Senior Developer - XR Rapid Prototyping

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Developer - XR Rapid Prototyping

Company: Nexus Studios

Location: United Kingdom (Remote)

Job Type: Full-time (Initial 5-6 month contract)

Category: XR Development, Immersive Design, Rapid Prototyping

Date Posted: June 10, 2025

Experience Level: Senior (6+ years professional software development, 2+ years in XR)

Remote Status: Remote (Able to work 10 am - 7 pm UK time)

🎨 Role Summary

• Lead hands-on development for short-cycle, high-impact immersive prototypes showcasing forthcoming XR products.
• Translate creative vision into performant and visually compelling technical output within experimental environments.
• Implement interaction mechanics, UI elements, and spatial features rapidly across diverse devices and screen contexts.
• Collaborate closely with technical and creative stakeholders to bring ambitious XR concepts to life quickly and confidently.

🖼️ Primary Responsibilities

• Collaborate with the Tech Lead, Technical Artist, and creative stakeholders to design and implement real-time immersive demo experiences.
• Own the implementation of interaction mechanics, UI elements, and spatial features across short-cycle prototypes, ensuring fluid user interaction and engaging spatial design.
• Build rapid Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) using native development tools, Kotlin, Jetpack Compose, and modern XR SDKs, focusing on efficient design implementation.
• Translate creative direction into performant and visually compelling technical output, balancing aesthetic quality with pragmatic delivery and technical feasibility for immersive design.
• Prototype and test features across a variety of devices and screen contexts, ensuring consistent immersive experience and visual fidelity.
• Debug, optimize, and polish code for stability and fluid visual output, even when working with placeholder systems or evolving XR tooling, crucial for high-quality immersive design.
• Contribute to light documentation and technical insight to inform future product team development, bridging the gap between rapid prototyping and production-ready design implementation.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While not explicitly stated, a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Digital Media, Game Development, or a related field with a strong focus on graphics, real-time systems, or human-computer interaction is typically preferred for a Senior role in this domain. Equivalent professional experience in XR development and immersive design is highly valued.

Experience: 6+ years of professional software development experience, with at least 2+ years specifically working in XR, games, or immersive media environments. A strong portfolio showcasing past XR projects, prototypes, or real-time interactive experiences is essential for demonstrating practical application of skills and design thinking in immersive contexts.

Required Skills:

• Strong proficiency in Kotlin or similar modern programming languages, essential for building performant XR applications.
• Hands-on experience with spatial development workflows and implementing intuitive interaction design within 3D or immersive environments.
• Demonstrated ability to translate creative direction into technical solutions, bridging the gap between artistic vision and technical implementation for immersive design.
• A "maker mentality" with a proven track record of rapid prototyping, comfortable with iterative design processes and quick experimentation.
• Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to work independently in a small, fast-paced team environment, critical for tackling novel challenges in XR development.
• Flexibility and resourcefulness in working with incomplete or experimental SDKs and tooling, adapting to the evolving landscape of XR technology and design platforms.

Preferred Skills:

• Prior work on XR/AR/VR prototypes or short-format real-time demos, showcasing experience in delivering impactful immersive design experiences quickly.
• Familiarity with various spatial SDKs, computer vision APIs, or novel interaction models relevant to cutting-edge immersive design.
• Comfort working with real-time engines like Unity or Unreal Engine, even if not the primary development tool, demonstrating versatility in immersive design environments.
• Experience collaborating closely with artists, designers, and creative leadership in iterative pipelines, highlighting strong cross-functional design collaboration skills.
• An understanding of real-time constraints on mobile or wearable devices, crucial for optimizing performance in immersive design applications.
• Experience writing shaders (GLSL or equivalent) and working in real-time rendering environments, adding depth to visual design and technical execution in XR.

🎨 Portfolio & Creative Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Include specific examples of XR/AR/VR prototypes, demos, or real-time interactive projects that showcase your ability to rapidly develop and implement immersive experiences.
• Present case studies detailing the design process, technical challenges, solutions, and outcomes of your XR projects, emphasizing the rapid iteration and prototyping cycles.
• Ensure visual presentation standards are high, demonstrating an eye for detail and the ability to create visually striking immersive environments, even in prototype form.
• Highlight technical demonstration needs, such as showing the implemented interaction mechanics, spatial features, and performance optimization techniques used in your projects.

