Jobs

This position has been filled. Thank you to everyone who applied.

If this still sounds like an ideal job for you, please reach out. We are always looking for more help from the right candidates.

Giant Army is looking for a graphics developer to join our team and help improve Universe Sandbox ². You will be working closely with our team’s lead graphics developer to help develop, improve, and maintain assets and visual effects. As your skills and experience with the position grow, you will begin to maintain entire visual subsystems of Universe Sandbox ².

This is a full-time, remote position.

Join us. We’re making something incredible that’s unlike anything else.

Your Role

• Work independently with guidance from Georg, our lead graphics developer, to help with the areas described below
• Maintain source assets by integrating new data, such as updated elevation maps
• Prepare assets for use in the engine, such as importing and error checking models and textures and creating and assigning materials
• Procedurally or manually generate textures for shader effects and surfaces
• Research and develop new visual effects
• Develop and maintain code used to connect visual and simulation systems
• Communicate and work with team scientists and Dan, the creator and director, toward accurate and realistic representation

Ideal Candidate

• Self-driven and talented programmer
• Writes clean code that is comprehensible to teammates
• Excited about helping develop a tool that allows users to experiment with simulations, pushing the boundaries of what has been done in real-time for public consumption

Mandatory Qualifications

• (Strong C# & Unity Engine experience) || (Experience with an entity component model & object-oriented programming)
• Strong understanding of graphics pipelines, rendering techniques, and graphics-related math
• Experience writing and optimizing shaders (HLSL, GLSL, Cg)
• Appreciation for, and focus on, realism and detail
• Familiar with version control (we use GitHub), task-management system (we use GitHub+ZenHub), unit tests, code reviews, and so forth
• Works collaboratively (and remotely)
• Passion for science and astronomy

Company Overview

Giant Army is the company behind Universe Sandbox ². Our headquarters are in Seattle, Washington, USA, with team members across the United States, Germany, and Denmark.

Team members enjoy a flexible, collaborative environment. We strive for work-life balance, and we pursue the features that get us excited about science. We do the work so that we can share that with others. We’re committed to creating an accessible experience that can’t be found elsewhere.

Science is for everyone, and we welcome all qualified applicants.

Product Overview

Universe Sandbox ² is a space simulator that merges real-time gravity, climate, collision, and physical interactions to reveal the beauty of our universe and the fragility of our planet. It’s more than a game; it’s a way of experiencing and learning about reality in a way that’s never been done before.

Universe Sandbox ² was recently named the Best VR Experience of 2016 by the Escapist and has a ‘Very Positive’ rating on Steam with 93% positive user reviews out of 3000+.

How to Apply

This position has been filled. Thank you to everyone who applied.

If this still sounds like an ideal job for you, please reach out. We are always looking for more help from the right candidates.

This position has been filled. Thank you to everyone who applied.

If this still sounds like an ideal job for you, please reach out. We are always looking for more help from the right candidates.

Giant Army is looking for someone with a strong background in both software development and physics to join our team and help improve Universe Sandbox ².

You will work with our team’s scientists and developers to create and improve real-time geophysical and astrophysical simulation. Your role is crucial in ensuring the scientific accuracy of simulations in Universe Sandbox ².

We strongly prefer a candidate with practical implementation experience over one with a high-level, theoretical background. In other words, we’re looking more for a good developer with an interest in science, rather than a good scientist with an interest in software development.

This is a full-time, remote position.

Join us. We’re making something incredible that’s unlike anything else.

