Chatterbug is building the internet’s most effective system to learn languages and now we are working on an immersive and fun learning experience in virtual reality. We are searching for a Senior Virtual Reality Software Engineer who will help us to create a new way to learn a foreign language.

Check us out at https://chatterbug.com.

About the job

We believe that virtual reality and specifically the new generation of stand alone units provide the opportunity to learn a new language in an immersive spatial context that has never been possible before. That's why Chatterbug's VR team is working with our extensive and experienced team of curriculum developers and educators to design and develop immersive experiences that help students acquire and retain vocabulary and grammar more intuitively and efficiently. We are now looking for a Senior Virtual Reality Software Engineer to join us in exploring and discovering what VR can do to empower language learners! Our first mini-game is in free early access, please take a look: Chatterport

As a Senior Software Engineer 

• You will be responsible for development, maintenance, testing as well as quality and performance assurance of multiple core systems
• You will have a strong influence in building a software architecture in support of our plans
• Your focus will lie in maintaining and creating the foundational systems upon which our VR team implements gameplay 
• You'll play an important role in making our games fun and our educational approach effective
  

About you

You are a 3D game or virtual reality software engineer who is curious to explore with us how virtual reality can aid language learning. You will join a small but experienced development team and are comfortable with multiple aspects of game or VR development.

You are experienced and interested in working with the game engine Unity and think that providing a highly performant experience on a mobile device like the Oculus Quest is an interesting challenge.

Ideally you have first-hand knowledge of what works and doesn't tend to work in VR and can creatively work with others to build amazing experiences. You want to work in a team that iterates quickly, listens to real users and ships fast.

You’re an active learner whose passions may include learning languages. (If you know a language other than English please tell us!)

Working at Chatterbug

Although we are a small team, we have a big product. We are an experienced team with backgrounds at GitHub and other major tech companies with funding from top investors in Silicon Valley and Europe. Our team works extremely reasonable hours and we have a strong commitment to work-life balance.

We currently teach German, English, Spanish, and French using our cutting-edge learning platform, and we're constantly looking for ways to help learners at every stage of their journey: that's why we're exploring new ground, like virtual reality and live streaming. But beyond language learning, we’re on a bigger mission to help make lots of jobs for people who only need one skill: how to speak their native language. We have an international team and an international product, and we’re proud of it.

Curious about how the company operates? Here’s a quick overview:

• Berlin and beyond.Our largest office is in Berlin with around 42 people, but our team is encouraged to travel and work from home when needed. Because of the vast time zone spread, we focus on asynchronous communication when possible, via Slack and Notion.
• Work/life balance matters. We work a full day then go home, and please set up your Do Not Disturb. That Slack message can wait, can’t it? We think so too.
• Face time brings us together. Since we’re split up over the world, we put a lot of value on our fortnightly in-video “Chattermeet” all-hands meetings. We share what’s happening in the company, our product, our curriculum, and occasionally some tidbits about our lives too.
• We value diversity. Chatterbug is an inclusive company - we embrace difference and strive for equality. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, identities and perspectives. We particularly encourage parents, women, people of colour and LGBTQIA+ to apply. We’re striving to create a safe environment that’s inclusive to everyone.
• Learning first. We have monthly breakfast meetings at our Berlin office to teach about our systems and we encourage our employees to network and be continual learners at professional events.
• Pitch us. Ideas for our company and our product can come from all levels or layers of the organisation—you just need to write it up or propose it!

Your benefits

• A role in shaping a new and exciting part of the company
• We’ll pay for you to learn a language - either with us or take a class, on us. You can also elect a friend or family member to learn with us for free, too
• 26 days paid holiday
• Flexible working hours and the possibility to work from home  
• Regular fun events, team dinners and an annual company summit abroad (quarantine permitting)
• A wonderful rooftop office in the heart of Berlin (with free fruit and amazing coffee!) 

  
  

Want to apply?

Click the Apply for this Job button! If you have a resume, please feel free to upload it, but we're more interested in why you think Chatterbug might be a good fit for you and what you've done before. The cover letter is your chance to shine! Don't forget to list any relevant links (portfolio, links to side projects, etc) and if it is a team project please let us know your most interesting contribution. We look forward to hearing from you!

Requirements

• You live in Berlin or are willing to move here
• At least 5 years experience working in games or VR
• Strong foundation of fundamental programming principles
  
• You write maintainable and performant code in C#/Unity - either because thats your thing or because you have experience working with other 3D game engines
• You've worked on a small team from day one or desire to do so
• You've worked on released games or VR applications

Additionally, please let us know if...

• ... you have made a game perform better on mobile.
• ... you have an intuition about what is fun in games
• ... you have worked with Addressables in Unity or on delivering downloadable content packs.
• ... you have worked in language-focused problem spaces such as localization or computational linguistics.