AI Product Builder

About Fluent Software Group Fluent Software Group is part of?Valsoft?Corporation's family of operating groups?a global leader in?acquiring?and growing vertical market software companies. We focus on specialized industries where deep?expertise?truly makes the difference. At Fluent, we give founders and their teams a forever home?preserving their culture and momentum while unlocking?new resources, technology, and proven operational playbooks that fuel sustainable, long-term growth.

The Mission We're?building AI startups inside an established portfolio of vertical software companies?and we need builders to make it happen. Our mandate is to partner with Fluent's existing businesses to create new AI-powered products and sell them into?their?verticalized customer bases?and once proven, expand beyond them. The starting point could be either:?agentifying?an existing workflow that the business software already helps?facilitate?today, or?building a net-new product altogether. The through-line is simple?we?re?creating customer value in one of two forms: helping them?operate?more?efficiently, or?helping them capture revenue opportunities?they?re?currently missing. Each portfolio company has deep domain?expertise?and a loyal customer base. What they need is someone who can turn AI potential into real products that customers will pay for. This is startup building with a cheat code: you get established customer relationships, industry?expertise, existing infrastructure, and revenue to?validate?against?without starting from zero.

The Opportunity This?isn?t?a traditional product role, and?it's?not a traditional engineering role.It's?both?and neither.We're?looking for an AI Product Builder: someone who wakes up thinking about customer problems, spends their morning in conversations with users, and has a working prototype by the end of the week. You'll?bring the AI product vision and prototyping speed. The portfolio company's R&D team brings domain knowledge, production infrastructure, and engineering depth. Together, you ship. You?won?t?be training foundational models?you'll?be integrating AI APIs and using tools like Cursor, Claude Code, and?bolt.new?to deliver real, customer-facing solutions at startup speed. This role is designed for someone with?the hunger?to become a startup CTO or CEO. As the product takes shape, your scope and title grow with it. If you build something that works,?you'll?be the one who leads it.

The Mindset?We're?Hiring For Skills can be learned. Mindset?can?t. These are the traits that will make you successful here: Entrepreneurial Ownership:?You treat every product idea like?it's?your startup. You?don?t?wait for permission, a roadmap, or perfect information. You make decisions, own outcomes, and move fast?even when the path?isn?t?clear. Customer Obsession:?You?re?energized by customer conversations, not exhausted by them. You actively seek out users, listen deeply, and translate what?they?re?really saying (not just what?they?re?asking for) into product opportunities.You?re?the kind of person?who?d?rather spend an hour on a customer call than an hour in a planning meeting. Bias Toward Action:?When others are still debating the approach,?you?ve?already built a prototype. You believe in learning by doing, and?you?d?rather ship something imperfect on Tuesday than something polished next quarter. Social Confidence:?You?re?comfortable presenting to a room of executives, demoing to a skeptical customer, or whiteboarding with engineers you just met at a partner company?often?in?the same day. You build trust quickly and communicate with clarity and conviction. People want to work with you. Decisive Under Ambiguity:?You thrive without a playbook. You can assess a messy situation, make a call, and course-correct without drama. You?don?t?need consensus to act, and you?don?t?need a manager to tell you what to do next. Collaborative Leadership:?You'll?be partnering closely with R&D teams at each portfolio company?people who know their product and customers deeply. You need to earn their trust, respect their?expertise, and bring them along on the journey. You lead through influence, not authority. Hunger:?You want to build something that matters, not just collect a paycheck. You see this as a launchpad?not a landing pad.

• Own top-of-funnel customer discovery across Fluent's portfolio: engage directly with users,?identify?high-value pain points, and surface monetizable AI product ideas.

• Prioritize ruthlessly?manage the product idea pipeline based on customer value, business potential, and speed to market.

• Prototype fast: move from concept to working,?demoable?AI-powered product in 2?3 days using AI-enhanced dev tools and third-party AI APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure AI, Gemini).

• Lead live POCs and product demos with customers and stakeholders?then iterate based on what you hear.

• Partner with each portfolio company's R&D team to take validated prototypes into production?bridging your AI product vision with their domain?expertise?and infrastructure.

• Be the change agent: champion AI adoption across the portfolio and help teams see?what's?possible.

Technical Skills You need to be able to build and execute across the stack?not just'spec?and hand off.You?re?a generalist?who's?dangerous enough to go end-to-end on a prototype, and technical enough to earn the respect of the engineering teams?you'll?partner with. We?don?t?need depth in every layer?we need someone who can wire it all together fast. Full-Stack Fundamentals?

• Comfortable building end-to-end: modern frontend frameworks (React, Vue.js, TypeScript), server-side development (Node.js, Python, or C#/.NET), REST/GraphQL?APIs, and relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL).

• You?don?t?need to be an expert in every layer, but you need to be able to stand up a working,?demoable?product without waiting on another team.

• Hands-on experience integrating AI model APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Azure Cognitive Services) into real products?not just toy projects.

• Experience building agentic workflows: multi-step AI agents using function calling, tool use, and orchestration frameworks (LangChain,?CrewAI,?AutoGen, Semantic Kernel).

• Strong RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) skills: building pipelines that ground AI in domain-specific customer data using vector databases (Pinecone,?Weaviate) and embedding models.

• Fluency in prompt engineering, token/cost management, and latency tradeoffs in?production?AI features.

• Proficiency?with AI-enhanced development tools (Cursor, Windsurf, Claude Code,?bolt.new, v0,?Replit)?and the instinct to adopt?whatever's?next.You?re?the person who knows about new releases before anyone on the team.

• Git, CI/CD, and agile workflows. You ship, you iterate, you?don?t?over-process.

• 1?6 years of professional experience in software development, product development, or applied AI?but we care more about what?you?ve?built than how long?you?ve?been building.

• Demonstrated ability to take an idea from concept to working prototype independently.

• Deep fluency in the AI tooling ecosystem?and the habit of staying current.You?re?the first to know when a new model?drops,?a framework ships a breaking change, or a tool?emerges?that changes the game.

• Strong communication?and interpersonal skills?you?re?as comfortable in a customer meeting as you are in a codebase.

• A track record?of self-directed work: side projects, freelance products, hackathon wins, or entrepreneurial ventures carry significant weight.

• Bonus: experience in SaaS, vertical market software, or early-stage startup environments.

What This Role Is Not This is not a role where?you'll?receive a detailed spec and build to order. There is no established playbook. You?won?t?have a large team reporting to you on day one?you'll?be partnering with teams across the portfolio, not managing them. If you need heavy structure, extensive process, or prefer to stay heads-down in code without customer interaction, this?isn?t?the right fit. If the ambiguity excites you?keep reading.

• Founder-track opportunity: This role is designed to grow into a product leadership position. As the product scales, your scope and title scale with it.

• Skin in the game: Compensation includes meaningful participation in the product's success?because we want you?building?like an owner, not an employee.

• Built-in distribution:?You?re?not starting from zero. Fluent's portfolio gives you?established?customer bases, domain?expertise, and revenue to build against.

• Direct impact: Your work will be visible to customers and leadership from day one, with real usage across live products.

• Autonomy by design: We hire self-starters and get out of their way.

• AI-first culture:?We're?building a center of excellence around AI integration and are committed to responsible, value-driven adoption.

• Collaborative ecosystem: Work alongside passionate teams across Fluent's portfolio who bring deep vertical?expertise?and genuine enthusiasm for what AI can unlock.

If?you?ve?read this far and?you?re?already thinking about what?you?d?build first?we want to talk to you.

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