--- title: 'AI Anime Researcher - Motion Generation Models at Spellbrush' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/ai-anime-researcher-motion-generation-models-spellbrush-san-francisco-sb7f86zn4qvq' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-13' --- # AI Anime Researcher - Motion Generation Models at Spellbrush - **Company:** Spellbrush - **Location:** San Francisco, CA - **Employment:** full-time - **Posted:** 2025-09-02 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-13 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/spellbrush/c776c331-3a96-4552-8a8b-61bc94b017e8 ## Job description tl;dr: We're building a 3D first-person adventure game where an AI companion is the core of the game. Think [MiSide](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2527500/MiSide/) with LLMs, but truly integrated with gameplay, not just a RP chatbot. ## About Us Here at Spellbrush, we're passionate about making a good anime game. We also happen to be the world's leading generative AI studio—we're the team behind [niji・journey](https://nijijourney.com/). Our mission is simple: use AI to bring characters to life and push the boundaries of narrative-driven games. ## What We’re Building We’ve developed an in-house LLM storytelling system that blends AI, story, and gameplay—going far beyond shallow “chat-only” experiences. The result is an AI companion who cooperates with you in puzzles, remembers across worlds, and changes how each chapter unfolds. In-game screenshots (development build) ## About The Role You will join a small but extremely talented team to define a new kind of video game experience. You'll work alongside top otaku minds in the industry, including the creator of [Warudo](https://warudo.app/) and [Cytoid](https://cytoid.io/), a Google Deepmind veteran behind [Project Astra](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcDBFAm9PPI), and top-tier AI researchers. As an early member of this team, you will have significant artistic and research freedom to shape what could become the next-generation LLM-driven storytelling experience. ## Why You'll Love Working With Us Impact and Ownership: As an early team member, you'll have the opportunity to push the boundaries of what's possible at the intersection of the AI, anime, and video game industry. A World-Class Team: You'll work directly with some of the best AI researchers and engineers in the world in a small, mighty, and fast-paced team. You also have the opportunity to collaborate with one of the best image and video generation model teams in the world on data collection. Unparalleled Resources: You will have a generous amount of compute to build the best possible models for anime characters. Culture: We are seeking individuals who ideally are fans of anime and the anime aesthetic. We believe in the unmatched speed of in-person collaboration. International Opportunities: We have primary research offices in downtown Akihabara, Tokyo, and San Francisco. Visa sponsorships are available for qualified candidates You may be a good fit if: You have hands-on experience in training text-to-motion or audio-to-motion models. You might have previously published papers around the topic, or have worked at an industrial lab on this and related topics. You have seen the Grok AI companion and can develop systems inspired by such an audio-synced motion-generation system. You have experience on facial motion generation Most anime character’s facial expressions are easier to generate than real people. Nevertheless, we have several magnitudes of more real human data. You’ll be a good fit if you have worked on speech-driven 3D facial animation. You have worked on real-time 3D motion generation We need to interact with the character in real time. Knowing how to make that happen in terms of motion generation will be a big bonus. You love anime and the anime aesthetic As a member of our team, you'll have the opportunity to push the boundaries of what's possible in the anime and video game industry. Ideally you're a fan of the genre. You're comfortable working on small, fast-paced teams Our engineering team is small but mighty. You'll be working directly with some of the best AI researchers and engineers in the world. We also believe in the unmatched speed of in-person teams, and prefer on-site collaboration in either our primary research office in Tokyo (downtown Akihabara) or San Francisco. Visa sponsorships are available. You can effectively balance research exploration with product-focused development Or, putting it in RL jargon, exploration and exploitation. You excel at working with research teams to synthesize high-impact needs, design and implement technical solutions, and communicate deliverables and tradeoffs. ## About Spellbrush ## Company Overview - **One‑liner**: Spellbrush is the world’s leading generative AI studio for anime – the team behind niji・journey – that is building a no‑compromise turn‑based tactics game. - **Entity Type**: Private (Seed‑stage; received $245K in total funding from Y Combinator and other investors) - **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States (also offices in Chiyoda City, Tokyo, Japan) - **Founded**: 2018 - **Founders**: Cory Li (CEO), Haitao Mao (Co‑Founder, GameDev), Ruwen Liu (Co‑Founder) ## Core Business - **Primary industries**: Generative AI, Computer