Principal Game Engineer

Embodied, Inc. is a technology company founded by veteran roboticist Paolo Pirjanian (iRobot, Evolution Robotics) with the conviction that the next big wave of technology will be driven by human-machine interfaces that are socially aware and intelligent.

Embodied’s veteran team of technologists, neuroscientists, child development specialists, and creative storytellers have been entirely reinventing human-machine interaction to enable realistic and intuitive interactions similar to humans. Through extensive research, they developed a breakthrough technology platform, SocialX™, that incorporates advanced AI and machine-learning to support fluid conversation, body language, eye contact, and emotions.

The first iteration of this technology is Moxie™, an animated companion for children developed to help promote social, emotional, and cognitive learning. Recognized by TIME magazine as one of the Best Inventions of 2020, Moxie™ has been called “the robot pal you dreamed of as a kid” (Wired Magazine), “the robot that could be your child’s or parent’s new best friend” (Fast Company), and “a technically impressive childhood robot” (TechCrunch). You can learn all about Moxie™ and see how Embodied (one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2021) works at: embodied.com

Position Summary

We are looking for an open-minded creative team player to contribute to a revolutionary robot experience for children by developing unique robot-based gameplay and human-robot interaction for Moxie. Embodied is looking to add an experienced, talented, technically skilled, and creative Senior Game Engineer that works on the robot’s lifelike behavior and performance.

Responsibilities include:

• Design and develop solutions to bring a social robot to life using various game development disciplines: AI, game play, graphics, animations, UI, networking, etc., etc.

• Architect and integrate various systems and tools into existing Unity engine codebase for multiple platforms (Android, Windows, Mac, and Linux).

• Write well-architected, maintainable, and unit-tested code with good coding standards.

• Integrate 3rd party plugins to enhance robot behavior and tooling flexibility

• Maintain and upgrade Unity version and LTS support

• Profile and maintain engine performance on target hardware

• Work collaboratively with:

• Creative team of writers, designers, animators to develop engaging robot content

• Interactivity experts to implement robot features and behaviors.

• Roboticists to efficiently implement recognition and synthesis algorithms.

• Hardware engineers to integrate new sensors and other hardware.

• Have fun & learn while working at a startup with a great team and an incredible mission.

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional experience in game development with at least one shipped title.

• B.A./B.S. in computer science or equivalent experience.

• 3+ years professional Unity (or equivalent, e.g., Unreal) development experience

• 3+ years professional C# (or equivalent, e.g., C++) experience

• Experience in the design, architecture and implementation of game systems and tools, including AI, animations, game play, game object management, graphics/rendering, UI, game editor tools, build pipelines, and memory management.

• Must be comfortable working and enhancing an established code framework.

• Familiarity with OpenGL, DirectX, or other rendering APIs

• Creative, focused, results-oriented, self-motivated, resourceful problem-solver with excellent debugging skills.

• Excellent communication skills to effectively collaborate with an interdisciplinary team

Preferred Qualifications

• Working experience in macOS and Windows

• Experience with Android system

• Robotics interaction experience

• Familiar with source code management (e.g., git)

• Programming experience with Java, Python, or similar programming languages

At Embodied, we support diversity and we are an equal opportunity workplace. We offer a competitive benefits package that includes compensation, health benefits, employee stock options, 401(k) match, flexible PTO, and flexible schedules. We are a dynamic and diverse team that likes to push the status quo. 

Location:  Pasadena, CA. But exceptional remote applicants may be considered.

Contact us: join@embodied.me