Your Initial Role

• Work with our team’s scientists and director to define a problem and iteratively determine the best numerical solution that meets computational constraints
• Quickly prototype new ideas and estimate computational costs
• Examples of simulation improvements needed:
  • Real-time generic climate modeling (calculating temperature, pressure, greenhouse effect, terraforming, etc.)
  • Planetary composition and material system (metallic hydrogen in gas giants, simulating subsurface oceans on moons, etc.)
  • Simplistic life simulation that impacts the atmospheric composition of planets (extinction events, spread of life across a planet’s surface)

Ideal Candidate

• Experience with practical physics programming
• Loves physics simulations and fantastical what-if scenarios: what-if.xkcd.com (note citation #6 on 148)
• Excited about developing a tool that allows users to experiment with simulations, pushing the boundaries of what has been done in real-time for public consumption
• Experience working with Unity

Mandatory Qualifications

• Developer with C# and C++ experience
• Solid grasp of computer science topics and algorithms
• Solid understanding of mathematics and physics (ideally bachelor-level or higher)
• Experience with writing efficient, real-time, interactable code
• Ability to take complex concepts and models and condense them into performant code
• Passion for sharing science and astronomy with the world
• Self-driven, self-motivated, and good at communication (spoken and written English)
• Works collaboratively (and remotely)

Company Overview

Giant Army is the company behind Universe Sandbox ². Our headquarters are in Seattle, Washington, USA, with team members across the United States, Germany, and Denmark.

Team members enjoy a flexible, collaborative environment. We strive for work-life balance, and we pursue the features that get us excited about science. We do the work so that we can share that with others. We’re committed to creating an accessible experience that can’t be found elsewhere.

Science is for everyone, and we welcome all qualified applicants.

Product Overview

Universe Sandbox ² is a space simulator that merges real-time gravity, climate, collision, and physical interactions to reveal the beauty of our universe and the fragility of our planet. It’s more than a game; it’s a way of experiencing and learning about reality in a way that’s never been done before.

Universe Sandbox ² was recently named the Best VR Experience of 2016 by the Escapist and has a ‘Very Positive’ rating on Steam with 93% positive user reviews out of over 3000+.

How to Apply

This position has been filled. Thank you to everyone who applied.

If this still sounds like an ideal job for you, please reach out. We are always looking for more help from the right candidates.

This position has been filled. Thank you to everyone who applied.

If this still sounds like an ideal job for you, please reach out. We are always looking for more help from the right candidates.

Giant Army is looking for someone with a strong background in VR and Unity game development to join our team. You will be responsible for the continued development and improvement of our VR experience in Universe Sandbox ². If you love VR, science/astronomy, and Unity, this is your dream job!

This is a full-time, remote position.

Join us. We’re making something incredible that’s unlike anything else.

Photo Credit: LPVR Gaming

Your Role

• Own the VR experience by building, improving, and optimizing as needed
• Brainstorm ideas for features and interactions that make it a uniquely compelling VR experience
• Work closely with Dan Dixon, creator & director, to execute on the vision for VR
• Willingness to experiment and quickly prototype to get everything “just right”
• Untap Universe Sandbox ² VR’s full potential by bringing (and maintaining) features to parity with our desktop version

Ideal Candidate

• Loves VR gaming and is excited about the challenges that come with new technology
• Is a self-driven and talented programmer
• Writes clean code that is comprehensible to teammates
• Has already explored Universe Sandbox ² VR and loves it

Mandatory Qualifications

• Hands-on VR development experience
• (Strong C# & Unity Engine experience) || (Experience with an entity component model & object-oriented programming)
• Familiar with version control (we use GitHub), task-management system (we use ZenHub), unit tests, code reviews, and so forth
• Works collaboratively (and remotely)
• Passion for science and astronomy

Company Overview

Giant Army is the company behind Universe Sandbox ². Our headquarters are in Seattle, Washington, USA, with team members across the United States, Germany, and Denmark.

Team members enjoy a flexible, collaborative environment. We strive for work-life balance, and we pursue the features that get us excited about science. We do the work so that we can share that with others. We’re committed to creating an accessible experience that can’t be found elsewhere.

Science is for everyone, and we welcome all qualified applicants.

Product Overview

Universe Sandbox ² is a space simulator that merges real-time gravity, climate, collision, and physical interactions to reveal the beauty of our universe and the fragility of our planet. It’s more than a game; it’s a way of experiencing and learning about reality in a way that’s never been done before.

