Strategy & Operations Associate

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.

The Role

In this role you will work directly alongside our Managing Director, Europe - our co-lead of our Global Sales team - acting as an extension of his capacity across executive priorities, client relationships, sales operations, and strategic initiatives.

You will be a thinking partner and operator: someone who brings structure to ambiguity, executes with precision, and earns trust with senior leaders internally and at some of our largest enterprise partners. The best person in this role will grow quickly into a broader remit; this is the kind of seat that provides excellent generalist training for future leaders.

What You'll Do

• Sales Operations: Keep the MD well-informed on pipeline health, team activity, and key commercial metrics. Identify trends, risks, and gaps in the pipeline and flag these proactively. Support oversight of key deals. Draft decks and communications.

• Relationship Management: Maintain a structured and thoughtful engagement cadence with senior stakeholders and C-Suite at our largest enterprise customers. Coordinate outreach across events, emails, and meetings to keep relationships warm, consistent, and purposeful. Track relationship history and surface timely moments for re-engagement.

• Partner & Adviser Management: Help manage relationships with a select group of channel partners and advisers, ensuring their activity is tracked and aligned to European growth goals.

• Communications & External Presence: Assist with the preparation of talking points, speeches, and presentation materials for conferences, panels, and industry events.

• Strategic Initiatives: Lead or support a range of ad hoc strategic initiatives as they arise. Act as a trusted thinking partner on business problems.

• Executive Administration: maintain full ownership over the MD’s calendar, ensuring his time is allocated to the right priorities. Prepare sharp briefing materials and background context ahead of key meetings so every interaction lands well.

What We’re Looking For

• 3-6+ years of professional experience in consulting and/or a fast-paced B2B startup.

• Ability to diagnose a variety of problems, break them down, and solution in an impactful way.

• High velocity execution skills to keep many work streams on track; natural attention to the small detail.

• Fluidity with advanced AI tools for business.

• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to adjust styles to the internal and external audiences.

• Comfort with data manipulation and visualization to communicate key insights in a value-added way.

• Self-motivated, adaptable, and resilient. Highly motivated and self-driven, with a strong desire to exceed expectations.

• Willingness to embrace challenges, experiment and continuously learn through high-quality feedback and new work streams.

• Clear motivations for wanting to join an early-stage team.

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

• 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

• Compensation

• 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

• Equity

• 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

This role is 3 days a week (Tues - Thurs) minimum in office in Central London (Waterloo). Candidates must be comfortable working with colleagues in different time zones (US), and have valid travel documents to visit European countries as well as the US and Canada as needed.

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