Process Documentation:

• Document your research and discovery phase, explaining how initial creative concepts and technical requirements were explored and defined for rapid prototyping.
• Showcase your ideation and iteration methods, illustrating how you quickly moved from concept to functional prototype, and how feedback influenced subsequent iterations in the design process.
• Describe your validation and testing approaches, even in a rapid prototyping context, explaining how you ensured functionality, performance, and user experience within the immersive environment.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: While the job description does not specify a salary range, based on industry data for Senior Developer roles in the United Kingdom with a specialization in XR and rapid prototyping, a competitive contract rate or a salary range of approximately £60,000 - £90,000 per annum (or equivalent pro-rata for the contract duration) is estimated. This estimate is based on publicly available salary data for similar roles on platforms like Glassdoor, LinkedIn Salary, and ITJobsWatch, adjusted for a senior level and the specialized nature of XR development in the UK market as of late 2024 / early 2025. The actual compensation may vary based on experience, specific skill set, and negotiation.

Benefits: As this is initially a contract role, traditional employee benefits may vary. However, contract roles often include:

• Competitive hourly or daily rate commensurate with senior-level XR development expertise.
• Potential for contract extension or conversion to a permanent role based on performance and project needs.
• Opportunity to work remotely within the UK time zone, offering flexibility and work-life balance.
• Exposure to cutting-edge XR technology and the opportunity to work on high-impact, innovative projects that inform future product development.

Working Hours: Ability to work 10 am – 7 pm UK time. This suggests a focus on core collaboration hours with the UK-based team, common for remote roles requiring real-time interaction with colleagues.

🎯Team & Company Context

🏢 Company & Design Culture

Industry: Media Production, specifically focusing on award-winning animation, artful live-action, and immersive experiences. Nexus Studios has a deep history in innovation and crafted storytelling, which heavily influences its design and development approach in XR.

Company Size: 51-200 employees (LinkedIn). This size suggests a dynamic environment where individual contributions are highly visible and impactful, offering opportunities for developers to directly influence the creative and technical direction of projects.

Founded: While the exact founding date is not readily available, Nexus Studios has a long-standing reputation in the creative industry, indicating a mature but innovative company culture with a strong emphasis on artistic and technical excellence.

Team Structure:

• The role is part of a "fast-moving, small-footprint XR prototyping team." This indicates a lean, agile structure focused on rapid iteration and direct collaboration.
• Reporting structure is likely to the Tech Lead within this specific prototyping team, with close collaboration across technical and creative disciplines (e.g., Technical Artist, creative stakeholders).
• Cross-functional collaboration is central, with the developer working closely with artists and creative leadership to translate ideas into functional prototypes, integrating design and technical perspectives from the outset.

Methodology:

• Emphasis on rapid iteration and short-cycle development, suggesting an agile or lean methodology focused on quickly building and testing ideas.
• Strong focus on translating creative direction into technical output, implying a process that prioritizes artistic vision and user experience in the prototyping phase.
• Prototyping and testing across a variety of devices indicates a user-centric approach, validating immersive design decisions early in the process.

Company Website: http://www.nexusstudios.com

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Design Career Level: Senior Developer with a specialization in XR rapid prototyping. This level implies significant experience in software development, particularly within immersive or real-time environments. The focus is on technical leadership in quickly bringing creative concepts to life.

Reporting Structure: Likely reports to the Tech Lead of the XR Rapid Prototyping team. This structure allows for technical guidance and alignment while granting significant autonomy in implementing solutions.

Design Impact: High impact on informing future product development. The prototypes created in this role are designed to "showcase a forthcoming product" and "capture the imagination of prospective partners and stakeholders." This means the technical and creative quality of the prototypes directly influences strategic business and product decisions, giving the Senior Developer a significant voice in shaping the future of Nexus Studios' XR offerings.

Growth Opportunities:

• Potential for contract extension or conversion to a permanent role as the larger product vision develops, offering long-term career stability within the company's growing XR division.
• Opportunity to deep dive into cutting-edge XR technologies and experimental SDKs, fostering advanced skill development in a highly specialized and rapidly evolving field.
• Influence the technical direction and best practices for future XR product teams based on insights gained from rapid prototyping, offering leadership potential in defining technical standards and methodologies.

🌐 Work Environment

Studio Type: Primarily remote for this specific role, with the ability to collaborate during UK working hours. Nexus Studios itself has physical locations in London and Los Angeles, which likely serve as hubs for other teams or for specific production phases.

