Join us in shaping the future of Buddy! As our dedicated Unity Technical Artist, you’ll be the crucial bridge between our new vision and robust engineering teams. Your mission: to elevate Buddy.ai’s engagement to the gold standard of top mobile games for children by February 2026.
Buddy.ai, the world’s first AI tutor for kids under 12
Buddy.ai provides affordable, high-quality one-on-one tutoring to children worldwide using our interactive, voice-based character Buddy the Robot.
Buddy is powered by proprietary AI technology for children and features a unique UX and gameplay. He teaches kids using voice- and tap-based games in a fun-filled world created by educational experts.
With 50 million downloads, Buddy is the most popular AI-based product for children and one of TIME Magazine’s World’s Top EdTech Rising Stars of 2024. We are backed by top VCs and angel investors, including stars of the game industry, deep tech, and Hollywood.
Here’s a short video about Buddy.ai.
Your Mission
You’ll help bring Buddy’s world to life by building tools, shaders, and workflows that connect art and engineering. Your goal is to improve visual quality, support efficient production, and enable experiments with new features and technologies.
Objectives & Outcomes
- Elevate Visual Quality: Partner with content production art teams to ensure the delivery of exceptional visual quality.
- Drive Innovation: Develop and implement cutting-edge prototypes, experimental features, and technical benchmarks that align with the artistic and game vision.
- Technical Artistry: Collaborate in the development of 3D models, animations, rigs, scripts, and shaders. Seamlessly integrate animations, VFX, graphics, audio, video, and other visual assets into real-time applications across diverse devices.
- Explore Future Horizons: Conduct R& D into XR/AR/MR, transmedia experiences, and multiplayer functionalities to expand the Buddy.ai universe.
- Optimize Performance: Develop technical and artistic tools and solutions to proactively address performance bottlenecks. Profile and optimize memory and application performance within project constraints.
- Champion Best Practices: Improve workflows and establish best practices. Create and maintain clear technical documentation in collaboration with production teams to ensure efficient and high-quality output.
Competencies
- Broad Game Expertise: Strong understanding of mobile and console game development pipelines; experience with AR/MR/XR technologies is a significant plus.
- Data-Driven Insight: Use data and analytics to inform decisions and inspire innovation.
- Version Control & Project Management Proficiency: Skilled in systems like Git or Perforce, and tools such as Jira, Trello, and Cloud CMS.
- Generative AI Awareness: Experience with generative AI tools and practices is highly valued.
- Efficiency & Startup Agility: Thrive in lean environments, embracing MVPs, rapid prototyping, and a “fail fast, learn faster” approach.
- Proactive Problem-Solver: Self-driven with a decisive and results-oriented mindset.
- Collaborative Team Player: Encourage feedback, support peers, and align with diverse stakeholders’ perspectives.
Qualifications
- Collaborate closely with the Art Director, UI team, and designers to bring the vibrant world of Buddy to life — a promising IP with potential for expansion into toys, books, and cartoons.
- Demonstrated interest and hands-on experience with generative AI tools, workflows, and applications.
- Awareness of emerging visual techniques and AR/MR/XR technologies is a strong plus.
- Work directly with developers and artists to prototype features and optimize performance across all target devices and platforms.
- Proven experience with shader languages (GLSL, ShaderLab, HLSL) and strong knowledge of real-time performance profiling and optimization.
- Comfortable working in a fast-paced, agile startup environment with lean processes, rapid prototyping, and shifting priorities.
Position details
- Geography: Fully remote, based within the Europe Time Zone (CET preferred)
- Language: Fluency in English is mandatory. Proficiency in Russian would be highly desirable.
- Remote position: 100% remote with 2-4 strategic offsite sessions per year.
- Compensation and benefits:
- Competitive market salary
- Stock option in our growing AI startup
- Paid sick leave and vacation days
- Flexible Working Schedule: 40 hours per week with a start time between 8 AM and 10 AM CET and departure from 5 PM CET.
- English Language Training
Ready for the best job in the world!
We at Buddy.ai are leading the AI revolution in early learning. Our mission is to make 1X1 tutoring available for every child worldwide and help resolve the global teacher shortage. Here’s what sets our company apart:
- Unique product: At Buddy.ai, we are pioneering the Multimodal AI Tutoring approach, which means our tutor is a virtual character that uses voice recognition and conversational AI to teach children. Buddy is the first product of its kind, so we innovate, brainstorm, prototype, playtest on children in a lab, and AB test using real users.
- The leading consumer AI company in the early learning space: We have millions of users, and that number doubles year after year. Buddy is not another ChatGPT wrapper; we are developing proprietary AT technology for children that’s safe, fast, and compliant with COPPA and other regulations.
- Mission-driven project: Our Company is inspired by our team’s experiences as immigrants and parents, as well as those of our children.
- Impact and love: It’s a great feeling knowing that you are building an educational product that helps children thrive. You can always draw inspiration and satisfaction from the love of Buddy’s users.
- Perfect job for Moms and Dads: Many (in fact, most) of our team members are parents. We draw inspiration from our children’s experiences with Buddy.ai. It is a special feeling when your child admiringly asks, “Mom, did you really create Buddy?
- Friendly, open, and informal work environment: Our small (but growing) team is horizontally structured. All product and financial metrics are openly discussed because we work collaboratively and share everything. No politics, no BS — we work hard and have a lot of fun in the process.
- Contribution and growth: A small team means the opportunity for a large individual impact. The Company is growing fast, which allows team members to grow with it and create a lasting legacy.
- 100% Remote work with a flexible schedule/Generous paid sick leave and vacation days.
- A share of our success: This key role grants a Stock Option because when we win, we win together.
Join us in our mission to provide high-quality 1X1 tutoring to every child worldwide using AI!
