsible for designing building and scaling the autonomous AI agents that form the core of our behavioral health platform. This role requires deep expertise in developing complex multi-agent systems leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs) for reasoning planning and goal setting and applying Reinforcement Learning (RL) techniques to model and influence human behavior safely and ethically. You will drive the entire lifecycle of our agentsfrom developing cognitive architectures and interaction models to ensuring their robust high-availability deployment and continuous learning in a production environment. Given the sensitivity of behavioral health this role demands an exceptional focus on safety ethical autonomy transparency and data privacy. The ideal candidate is a seasoned engineer who can bridge the gap between theoretical AI (specifically RL and planning) and real-world scalable and impactful user interactions. To work at Talkspace you need to be as passionate as we are about our work and excited to partner with us on delivering quality mental healthcare.

What Youll Do

• Autonomous System Architecture:Design and implement the technical architecture forSentias core AI agents including the development of planning modulesmemory/retrieval systems goal-setting algorithms and tool-use orchestration.
• Reinforcement Learning (RL) for Behavior: Apply advanced RL Inverse RL or relatedcontrol theory methods to develop agents capable of adaptive long-term interventionstrategies that maximize positive user outcomes while minimizing risk (e.g. optimizinginteraction sequencing timing and content).
• LLM Integration and Fine-tuning: Select fine-tune and deploy foundation models(LLMs) to power agent reasoning natural language understanding and empatheticcontext-aware communication with users.
• Complex Interaction Modeling: Develop models for human-agent interaction (HAI)incorporating principles from cognitive science and behavioral economics to ensureagents are effective trustworthy and aligned with therapeutic protocols.
• Simulated Environments: Construct robust simulation environments for pre-training andtesting agent policies ensuring system stability and safety across a wide range ofpsychological and behavioral scenarios.
• Performance and Resilience: Optimize the deployment environment to manage thecomputational demands of multi-agent orchestration ensuring low-latencydecision-making and high system resilience.
• Technical Strategy: Lead the evaluation and adoption of new agentic frameworksreasoning technologies and system design patterns that position Sentia as a leader inautonomous behavioral health technology.
• Agent Evaluation & Observability: Design and implement comprehensive evaluationpipelines for multi-agent orchestrationincluding visualisations trace-level analysis ofLLM calls and tool invocations offline evaluation against golden datasets real-timeproduction monitoring for behavioral drift and outcome correlation guardrails andhuman-in-the-loop annotation workflows. Establish metrics frameworks to assessreasoning quality task completion safety compliance and task alignment across the fullagent lifecycle.

About You

• Bachelors or Masters degree in Computer Science Artificial Intelligence RoboticsElectrical Engineering or a highly quantitative field.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in a production software engineering environmentwith at least 3 years specifically focused on designing implementing and deployingcomplex machine learning or autonomous systems.
• Exceptional Python Programming Skills: Mastery of Python and its scientific libraries.
• Production MLOps Expertise: Demonstrated experience building and managing CI/CDpipelines for ML models and integrating them into service-oriented architectures (SOA).
• Autonomous/Agentic Systems: Strong theoretical understanding and practicalapplication of techniques central to agentic AI such as Reinforcement Learning (RL)planning algorithms or complex decision-making systems.
• LLM Deployment: Hands-on experience fine-tuning deploying and managing LargeLanguage Models (LLMs) in a production environment including knowledge of promptengineering retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and cost optimization.
• Software Engineering Rigor: Proven ability to write high-quality maintainable scalableand well-tested production code.
• Proficiency with cloud infrastructure (AWS GCP) and containerization technologies(Docker Kubernetes).

Benefits

• Comprehensive Medical Dental and Vision plans coverage since day one
• Pre-tax benefits: HSA/ FSA
• 401k Retirement Savings Program with matching up to 4%
• Voluntary benefits including disability basic life or pet insurance etc.
• Monthly Wellness Stipend to promote mental and physical self-care
• Flexible PTO and Remote First Environment
• Regular team events including Wellness Workshops and Team Building Events
• Free access to Talkspace products for you and one household member as well as access to a friends and family discount!

Compensation

At Talkspace we believe that pay transparency during the interview process is a critical part of diversity equity and inclusion. Our salary bands are based on internal and external compensation benchmarks which we regularly evaluate to ensure we pay competitively.

The base salary range for this role is between $169000 and $200000. Within the salary bands leveling corresponds to each candidates relevant experience skills as assessed during the interview process education and applicable certifications.

Why Talkspace

Talkspace is the worlds leading online therapy company serving over 2 million users looking to begin their wellness journey through tele-health. According to the World Health Organization close to 1 billion people worldwide live with a mental disorder and on average more than 75% with mental neurological and substance use disorders receive no treatment for their condition at all. Additionally one-third of the worlds population 2 billion people live in countries that spend less than 1% of their health budgets on mental health. Therapy is an universal need and its our mission here to change the world by cultivating an intentional space for people to feel supported through quality care that is simple and accessible.

Combining our passion for innovation along with our desire to help others overcome the stigma behind getting help we are transforming the way patients find the right care provider making an otherwise impossible feat easily conquerable. Our network of licensed accredited and board-certified clinicians are increasing access to mental health for our members through a myriad of high quality therapy services: anytime and for a fraction of the price. Dedicated to our mission we are looking for candidates that want to bring their talents into a diverse for purpose space. If youre equally as passionate about making quality mental healthcare accessible to all then Talkspace is the right place for you!

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Talkspace welcomes and celebrates talent from all backgrounds perspectives and walks of life to foster an innovative and diverse workforce. We encourage you to apply even if you dont meet every qualification or if your path has been nontraditional such as not completing a formal degree program taking a career break or having a prior criminal record if you believe you could make a great addition to this team. Come as you are and learn about the exciting opportunities on our team.

Individuals seeking employment at Talkspace are considered without regard to race color religious creed sex national origin citizenship status age physical or mental disability sexual orientation marital parental veteran or military status unfavorable military discharge or any other status protected by applicable federal state or local law.

How do we define Diversity Equity Inclusion and Belonging at Talkspace

Diversity

Diversity encompasses the unique attributes of our employees as individuals. We value and embrace the richness arising from their varied backgrounds perspectives and experiences which include but are not limited to age ability ethnicity gender race and cultural background.

Equity

Equity refers to a fair and impartial workplace aiming to ensure equal growth and advancement opportunities for all employees. This involves amplifying underrepresented voices addressing unconscious biases and providing inclusive culturally competent mental health care.

Inclusion

Inclusion signifies the practice of granting equal access to opportunities and resources for all employees particularly those who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized. It ensures that everyone feels a sense of belonging value support and respect as an individual.

Belonging

Belonging reflects the affinity and positive relationships that develop among employees from diverse backgrounds when businesses actively promote diversity equity and inclusion in the workplace.