Principal Gameplay Engineer - Unity

About this role

Tolan is an Embodied Companion — a cute AI alien you talk with naturally, like a friend. Tolans have their own personality and preferences, and over time form memories about you, your life, and your shared friendship. We're an experienced team that previously founded Even, acquired for $300M in 2022. Tolan is backed by the designers and founders behind Instagram, Retro, Behance, Vimeo, and Notion. Our team works hard, with an emphasis on autonomy and ownership. We're building together in-person in downtown SF. THE ROLE We're hiring a Principal Gameplay Engineer to define and own the core interactions of the Tolan world and the moment-to-moment "juice" that makes the app feel alive. You'll obsess over the stuff users notice instantly (even if they can't name it): snappy easing, micro-animations, secondary motion, haptics, camera shake, VFX, anticipation/overshoot, responsive UI motion — think "game feel" in the Super Meat Boy/Balatro/Hades sense: tight, expressive, and beautiful. You'll work shoulder-to-shoulder with Product and Creative, turning rough ideas into playable prototypes and putting them in front of people constantly. WHAT YOU'LL DO - Rapidly develop prototypes of new features, iterate quickly, and ship to users. - Own "feel" across everything 3D — including character interactions, navigation, and world moments. - Add impact and delight with tiny details that make everything feel reactive and alive. - Collaborate tightly with Product, Design, and Creative to translate "vibes" into concrete behaviors and tuning knobs. - Create juicy systems that can be quickly and easily deployed across multiple areas of the app. WHO WE'RE LOOKING FOR - Indie feel. You've shipped experiences where the magic comes from timing, simplicity, and cohesion. - Unity or Unreal fluency. You're comfortable working in either engine at a high level. - Hands-on systems thinker. You prefer being a hands-on developer who can think systemically while nailing the details. - Polish obsessed. You love spending time on timing curves, easing, responsiveness, visual feedback, and tactile feel. - Prototype pusher. You can take a rough prototype and push it to "wow" through iteration and tasteful restraint. - Tight feedback loops. You're energized by showing prototypes early and often. BONUS POINTS IF YOU: - Have experience with procedural animation and physics-based motion. - Have a strong eye for VFX/UI motion and can make things feel premium without being noisy. - Enjoy working in stylized worlds where personality beats realism. - Have built or tuned character controllers, interaction systems, or expressive character behaviors. Compensation: $200,000-300,000 base salary + equity + benefits