Office Location(s): London, UK and Los Angeles, US (company headquarters). While this role is remote, being aware of the physical studio locations provides context about the company's global presence and potential for future on-site collaboration or team events.

Design Workspace Context:

• Remote setup requires self-discipline and effective remote collaboration tools to maintain creative flow and technical productivity.
• Collaboration spaces are virtual, relying on video conferencing, shared development environments, and project management tools to facilitate interaction with the Tech Lead, Technical Artist, and creative stakeholders.
• Design team interaction opportunities are primarily through scheduled virtual meetings, asynchronous communication, and potentially collaborative coding or prototyping sessions.

Work Schedule: Ability to work 10 am – 7 pm UK time. This schedule is designed to overlap with the core working hours of the UK-based team, ensuring real-time collaboration and responsiveness for rapid prototyping cycles.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Design Interview Process:

• Initial screening call to assess technical background, experience in XR/immersive media, and suitability for the rapid prototyping environment. Be prepared to discuss your relevant projects and technical approach.
• Technical interview focusing on your programming skills, experience with spatial development, and problem-solving abilities in real-time environments. This may involve coding exercises or in-depth discussions about past technical challenges in XR development.
• Portfolio review where you will present select XR prototypes or projects, highlighting your technical contributions, implementation details, and how you translated creative ideas into functional experiences. Be ready to discuss your rapid prototyping process and technical decisions.
• Interviews with the Tech Lead and potentially other team members (like the Technical Artist) and creative stakeholders. This will assess your collaboration skills, ability to work in a fast-paced creative environment, and understanding of immersive design principles. Be prepared to discuss how you bridge the gap between technical and creative disciplines.
• Final evaluation criteria will likely include a combination of technical expertise, experience in XR prototyping, problem-solving skills, collaboration abilities, and cultural fit within a creative and innovative studio environment.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate your portfolio to specifically showcase projects relevant to XR, immersive media, or real-time interactive experiences. Focus on rapid prototypes or demos if you have them.
• For each project, provide a concise case study that outlines the challenge, your technical approach, the tools and technologies used (especially Kotlin, spatial SDKs, etc.), your specific contributions, and the outcome.
• Highlight your process documentation, showing how you quickly moved from concept to implementation, iterated on designs, and addressed technical hurdles in a rapid prototyping context.
• If possible, include short videos or interactive demos of your projects to showcase the real-time experience and interaction mechanics effectively.

Challenge Preparation:

• Be prepared for potential technical assessments or coding exercises focused on real-time programming, spatial math, or implementing basic interaction mechanics in an XR context.
• Practice articulating your technical decisions and problem-solving process clearly and concisely.
• Review fundamental concepts related to real-time rendering, performance optimization for mobile/wearable devices, and spatial computing.

ATS Keywords:

• Design Skills: Immersive Design, Interaction Design, Spatial Computing, User Experience (UX) in XR, Visual Design (XR), Prototyping, Rapid Prototyping, Creative Direction, Storytelling (XR).
• Tools: Kotlin, Jetpack Compose, XR SDKs (specific ones if known, e.g., ARCore, ARKit, OpenXR), Unity, Unreal Engine, GLSL (or other shader languages), Version Control (Git).
• Methodologies: Agile Development, Lean Development, Iterative Design, Design Thinking, Real-Time Development, Performance Optimization.
• Soft Skills: Problem-Solving, Collaboration, Communication, Resourcefulness, Flexibility, Independent Work, Creative Problem-Solving, Technical Leadership (in implementation).
• Industry Terms: XR, AR, VR, Mixed Reality (MR), Immersive Media, Real-Time Graphics, Spatial Development, Computer Vision, Novel Interaction Models, Technical Art.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Design Tools:

• Kotlin: Primary programming language for building the core logic and features of the XR prototypes. Proficiency is essential for efficient and performant development.
• Jetpack Compose: Likely used for building UI elements within the Android/Kotlin ecosystem for XR applications, focusing on declarative UI for rapid development.
• Modern XR SDKs: Experience with relevant platform-specific or cross-platform SDKs (e.g., ARCore for Android, potentially others depending on the target device) is crucial for accessing device capabilities and implementing spatial features.
• Native Development Tools: Utilizing Android Studio or similar IDEs for building, debugging, and deploying applications to target XR devices.

