VR Designer/Architect

About UNISON

UNISON is a small team of passionate people from companies like Meta, Sony, and Apple, as well as research labs like the IARAI. Based in the SF Bay Area and backed by some of the world’s best investors, we’re working hard to create products we would proudly recommend to our friends and family.

We are building a unified reality headset that allows users to plunge into and resurface from virtual worlds with newfound value. We see living between virtual and physical worlds as a tool for creating, storytelling, and sharing—not hindering your total lived experience. You can learn more about our product, team, careers, and worldviews at unison.co.

We seek a VR UX Architect/Designer specializing in VR and Mixed Reality to join our innovative team. This pivotal role involves creating high-level system architecture and mechanics and cutting-edge UX prototypes to test and validate mixed reality experiences and interactions. This will include collaborating with our software team and helping them to translate your mockups into coded VR experiences bridging the gap between conceptual design and functional implementation. The ideal candidate will possess a robust foundation in functional 3D/VR/XR prototyping, with a flair for adopting user-centric design principles to craft immersive and intuitive VR experiences. This position requires a proactive collaborator capable of working closely with SW engineers to understand their technical craft and constraints and the ability to shepherd these concepts into living, breathing VR experiences meticulously.

From the early concept stage to the implementation and launch, you will own a new discipline within the design team. You will explore, prototype, and build experiences that define the future of how people interact with wearable immersive technology.

Your Responsibilities:

• Intuitive User Experience Principles: Leverage your expertise as an experienced designer to inject life into VR prototypes, creating interactive and engaging experiences that resonate with users. Clearly rationalize and justify design decisions while advocating for user needs.

• Prototype Development: Design, develop, and prototype new user interfaces and interactions for immersive experiences. Take the lead in transforming UX-designed prototypes into functional VR applications, ensuring technical feasibility while adhering to the envisioned user experience.

• Collaborative Design Integration: Actively collaborate with SW Engineers to understand their technical constraints, offering design insights to ensure practical and impactful implementations within a VR setting.

• Feedback and Iteration: Establish a feedback loop with the design and software teams at various stages of the process, using your experience, design background, and technical expertise to create compelling designs and concepts and express them in visual and verbal ways, such as storyboards, sketches, wireframes, flow diagrams, models, 2D+3D mockups, functional mockups, and prototypes.

Your Qualifications:

• Minimum 3+ years as a UX designer, UI designer, or similar experience

• Minimum 1+  years of experience designing VR or mixed-reality applications

• Expert knowledge of user-centered UX design principles. Showing understanding and use of user testing, leading to successful design and implementation.

• Demonstration of proficiency in design tools and ability to prototype ideas in visual and immersive prototypes

• Proficiency in Unity, 1+ years of experience working with the game engine

• Experience designing interfaces and experiences for existing products on VisionOS, Oculus Quest, Hololens, Magic Leap, or similar OS. 

• Proficiency in UX architecture and prototype development with a strong portfolio demonstrating experience in VR or related technologies.

• A deep understanding of UX principles and the ability to translate UX designs into functional VR experiences. Especially as this relates to input modalities such as hand- and eye-tracking.

• Excellent communication skills, capable of articulating technical concepts to non-technical team members and working collaboratively to solve design challenges.

• An innovative problem-solver who is eager to explore new technologies and approaches to enhance the VR user experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience at the design and software engineering crossroads, especially within a VR context.

• Creative problem-solver, passionate about pushing the boundaries of VR technology to envision and realize future potential.

• Experience with Blender, Houdini, Unity, Unreal Engine, and other game engines

• Understanding or skill in programming languages relevant to VR development, such as Python, C++, C#, and Unity asset, and building pipelines with the flexibility to engage with other coding environments as needed.

• 3D Math Skills, Vectors, Linear Algebra

Why UNISON?

UNISON offers competitive salaries and equity packages, giving all employees an ownership stake in what we’re working hard to build. You will also receive flexible PTO, 401k with employer matching, excellent 100% employer-paid health benefits, and more.

We are growing quickly, so if you’re interested in joining us but don’t see a job that fits what you’re looking for or if your experience doesn’t quite meet the criteria, please feel free to reach out at [email protected]. We are happy to connect.

UNISON is committed to equity in our hiring practices. If you think you may require an accommodation for any part of the recruitment process, please send a request to: [email protected]. All requests for accommodations are treated discreetly and confidentially, as practical, and permitted by law.

At UNISON, we are committed to mitigating bias and providing an inclusive environment where equal employment opportunities are available to all qualified applicants and teammates based solely on business needs and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, national, social or ethnic origin, religion, pregnancy (including childbirth, lactation, and related medical conditions), ancestry, age, physical and mental disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or gender expression, marital/familial status, citizenship status, military/veteran status, and any other legally protected status under federal, state, or local anti-discrimination laws.