Universe Sandbox ² was recently named the Best VR Experience of 2016 by the Escapist and has a ‘Very Positive’ rating on Steam with 94% positive user reviews out of over 3000+.

How to Apply

This position has been filled. Thank you to everyone who applied.

If this still sounds like an ideal job for you, please reach out. We are always looking for more help from the right candidates.

Email us: jobs at universesandbox.com

In the email, please include:

• Relevant email subject
• Link to or copy of your resume or CV
• Relevant code sample/s
• Answer these questions:
  • What is the most appealing part of this opportunity?
  • What is your favorite VR experience and why?
• Where you initially heard about this job posting

This position has been filled. Thank you to everyone who applied.

If this still sounds like an ideal job for you, please reach out. We are always looking for more help from the right candidates.

Giant Army is looking for a video game/simulation tester to join our team. You will work independently to create, maintain, and regularly execute the Universe Sandbox ² test plan on pre-release builds. It is essential that you are able to write up detailed bug reports and proactively work with the team to ensure they’ve been fixed.

The ideal candidate should have a scientific inquisitiveness when identifying potential bugs (“Should Jupiter be this hot?” “Wouldn’t that have destroyed the moon?”). We have an astrophysicist on the team; it’s okay to not know the answers, but you should be comfortable asking questions. Familiarity with Universe Sandbox ² is a bonus, but not required.

This is an hourly, remote, contract position with flexible hours.

Join us… we’re making something incredible that’s never been done before.

Your Role

• Create and maintain a comprehensive test plan for the entire game
• Regularly review internal builds to make sure new features and fixes work as intended
• Review forums, videos, and feedback to identify user-reported bugs
• Log clear, concise descriptions and reproduction steps of all issue to our GitHub repository
• Communicate with our developers on Slack to help squash bugs

Ideal Candidate

• Has experience with game/software testing and methodology, ideally in a lead capacity
• Has already spent many hours exploring Universe Sandbox ², loves it, and has spotted a bug or two
• Maintains a flexible schedule which allows for varying hours (depending on where we are in development cycle)
• Is comfortable testing with Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and VR hardware

Mandatory Qualifications

• Ability to write clear descriptions and reproduction steps for bugs in English
• Detail-oriented and an eye for noticing when things aren’t quite right
• Intuition about science and how our simulations should work
• Comfortable working in a remote environment (the whole team is remote)
• Must own a Windows machine

Company Overview

Giant Army is the company behind Universe Sandbox ². Our headquarters are in Seattle, Washington, USA, with team members across the United States, Germany, and Denmark.

Team members enjoy a flexible, collaborative environment. We strive for work-life balance, and we pursue the features that get us excited about science. We do the work so that we can share that with others. We’re also committed to creating an accessible experience that can’t be found elsewhere.

Science is for everyone, and we welcome all qualified applicants.

Product Overview

Universe Sandbox ² is a space simulator that merges real-time gravity, climate, collision, and material interactions to reveal the beauty of our universe and the fragility of our planet. It’s more than a game; it’s a way of experiencing and learning about reality in a way that’s never been done before. Early access now available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

How to Apply

This position has been filled. Thank you to everyone who applied.

If this still sounds like an ideal job for you, please reach out. We are always looking for more help from the right candidates.

Email us: jobs at universesandbox.com

In the email please include:

• Relevant email subject
• Link to or copy of your resume or CV
• Answer to this question:
  • What is the most appealing part of this opportunity?
• Pick a game you’ve played or worked on recently and write a bug report (bonus points if you pick Universe Sandbox ²)
  • These don’t need to be long. Succinct and clear is best.
• Where you originally heard about this job posting

This position has been filled. Thank you to everyone who applied.

If this still sounds like an ideal job for you, please reach out. We are always looking for more help from the right candidates.

Giant Army is looking for a 3D artist to create realistic spacecraft models for Universe Sandbox ², a space and gravity simulator with a 94% positive rating on Steam.

