Research Engineer - Interactive AI Characters Platform

Unity frontend development for Digital Einstein: building AR experiences and maintaining the physical platform; components are designed for reuse across all deployment contexts. Python backend development, with a focus on LLM integration such as improving dialogue quality, story adherence, agency, multimodal perception, affective cognition, and multi-turn interaction management. Website development to bring Digital Einstein to the web and enable broader public accessibility. On-site technical support at national and international events and demonstrations (setup, visitor interaction, troubleshooting), including occasional availability on weekends. Optionally: development of novel hardware interaction elements for the physical platform (e.g., tangible interfaces).

The AI Characters team at ETH Zurich’s Computer Graphics Laboratory is seeking a Research Engineer to take a central role in developing and maintaining our interactive AI avatar platforms, including Digital Einstein. Our work focuses on lifelike digital humans powered by large language models, affective computing, and real-time rendering — deployed at high-profile international events such as the World Economic Forum, GITEX Global, and Berlin Science Week. Digital Einstein is our flagship interactive AI avatar, bringing Albert Einstein to life as a conversational agent. It is part of a broader family of AI avatars developed in our group. Built on a Unity-based frontend with real-time facial and body animations and integrated speech recognition and speech synthesis, the system orchestrates large language models for multilingual dialogue management. It has been showcased at major international venues, engaging hundreds of thousands of visitors worldwide. We are now expanding the platform in several directions: augmented reality (AR) experiences that bring AI characters into the visitor’s physical space; a web-based version of Digital Einstein for broader public accessibility; novel hardware interaction elements for the physical platform (such as tangible interfaces); and continued improvements to the underlying LLM-driven cognition layer, including story adherence, agency, multimodal perception, and affective responsiveness. As our team scales, we are looking for a skilled Research Engineer to lead the technical development of these next-generation features and ensure the robustness of the platform across all deployment contexts.

• University degree (BSc or MSc) in Computer Science or a closely related field

• Solid hands-on experience with Unity

• Experience with augmented reality (AR) development, ideally with ARKit, ARFoundation, ARCore, Meta Quest, or comparable frameworks

• Hands-on experience with large language models and Python-based backend development

• Experience with web development is a plus

• Interest in hardware prototyping and interactive installation design is a plus

• Reliable, proactive, and comfortable working in a fast-paced research environment both independently and as part of a team

• Willingness to provide on-site event support, including occasional weekends