We are an early-stage technology startup building a next-generation AI platform. This is one of several ambitious projects we are developing, and we are looking to build long-term relationships with the right people. We are a small team, and we price and engage accordingly — but for the right candidates, there is significant ongoing work ahead.
Project Overview
We are designing a high-performance Avatar Framework that will enable applications to deploy highly realistic AI-driven digital humans at scale. These avatars will interact with users through speech, facial expressions, emotional cues, and conversational intelligence driven by AI agents. The framework will serve as a core platform capability, consumed by business applications through APIs and protocols.
What We Are Building
The framework must support:
- Real-time conversational avatars with natural speech and responses
- Facial expression systems including lip sync, eye movement, gaze, head motion, and micro-expressions
- A frame-by-frame audio and facial synchronization protocol covering phonemes, visemes, and expression states
- AI integration layer so external agents can trigger speech, emotion changes, and conversational cues
- Scalable infrastructure capable of supporting very high concurrency — potentially millions of simultaneous avatar sessions
Preferred implementation languages are Rust and Go, chosen for their performance and concurrency strengths. Strong alternative approaches will be considered if well-justified.
Who We Are Looking For
This role requires someone who has already done this. You must have prior hands-on experience designing or implementing digital human or avatar systems, real-time animation pipelines, speech-driven facial animation, or closely adjacent systems such as game engine development, large-scale multiplayer platforms, or distributed streaming. If you cannot point to specific past work in this space, this is not the right fit.
How We Select Candidates
We receive a high volume of applications. To find the right person, we will select a small number of finalists based entirely on the quality and specificity of your proposal. We will not conduct screening calls in place of a written proposal. Candidates who submit generic or non-specific responses will not be advanced.
To be considered, your application must include:
- A specific technical proposal — the exact technologies you would use for each major system component, your reasons for each choice, and the tradeoffs you considered. General recommendations without specifics will not be reviewed.
- Your implementation plan — a phased approach with key milestones, architectural decision points, and your estimated timeline to deliver a working framework that meets our requirements.
- Your proposed price — please provide a fixed project price or a detailed breakdown. We are a startup and expect startup-appropriate pricing. Candidates should factor this into their proposal honestly.
- Your estimated delivery date — when you can start and when you commit to delivering a functional framework.
- Why you — describe the specific systems you have built that are relevant, your exact role in those projects, and what makes you the right fit for this engagement.
- Evidence of past work — links to demos, architecture documentation, repositories, or case studies. If your work is under NDA, describe the scope and scale of what you built without disclosing confidential details.
- References — 2 to 3 professional references from comparable projects, with name, relationship, and contact method.
- Full-time salary expectation — in addition to your project quote, please include what you would expect for a full-time ongoing role, as we have multiple projects in development and are looking for long-term collaborators.
Payment Terms
Payment will be made upon delivery of a working framework that meets our specifications and requirements. We are a fair partner and will work collaboratively throughout the engagement, but final payment is tied to a deliverable that performs to our satisfaction. We want this to be a successful engagement for both sides and will communicate clearly throughout the process so there are no surprises at delivery.
What Comes Next
We will review all proposals and select candidates for interviews based on how well their background matches our needs and how completely they answered the questions above. Partial or vague submissions will not move forward. Finalists will have a focused technical conversation before we make our selection.
This is the first of several projects. The right person will have the opportunity to grow with us.
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