Games (Anime) - **Target customers**: B2C – anime fans, gamers, and digital artists; also B2B2C through their AI image/video generation platform used by artists and studios. - **Mission statement**: “Making Anime Real” – using AI to help human artists create masterpieces in the most complex medium of video games. ## Products & Services - **[niji・journey](https://spellbrush.com/)**: AI image generation model specialized in anime and illustration styles; accessible via Midjourney. Users can generate high‑quality anime art from text prompts. - **Niji Video**: A recently released video generation model that produces anime‑style video clips (announced in 2025‑2026). - **Unannounced Turn‑Based Tactics Game**: A “good anime game” being developed in‑house, focused on well‑balanced gameplay and a truthful love of visual arts. The game uses Unity and leverages Spellbrush’s own AI research. ## Market Standing - **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed. - **Key Metrics**: - Annual Revenue: Approximately $800K (estimated from 2025‑2026 data). - Total Funding: $245K (Seed rounds in 2018). - Headcount: ~25 employees (+19.2% YoY). - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Y Combinator (Winter 2018 batch; primary partner Diana Hu). Seed investors include unnamed backers. - **Growth Signals**: - 10 active job postings across AI research, engineering, and game design. - Released Niji Video, expanding beyond static images into anime video generation. - Expanded headcount by ~20% year‑over‑year. - Presence in both San Francisco and Tokyo, tapping into the global anime and game talent pool. ## Competitive Advantages - **Leading generative AI for anime** – niji・journey is the most prominent anime‑focused AI image generator, with a large user community. - **Deep integration with Midjourney** provides a built‑in distribution channel for their model. - **Niche focus**: The company is singularly dedicated to high‑quality anime and game art, creating a tightly‑focused R&D pipeline. - **In‑house game development** allows them to eat their own dogfood – using AI to accelerate game asset creation while maintaining human artistry. ## Strategic Focus - **AI‑powered game development**: Using their generative AI to build an original turn‑based tactics game, demonstrating their technology in practice. - **Advancing anime video generation**: Expanding from still images to video (Niji Video) to capture the growing demand for AI‑assisted animation. - **Research‑first approach**: Hiring AI researchers (LLMs, motion generation, video models) to push the boundaries of what AI can do for the anime medium. ## Why Work Here - **Culture & mission**: A team of passionate anime and game lovers who care about artistic quality. “No‑compromise approach to well‑balanced gameplay married to a truthful love of visual arts.” - **Work environment**: Remote‑friendly – roles are open to candidates in San Francisco, Tokyo, or fully remote. Fresh graduates are welcome (some positions note “Any (new grads ok)”). - **Engineering culture**: You’ll work on cutting‑edge generative AI (diffusion models, LLMs, video generation) alongside veteran researchers from Midjourney, Meta, NVIDIA, and Preferred Networks. - **Perks & highlights**: Opportunity to contribute to a globally used AI platform (niji・journey) and to build an original anime game from the ground up. Flexible location, small team with high ownership. ## Sources 1. [spellbrush.com](https://spellbrush.com/careers) – Career page (company description, values) 2. [ycombinator.com](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/spellbrush) – Y Combinator profile (founding, batch, team size, HQ) 3. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/spellbrush) – LinkedIn page (headcount, revenue, funding, locations, recent news) 4. [jobs.ashbyhq.com](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/spellbrush) – Open roles (tech stack: Unity, TypeScript; remote policy) ## Other roles at Spellbrush - [HPC/ML Infrastructure Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/hpc-ml-infrastructure-engineer-spellbrush-san-francisco-zhh2f9af9wcn) — San Francisco, CA - [3D Game Programmer (Unity)](https://feeny.ai/job/3d-game-programmer-unity-spellbrush-san-francisco-fwee1ea6fp02) — San Francisco, CA - [AI Anime Researcher - LLM](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-anime-researcher-llm-spellbrush-san-francisco-1tzstywjhh72) — San Francisco, CA - [バックオフィス　マネージャー](https://feeny.ai/job/spellbrush-tokyo-07ng2njrate7) — Tokyo, Japan - [Level Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/level-designer-spellbrush-san-francisco-2rn72sf2g34v) — San Francisco, CA - [Game Programmer (Unity)](https://feeny.ai/job/game-programmer-unity-spellbrush-san-francisco-rt0g3ng467yr) — San Francisco, CA - [Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-spellbrush-san-francisco-7p9r7r1f6q1b) — San Francisco, CA - [AI Anime Researcher](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-anime-researcher-spellbrush-tokyo-5pej30ze08je) — Tokyo, Japan - [AI Infrastructure Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-infrastructure-engineer-spellbrush-san-francisco-gesa1p6q0qnf) — San Francisco, CA - [Front-End Engineer (Anime)](https://feeny.ai/job/front-end-engineer-anime-spellbrush-san-francisco-bgraht6gnhf3) — San Francisco, CA