You will research accurate materials, measurements, etc. and work with the project director’s feedback toward a high level of realism and detail. You will also work with the lead graphics programmer to ensure the models and textures can integrate well with the game engine. You must love creating realistic models and you must be a collaborative worker.

This is a full-time, contract position.

We hope you join us in making something incredible that’s never been done before.

Your Role

• Create realistic models and textures for spacecraft and spacecraft parts
  • e.g. Saturn V, N1, New Horizons
• Create models for other in-game objects on an as-needed basis
  • e.g. human-sized objects, collision fragments, VR interface items
• Work with and implement the project director’s feedback toward a high level of realism and detail
• Work with the lead graphics programmer to create efficient models which integrate well with the Universe Sandbox ² engine
• Help change the way the world perceives our universe and fragile planet

Ideal Candidate

• Self-driven and talented 3D modeler and texture artist
• Strong attention and dedication to detail
• Familiar with technical limitations and how models function within a game engine
• Excited about helping develop a tool that allows users to experiment with simulations, pushing the boundaries of what has been done in real-time for public consumption

Mandatory Qualifications

• Appreciation for realism and detail
• Strong knowledge of modeling and texturing
• Proficient in 3D modeling software
• Excited about science and astronomy
• Familiar with version control and some kind of task-management system
• Works collaboratively

Company Overview

Giant Army is the company behind Universe Sandbox, a space simulator that’s sold hundreds of thousands of copies on Steam. Our headquarters are in Seattle, Washington, USA, with team members in Washington DC, Missouri, California, Germany, and Denmark.

Team members enjoy a flexible, collaborative environment. We pursue the features that get us excited about science. We do the work so that we can share that with others. We’re also committed to creating an accessible experience that can’t be found elsewhere.

Science is for everyone, and we welcome all qualified applicants.

Product Overview

Universe Sandbox ² is our core product that lets the user explore and learn about our amazing universe and fragile planet while creating and destroying on a scale they’ve never before imagined. It’s more than a game; it’s a way of experiencing and learning about reality in a way that’s never been done before. Early alpha access now available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

How to Apply

This position has been filled. Thank you to everyone who applied.

If this still sounds like an ideal job for you, please reach out. We are always looking for more help from the right candidates.

Email us: jobs at universesandbox.com

In the email please include:

• Relevant email subject
• Link to or copy of your resume or CV
• Link to portfolio/samples
• Answer to these 2 questions:
  • What is the most appealing part of this opportunity?
  • Why are you a good fit for this position?
• Where you originally heard about this job posting

This position has been filled. Thank you to everyone who applied.

If this still sounds like an ideal job for you, please reach out. We are always looking for more help from the right candidates.

Giant Army is looking for a simulation developer to help in our continued development on Universe Sandbox ², a space and gravity simulator with a 94% positive rating on Steam.

You will work with scientists and developers to improve and create geophysical and astrophysical simulation code. This code must smoothly integrate with the other systems in Universe Sandbox ², including running in real-time under computational restraints.

Above all you must be an experienced C# programmer (ideally with Unity experience). You do not need to be a subject-matter expert, but you must be a collaborative worker who is curious about science, and you must have a broad toolkit of numerical techniques.

We hope you join us in making something incredible that’s never been done before.

Your Role

• Build on, improve and optimize, and create new geophysical and astrophysical simulation codes which talk to all the other pieces of the simulation
• Work with scientists to define a problem and iteratively determine the best numerical solution that meets computational constraints
• Work with developers to integrate with other systems and the graphical display smoothly
• Quickly prototype and estimate computational costs
• Help change the way the world perceives our universe and fragile planet

Ideal Candidate

• Is a self-driven and talented programmer with experience applying/integrating numerical models in a compiled language using modern developer best-practices
• Writes clean code that is comprehensible to teammates
• Loves physics simulations and fantastical what-if scenarios: what-if.xkcd.com (note citation #6 on 148)
• Is excited about developing a tool that allows users to experiment with simulations, pushing the boundaries of what has been done in real time for public consumption

