---
title: 'Game Programmer (Unity) at Spellbrush'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/game-programmer-unity-spellbrush-san-francisco-rt0g3ng467yr'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-06'
---

# Game Programmer (Unity) at Spellbrush

- **Company:** Spellbrush
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Posted:** 2024-10-30
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-06
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/spellbrush/fe562bd5-9e4b-427b-aa73-e64180148b16

## Job description

[https://app.ashbyhq.com/api/images/user-content/89c1442c-bd9c-46be-a910-20b49b5d9ffc/7258806f-f996-4229-ac4c-36c6447226d2/image.png]

## THE UNITY ENGINEER ROLE:

We are looking for an experienced game engineer with strong C# and Unity skills. You will be working closely with a small, multidisciplinary team to build out our upcoming anime mobile tactics game.

Our game programmers are mostly generalists, so you can work on lots of different areas of the game. It’s important that you take pride in your work and know what it means to take responsibility and deliver quality and fun to players. You are comfortable taking a feature from a vague idea on a post-it to a fully working and polished implementation.

YOU MAY BE A GOOD FIT IF:

## YOU LOVE STRATEGY RPGS

Our team draws tons of inspiration from titles like Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics, and X-Com. Our next title aims to bring the best of this genre onto the mobile screen.

## AND YOU ALSO LOVE THE ANIME AESTHETIC

We're also huge anime fans if you haven't noticed.

## YOU DEEPLY UNDERSTAND UNITY

We're looking for someone with 5+ years of programming experience and a high level of familiarity with Unity. A good candidate must have shipped at least one game with Unity (personal projects are great!) and have built up a sixth sense for what is the "happy path" in modern Unity development.

## YOU'RE COMFORTABLE WORKING ON SMALL, FAST-PACED TEAMS

Working here will feel very much like a small indie studio: close-knit, with high ownership and flexibility.

YOU'RE EXCITED ABOUT THE POTENTIAL OF GENERATIVE AI

You'll also be working closely along some of the best AI researchers in the world. Part of working with our team may involve looking at our latest research results, and figuring out how to best apply it into the game. You will be at the literal cutting edge of what is possible with machine learning, art, and games.

[https://app.ashbyhq.com/api/images/user-content/89c1442c-bd9c-46be-a910-20b49b5d9ffc/41695b27-7b2e-42d5-a33a-5cc9566ad678/image.png]

## 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
- [AI Anime Researcher - Motion Generation Models](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-anime-researcher-motion-generation-models-spellbrush-san-francisco-sb7f86zn4qvq) — 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
- [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