Collaboration & Handoff:

• Collaboration will heavily rely on communication platforms (e.g., Slack, Microsoft Teams) and project management tools (e.g., Jira, Asana) to coordinate with the remote team and creative stakeholders.
• Version control systems like Git are essential for managing code, collaborating with the Tech Lead, and tracking changes in a rapid development environment.
• Handoff might involve sharing builds for testing on target devices and potentially providing technical documentation or insights for future product teams.

Research & Testing:

• Testing will involve deploying prototypes to target XR devices for real-time validation of functionality, performance, and immersive experience.
• Debugging tools within the development environment will be critical for identifying and resolving issues in the prototypes.
• While not explicitly stated, basic analytics or logging might be used to understand performance characteristics or user interactions within the prototypes.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Design Values:

• Innovation and Storytelling: Nexus Studios values redefining the boundaries of entertainment and crafting stories. This translates to a design culture that encourages experimentation, creativity, and using technology to tell compelling narratives in immersive spaces.
• Artful and Visually Striking: The emphasis on "artful live-action and immersive" suggests a strong appreciation for visual quality and aesthetic appeal in the design output, even in prototypes.
• Collaboration: Working closely with a Technical Artist and creative stakeholders indicates a collaborative design process where technical and artistic perspectives are integrated from the outset.
• Rapid Iteration and Experimentation: The focus on rapid prototyping and MVPs highlights a culture that embraces quick cycles, learning from experiments, and adapting quickly based on feedback.

Collaboration Style:

• Close-knit and fast-paced within the small XR prototyping team.
• Frequent communication and feedback loops between the Senior Developer, Tech Lead, Technical Artist, and creative stakeholders.
• Emphasis on translating creative ideas into technical realities through open communication and problem-solving.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Design Challenges:

• Working with evolving and potentially incomplete XR SDKs and tooling, requiring resourcefulness and adaptability in technical implementation.
• Balancing the need for rapid prototyping with the requirement for visually striking and performant immersive experiences, demanding efficient coding and optimization techniques.
• Translating abstract creative concepts into concrete, interactive technical implementations within the constraints of real-time performance on potentially mobile or wearable devices.
• Adapting to new interaction models and spatial design paradigms as XR technology continues to evolve.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Significant opportunity to become an expert in cutting-edge XR development and rapid prototyping techniques.
• Exposure to a wide range of creative concepts and the challenge of finding innovative technical solutions to bring them to life in immersive environments.
• Potential for mentorship from the Tech Lead and collaboration with experienced Technical Artists and creative professionals within a renowned studio.

💡 Interview Preparation

Design Process Questions:

• Be prepared to discuss your approach to rapid prototyping in XR. How do you quickly move from a concept to a functional demo? Provide examples from your portfolio.
• Explain how you collaborate with designers, artists, and creative stakeholders to translate their vision into technical implementations within an immersive environment.
• Describe a challenging technical problem you faced in a past XR project and how you solved it, emphasizing your problem-solving process and adaptability with evolving tools.

Company Culture Questions:

• Research Nexus Studios' past work in XR, animation, and interactive media. Be prepared to discuss what excites you about their portfolio and how your skills align with their creative vision.
• Ask questions about the specific goals and impact of the XR prototypes you'd be working on. This shows your interest in the project's strategic importance.
• Inquire about the collaboration dynamics within the small prototyping team and how feedback is incorporated into the rapid iteration cycles.

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure your portfolio presentation around 2-3 key XR projects that best showcase your rapid prototyping skills, technical expertise (especially in Kotlin/spatial development), and ability to create visually compelling and interactive experiences.
• For each project, clearly articulate your role, the technical challenges you addressed, the specific technologies you used, and the creative goals you helped achieve.
• Focus on demonstrating working prototypes or videos that highlight the real-time interaction and visual quality of your work.
• Be ready to explain your technical decisions and trade-offs made during the rapid development process.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this design position:

• Submit your application through this link.
• Customize your resume to highlight your experience in XR development, rapid prototyping, Kotlin, spatial development, and real-time interactive media, incorporating relevant ATS keywords.
• Prepare a compelling portfolio specifically showcasing your XR projects, prototypes, and demos, with detailed case studies that explain your technical process and creative contributions.
• Practice presenting your portfolio and discussing your technical decisions and problem-solving approach for past XR projects, focusing on rapid iteration and translating creative vision into functional prototypes.
• Research Nexus Studios' past work and understand their emphasis on innovation and storytelling in immersive media to demonstrate your alignment with their company culture and creative goals.