Mandatory Qualifications

• (Strong C# && Unity Engine experience) || (Experience with an entity component model && object-oriented programming)
• Experience with developing simulations
• Familiar with version control, some kind of task-management system, unit tests, code reviews, and so forth
• Familiar with a broad toolkit of numerical techniques
• Works collaboratively
• Curious about science
• Enjoys a challenging problem

Preferred Qualifications

• M.S. in relevant field (e.g. applied math, computer science)
• Ability to meet in person at least once a week in Seattle, WA, United States, but will consider outstanding candidates from anywhere in the world

Partial List of Simulation Improvements

• Improving the climate simulation (calculating temperature, pressure, greenhouse effect, user adjustable materials, dust from impacts affecting the temperature)
• Improving asteroid collisions (heating, impact size, velocities of fragments)
• Adding atmospheric drag (based on the properties of the body and the atmosphere, with correct heating of the body and material loss from the friction and heat)
• Improving our material system (metallic hydrogen in gas giants, simulating subsurface oceans on moons)
• Improving supernova and stellar evolution (and making that all work smoothly together)
• Improved transitions of bodies as their properties change (add hydrogen to a rocky body to make it become a gas giant, keep adding to turn it into a star)
• This position is (largely) not oriented toward improving the following:
  • N-body
  • Relativity
  • Fluid dynamics

More Information

You don’t need to be a subject-matter expert in any area of geophysical sciences or astronomy, but you must be curious about science, and love the idea of working with scientists who would lay out a computational problem that you could help solve and implement. Everything must run in real time; computational efficiency is key. Sometimes the level of complexity that we can represent is a continual negotiation depending on the efficiencies that prove possible. Which is why this work is incredibly important for making Universe Sandbox more awesome.

There is an element of iteration with the scientists and developers. We may start from a wish-list or pseudocode that is too computationally expensive, and iterate from there, coming up with new ideas for which simple models of the physical process to suggest next. Your job in this iteration is to quickly prototype, if needed, and provide estimates for whether the current idea has yet achieved feasibility.

Besides the scientists who want to compute things in real time, the graphics programmer is concerned with displaying them smoothly, so you also need to iterate on the output and its interface with the graphical display. And because it’s a sandbox on a broad scale, everything must integrate well with existing systems. Models of specific processes do not exist in isolation of the influence of the rest of the simulation; everything must work together and be designed with this in mind.

This is very much a collaborative position, and so the ability to work well in a team is an important qualification. You must be good at working with other people’s code, and you need to be able to take direction from the creator of Universe Sandbox on design constraints, from the scientists on physical realism, and work with the systems architect to make it all operate smoothly with the core simulation and gravity integration that is already in place. You may work with the numerical physics programmer responsible for the gravity integration on problems like threading and other computational optimizations for the software at large.

Portfolio-wise, visualizations are appreciated. Visualizations of simulations that did not run in real time may impress us, but in this position everything must run in real time, so things that do will impress us more, perhaps in the form of runnable code (e.g. an executable).

Company Overview

Giant Army is the company behind Universe Sandbox, a space simulator that’s sold hundreds of thousands of copies on Steam. Our headquarters are in Seattle, Washington, USA, with team members in Arizona, Missouri, Germany, and Denmark.

Team members enjoy a flexible, collaborative environment. We pursue the features that get us excited about science. We do the work so that we can share that with others. We’re also committed to creating an accessible experience that can’t be found elsewhere.

Science is for everyone, and we welcome all qualified applicants.

Product Overview

Universe Sandbox ² is our core product that lets the user explore and learn about our amazing universe and fragile planet while creating and destroying on a scale they’ve never before imagined. It’s more than a game; it’s a way of experiencing and learning about reality in a way that’s never been done before. Early alpha access now available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

How to Apply

This position has been filled. Thank you to everyone who applied.

If this still sounds like an ideal job for you, please reach out. We are always looking for more help from the right candidates.

