Research Engineer – Learning-Based Animation & Simulation

Location: London (hybrid strongly preferred); remote in EU possible for exceptional candidates

Type: Full-time

Seniority: Open from postdoctoral level to senior/staff level

About the Position

Our client is reimagining how virtual agents move, behave, and interact. By combining real-time simulation, reinforcement learning, and generative models, they’re building a new foundation for intelligent animation in digital worlds; from characters to physically grounded agents.

This isn’t just an ML research role – you’ll be implementing novel algorithms, working directly in simulation, and tuning systems that will run in production pipelines. We’re looking for engineers who thrive in high-agency environments and want to push the edge of embodied intelligence.

What You\’ll Do:

• Develop and train RL-based control policies for humanoid or robotic characters in simulation
• Experiment with generative methods for motion synthesis, behaviour blending, and skill composition
• Build robust systems on top of modern simulation engines (Isaac Sim, MuJoCo, Unity, etc.)
• Implement new research ideas from papers, then go further and make them work
• Work closely with a small, tight-knit team of engineers and researchers shipping iterative prototypes

Experience Required:

• Proven experience in reinforcement learning for control, robotics, or animation
• Strong coding ability in Python and comfort with performance-aware development
• Familiarity with simulation environments (Isaac Sim/Lab, MuJoCo, Unity, PyBullet)
• Curiosity for generative methods (VAEs, diffusion, trajectory priors)
• Strong grasp of research from groups like Levine, Peng, Abbeel, Finn, or Mordatch
• Comfortable working across both high-level ML and low-level physics code
• Self-motivated, fast learner, collaborative mindset

Bonus Experience (Nice to Have)

• Experience with character animation pipelines
• Unity engine or game dev familiarity
• Experience deploying models in real-time or latency-sensitive environments

Why Join

• Join an early team building tech with massive creative and technical potential
• Tackle some of the hardest problems at the intersection of AI, physics, and animation
• Work in a culture that values speed, autonomy, and deep technical craft
• Competitive salary + deep equity with meaningful upside
• Hybrid-first culture in London, with remote flexibility for exceptional contributors

**Relocation support/sponsorship is viable for exceptional candidates who intend to relocate to London**

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