Principal Gameplay Engineer - Unity at Tolan (San Francisco, CA)
Tolan· San Francisco, CA· $200k–$300k·
Role details
Equity · Benefits
Summary
Define and own core gameplay interactions and 'juice' for the Tolan app, focusing on rapid prototyping, micro-animations, and reactive systems. Collaborate with Product and Creative to translate design vibes into concrete behaviors and tuning knobs, ensuring the app feels alive and expressive.
Job description
Tolan is building personal AI that helps people think, reflect, and take action in their real lives. 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.
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
Why work at Tolan
- Culture: Described as “the calmest culture I’ve ever seen” – direct, low-ego, drama-free, with a focus on doing great work quickly (nextplayso.substack.com)
- Work environment: In-person in San Francisco; small, veteran team (~38 people) where every hire makes a significant impact (tolans.com; linkedin.com)
- Engineering philosophy: AI tools are fully embraced – candidates are evaluated on how they use AI to build, and daily work is heavily AI-augmented. Engineers are expected to own the output, not just the code (tolans.com/relay)
- Perks/Notes: Not explicitly listed; the focus is on meaningful work, long hours when needed but a marathon mindset, and a fun, intelligent team (nextplayso.substack.com)