Creative Technologist

About Us Hovercraft is a dynamic and innovative creative design firm that partners with brands to craft compelling experiences through design, strategy, and technology. We specialize in creating standout visuals, interactive digital content, and impactful branding solutions that push the boundaries of creativity. The Role We're looking for a Creative Technologist to join our dev team and help push the studio's work forward across a growing range of mediums. This is a hands-on software development role, but also so much more than that. You'll work closely with our designers, producers, and tech team to build interactive experiences, real-time graphics systems, web projects, video games, and physical installations. You'll prototype, develop, deliver, and support our custom-built technology for these projects. The tech team’s work is centered around software but includes hardware integration, travel, client-facing interactions, and being embedded in the larger creative and problem-solving process. What You'll Do Software Development & Delivery: Build and maintain software systems across client projects and internal tooling as an active contributor on multi-disciplinary project teams. Rapid Prototyping: Develop rapid prototypes for concept validation, client pitches, and discovery. Creative Technology Implementation: Collaborate with designers and animators to bring visual concepts to life with code, which includes user interfaces, animation, generative graphics, and multi-device interactive systems. Application Architecture: Design resilient application architectures that withstand heavy use and scrutiny. Technical Planning & Estimation: Participate in scoping and technical planning for new projects, contributing to architecture decisions and timeline estimates. Experience Design Collaboration: Help shape visitor experiences alongside the design team—research new approaches, raise concerns, and help non-technical stakeholders understand what's possible with technology and related UX patterns. Operational Excellence: Build tools, documentation, and efficiencies for the tech team (and elsewhere in the organization). Cross-Functional Communication: Communicate often and clearly with internal teams, partner agencies, and clients via presentations, diagrams & documentation, and creative brainstorming sessions. Installation & Client Support: Support installations on-site when projects require it. This includes travel and client-facing interactions, so comfort in those settings is a must. Project Planning & Coordination: Plan and communicate the needs of a project to the team; for example, SAAS subscriptions & pricing, venue requirements for installations (power/internet), and fabrication integration specifics when working with build partners. What We’re Looking For Experience: 5+ years of professional experience in a creative technology, interactive development, or similar role; agency, studio, or production company experience is strongly preferred Creative Insight: A portfolio that demonstrates a range of work across mediums Education: Bachelor's degree in CS, Interactive Media, Design, or a related field (or equivalent hands-on experience) Core Technical Skills We're looking for a great combination of the following skills - the more the better. We don't expect a candidate to have all of them, but we're open to candidates who have a strong foundation in some areas and are eager to grow into others. Software : Strong generative / creative coding background - WebGL, Three.js, react-three-fiber, GLSL, or comparable real-time graphics experience Experience with TouchDesigner for interactive systems, hardware integration, and high-performance graphics Proficiency in JavaScript/TypeScript and modern web development (React or similar frameworks) Solid backend fundamentals and comfort with REST APIs, content management systems, and cloud services for data-driven applications Game development experience via WebGL, Unity, Unreal, or similar Media file conversion, optimization, and delivery experience - you understand the formats and constraints of working with a wide variety of media assets (image/video/audio/3d) in interactive contexts Source control and deployment fluency: Git, GitHub, basic cloud/server workflows A solid grasp of software engineering practices - you think about stability, edge cases, version control, and QA A commitment to staying current with modern development tools and workflows, including build tools, AI-assisted coding & agents, and automation Working knowledge of current AI tools for creative pipelines: Computer vision, generative media, etc. Experience with Windows scripting, tooling, and troubleshooting, as most of our projects run on Windows PCs Experience with 3D tools (Blender, Cinema4D, Maya) or motion design (After Effects, Cavalry) Hardware : Familiarity with physical computing: depth cameras, LIDAR, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, custom electronics, RFID, sensor arrays, computer vision, and novel HCI technologies Experience with physical lighting systems - DMX/ArtNet/etc., spatial mapping, electrical systems & power distribution Familiarity with AV systems integration and industry standards (projectors, LED walls, sound systems, media servers, etc.) Electrical engineering or fabrication fundamentals AR/VR/XR or spatial computing project experience Growth Areas We're Actively Investing In : Unreal Engine / Notch - real-time 3D, XR production, high-resolution environments Media server experience (Disguise, Pixera, or similar) Deeper electrical & mechanical engineering expertise Small-scale fabrication and material prototyping skills Soft Skills That Matter Here: Design & Quality Mindset: Strong design and craft sensibilities; understands what “Hovercraft quality” means, both visually and technically. Ownership & Accountability: Takes initiative, makes decisions autonomously, estimates and manages work effectively, and advocates for timelines, testing, and quality. Communication & Collaboration: Proactively shares progress, flags blockers early, keeps stakeholders informed, and works effectively within cross-functional teams and production pipelines. Adaptability & Resilience: Maintains a positive, solutions-oriented attitude while navigating changing scope, creative direction, technical constraints, and tight deadlines across multiple projects. Curiosity & Continuous Learning: Demonstrates a genuine passion for learning, experimentation, R&D, prototyping, and exploring new tools and creative technologies. The total average salary range for this position is $120,000-$140,000 annually, plus comprehensive benefits. Job level and actual compensation will be decided based on factors including, but not limited to, individual qualifications assessed during the interview process (such as skills and prior industry experience, potential impact), market demands, and specific work location. The listed range is a guideline, and the range for this role may be modified. Hovercraft is a remote-first company, working primarily on Pacific and Mountain time. Anyone/anywhere in the United States is encouraged to apply. You must be eligible to work in the US. At this time, we are unable to support employment arrangements that require E-Verify participation, including STEM OPT extensions. Additionally, we are not currently offering employment visa sponsorship for this role. Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis without current or future employer sponsorship requirements. We appreciate your interest in our team and encourage candidates whose work authorization aligns with these requirements to apply. Recruitment Notice We use AI-assisted tools solely to help identify and highlight keywords related to critical design skills and relevant experience within applications. These tools support our recruiting team by improving consistency and efficiency; they do not make hiring decisions. All applications are reviewed by humans, and AI is not used in a discriminatory manner or to evaluate personal characteristics unrelated to job requirements.