Location: Toronto, Ontario

Senior Full-Stack Engineer – Interactive Systems & AI

Our client is building a new kind of interactive character experience: combining animation, real-time systems, and AI to bring expressive digital characters to life. We’re developing a platform where characters are not just animated, but responsive, programmable, and part of a living system.

This is an early-stage effort with a small team, working directly with the founder to explore, prototype, and ship quickly.

What This Role Is

– A high-autonomy role focused on building new interactive systems from scratch

– A chance to explore and define how AI + animation + real-time interaction come together

– A close partnership with the founder and creative team to shape product direction

– An opportunity to make foundational technical decisions early

What You’ll Do

– Take early concepts and turn them into working interactive systems and product features end-to-end

– Build across the stack: modern frontends (React / Next.js), APIs, and backend services

– Develop systems that support real-time character interaction, including animation triggers, voice, and behavior

– Evaluate and experiment with different technical approaches, including: Live2D pipelines and alternatives; AI-driven motion / video systems (e.g. SeeDance or similar); Voice synthesis and real-time voice transformation APIs

– Work closely with animators to integrate character assets into interactive systems

– Rapidly prototype and test build vs integrate vs buy decisions

– Ensure systems are performant, observable, and production-ready as they evolve

Must Have Skills:

What You Bring

– 5+ years of professional experience as a software engineer

– Strong full-stack capability (TypeScript/React + Node systems)

– Experience building and shipping interactive or real-time systems

– Comfort working in ambiguous, fast-moving environments with evolving requirements

– Ability to evaluate multiple technical approaches and form clear, opinionated trade-offs

– Experience integrating external APIs and stitching systems together quickly

– Strong ownership. You can take a concept from idea • prototype • production

Nice to Have Skills:

Experience working with:

– Animation systems (Live2D, Spine, Unity, WebGL, or similar); AI media tools (video, motion, or audio generation); Voice synthesis, audio processing, or real-time streaming systems

– Familiarity with event-driven or real-time architectures (WebSockets, streaming pipelines)