Founding AI Engineer
Better Half is seeking a Founding AI Engineer to build the execution layer for AI focused on relational intelligence in natural conversation. This role involves developing systems for affect analysis, memory integration, prompt engineering, and cloud infrastructure to create trustworthy AI for high-stakes domains.
Build the execution layer for AI focusing on relational intelligence in natural conversation. Tasks include affect analysis, memory systems integration, prompt engineering, and cloud infrastructure setup.
AI alignment isn't bottlenecked by capability. It's bottlenecked by trust. Current AI fails in high-stakes contexts because it was never trained for relational competence. Models see knowledge, essays, code, and engagement-optimized social media — but never longitudinal healthy relating. And the objective function optimizes for engagement and utility, not relational integrity. The result? Addiction, sycophancy, psychosis, and suicide lawsuits. Plus, it's doing nothing to improve our social fabric, the strength of our communities, or the health of our relationships. Mental health apps see single-digit AI conversion despite massive demand. Robotics companies can't deploy into homes because LLMs can't handle human nuance. Defense and healthcare won't adopt AI that fails under stress. The opportunity: Whoever solves relational coherence wins consumer social AI, robotics, mental health, defense, education — and any domain where humans are vulnerable, the pressure is real, and mistakes matter. What we're pioneering: An orchestration engine based on research-backed Cumulative Prospect Theory and a model trained on empirical signals of human thriving — what we're calling Relational Reinforcement Learning (RRL). Your role: Build the execution layer that translates relational intelligence into natural conversation. This isn't a better chatbot. It's infrastructure for trustworthy AI in domains where the stakes run high and LLMs aren't good enough.
Better Half's decision layer (built by our CTO, former Distinguished Engineer at IBM) determines when users need pushback, softening, or repair. But decisions mean nothing without execution. You'll build the system that translates those decisions into LLM behavior that feels natural while optimizing for user thriving, not engagement.
Turning complex relational intelligence into natural conversation that makes people feel understood while actually helping them grow — without drifting into sycophancy or breaking immersion with safety theater.
Posted May 27, 2026