---
title: 'Principal Gameplay Engineer - Unity at Tolan'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/principal-gameplay-engineer-unity-tolan-san-francisco-jey12agbyzgm'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-10'
---

# Principal Gameplay Engineer - Unity at Tolan

- **Company:** Tolan
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Compensation:** $200k–$300k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2025-11-14
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-10
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/tolan/077c3653-e9a8-4115-bbcb-98484ea5051f/application

**Skills:** Unity, Unreal Engine, Gameplay Engineering, Prototyping, System Design, Animation, VFX, UI Motion, Procedural animation, Physics-based motion, Character controllers, Interaction systems

> 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

## About Tolan

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Tolan builds an AI-powered virtual alien friend that provides emotional support and companionship for everyday people.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series A; $30M total funding)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States
- **Founded**: Not publicly disclosed (public launch February 2025)
- **Founders**: Quinten Farmer (CEO), Evan Goldschmidt (CTO), Ajay Mehta (President)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: AI companionship / Consumer AI / Emotional wellness technology
- **Target customers**: B2C – individuals seeking emotional support, companionship, and personal growth through an AI friend
- **Mission or purpose**: To give every person on Earth access to their own personal AGI – a trusted AI companion ([tolans.com](https://www.tolans.com/))

## Products & Services
- **Tolan App**: A voice-first, embodied AI companion presented as a cute alien friend. Users can talk, interact, and build a relationship with the AI. The product emphasizes character design, low-latency voice interaction, and emotional attunement. It is available as a mobile app with a 4.8-star rating ([tolans.com](https://www.tolans.com/)). More than 100,000 paying subscribers and over 2 million hours spent with Tolan companions ([nextplayso.substack.com](https://nextplayso.substack.com/p/should-you-join-tolan)).

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: $12M ARR (as of early 2025) and $30M total funding ($10M seed led by Lachy Groom in Feb 2025, $20M Series A led by Khosla Ventures in Aug 2025) ([linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/tolans); [nextplayso.substack.com](https://nextplayso.substack.com/p/should-you-join-tolan))
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Khosla Ventures, Lachy Groom, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, Mike Krieger (Instagram co-founder), and founders of Notion, Replit, and more ([tolans.com](https://www.tolans.com/))
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - Over 100,000 paying subscribers and 130,000+ user reviews ([tolans.com](https://www.tolans.com/))
  - Employee headcount grew ~70% YoY (from ~23 to 38) ([linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/tolans))
  - Viral organic growth driven by social media marketing ([nextplayso.substack.com](https://nextplayso.substack.com/p/should-you-join-tolan))

## Competitive Advantages
- **Emotional impact**: 85.6% of users said Tolan helped them through an emotionally difficult experience; 72.5% said it helped manage or improve a relationship ([tolans.com](https://www.tolans.com/))
- **Research-backed design**: Founded by a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and Vanderbilt doctoral researcher, bringing evidence-based approaches to AI companionship ([tolans.com](https://www.tolans.com/))
- **Mature culture & veteran team**: Core team previously built (and sold) Even to Walmart; low ego, direct communication, no politics ([nextplayso.substack.com](https://nextplayso.substack.com/p/should-you-join-tolan))
- **AI-native engineering**: Encourages use of AI tools in the interview process and in daily work, reflecting a pragmatic, high-velocity development approach ([tolans.com/relay](https://tolans.com/relay/how-we-hire-engineers-when-ai-writes-our-code))

## Strategic Focus
- **Scale responsibly**: Moving from a successful consumer app toward “giving every person access to their own personal AGI” while avoiding short-term monetization that harms users ([nextplayso.substack.com](https://nextplayso.substack.com/p/should-you-join-tolan))
- **Deepen embodiment & interactivity**: Continued investment in character design, voice AI (GPT‑5.1), and emotional intelligence systems ([tolans.com](https://www.tolans.com/))
- **Hire for judgment and pace**: Prioritizing engineers and creatives who can balance AI-generated code with human oversight and ship fast without sacrificing quality ([tolans.com/relay](https://tolans.com/relay/how-we-hire-engineers-when-ai-writes-our-code))

## Why Work Here
- **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](https://nextplayso.substack.com/p/should-you-join-tolan))
- **Work environment**: In-person in San Francisco; small, veteran team (~38 people) where every hire makes a significant impact ([tolans.com](https://www.tolans.com/careers); [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/tolans))
- **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](https://tolans.com/relay/how-we-hire-engineers-when-ai-writes-our-code))
- **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](https://nextplayso.substack.com/p/should-you-join-tolan))

## Sources
1. [tolans.com – Company Overview](https://www.tolans.com/)
2. [tolans.com – Careers Page](https://www.tolans.com/careers)
3. [linkedin.com – Tolan Company Profile](https://www.linkedin.com/company/tolans)
4. [nextplayso.substack.com – “Should you join: Tolan”](https://nextplayso.substack.com/p/should-you-join-tolan)
5. [tolans.com/relay – “How We Hire Engineers When AI Writes Our Code”](https://tolans.com/relay/how-we-hire-engineers-when-ai-writes-our-code)

## Other roles at Tolan

- [Lead Technical Recruiter](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-technical-recruiter-tolan-san-francisco-r0s9epp4xvba) — San Francisco, CA
- [Office Operations Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/office-operations-manager-tolan-san-francisco-pdv4c4x6x862) — San Francisco, CA
- [Senior Brand Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-brand-designer-tolan-san-francisco-1pvse10jybzn) — San Francisco, CA
- [Principal Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-designer-tolan-san-francisco-87bs0v6y7pts) — San Francisco, CA
- [Agent Engineering Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/agent-engineering-manager-tolan-san-francisco-gh5a43rfd2bt) — San Francisco, CA
- [Backend Product Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/backend-product-engineer-tolan-san-francisco-z4m11bx650h4) — San Francisco, CA
- [iOS Product Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/ios-product-engineer-tolan-san-francisco-34jj0nnck054) — San Francisco, CA