Email us: jobs at universesandbox.com

In the email please include:

• Relevant email subject
• Link to or copy of your resume or CV
• Relevant code sample/s
• Link to examples of your work, including visualizations of numerical simulations
• Answers to these two questions:
  • What is the most appealing part of this opportunity?
  • What feature would you be most interested in adding or helping make better?
• Where you originally heard about this job posting

This position has been filled. Thank you to everyone who applied.

If this still sounds like an ideal job for you, please reach out. We are always looking for more help from the right candidates.

Giant Army is looking for a producer to help in our continued development on Universe Sandbox ², a space and gravity simulator with a 94% positive rating on Steam.

You will work closely with the project lead with the overall goal of making Universe Sandbox ² even more realistic, accessible, and awesome. You will also work with the team as a whole to organize and prioritize tasks and projects, while helping ensure goals are met within established time-frames. You must be self-directed, organized, and an excellent communicator.

We hope you join us in making something incredible that’s never been done before.

Your Role

• Work with the team to help change the way people think about our amazing universe and fragile planet
• Work closely with Dan, the project director, to discuss, articulate, and execute on the project goals
• Maintain a broad view of the project to ensure it is oriented toward these long-term goals each step of the way
• Work with each team member to maintain a clear vision of their individual progress and stay on track towards goals in established time-frames
• Maintain, prioritize, and coordinate plans for projects which involve multiple team members
• Help make decisions and provide possible solutions to problems

Ideal Candidate

• Interested by physics simulations and fantastical what-if scenarios: what-if.xkcd.com (note citation #6 on 148)
• Experience with software/video game/educational development, having worked with both artists and programmers
• Has educational, business, and/or marketing acumen
• Has experience as a lead or in some role managing others
• Has ideas for improving production and an understanding of agile methodologies
• Ability to meet in person at least once a week in Seattle, WA, United States (or willing to relocate), but we will consider outstanding candidates from anywhere in the world (without relocation)

Mandatory Qualifications

• Excited about science & improving the user experience
• Self-directed, comes up with good ideas and executes them
• Enthusiasm for the project’s science-focused vision
• Energized by meetings, personal interactions, and problem solving
• Personable and energized by working with a wide-variety of personalities

Company Overview

Giant Army is the company behind Universe Sandbox, a space simulator that’s sold hundreds of thousands of copies on Steam. Our headquarters are in Seattle, Washington, USA, with team members in Arizona, Missouri, Germany, and Denmark.

Team members enjoy a flexible, collaborative environment. We pursue the features that get us excited about science. We do the work so that we can share that with others. We’re also committed to creating an accessible experience that can’t be found elsewhere.

Science is for everyone, and we welcome all qualified applicants.

Product Overview

Universe Sandbox ² is our core product that lets the user explore and learn about our amazing universe and fragile planet while creating and destroying on a scale they’ve never before imagined. It’s more than a game; it’s a way of experiencing and learning about reality in a way that’s never been done before. Early alpha access now available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

How to Apply

This position has been filled. Thank you to everyone who applied.

If this still sounds like an ideal job for you, please reach out. We are always looking for more help from the right candidates.

Email us: jobs at universesandbox.com

In the email please include:

• Relevant email subject
• Link to or copy of your resume or CV
• Answer to the following two questions:
  • What is the most appealing part of this opportunity?
  • Why would you be a good producer on this project?
• Where you originally heard about this job posting

Please see our updated job post for this position.

Giant Army is looking for a part-time video game/simulation tester to join our team. You should be familiar with Universe Sandbox ², and interested in helping us find and fix bugs as we continue development. You will work independently to regularly test our builds and write up bug reports, then work with the team to ensure they’ve been fixed.

You will need a keen eye and love of science, the ability to write clearly, and a desire to rigorously test Universe Sandbox ².

This is an hourly, contract position.

Join us… we’re making something incredible that’s never been done before.

Your Role

• Create a comprehensive list of features to test and their expected results, and update it as we add new features
• Use this list to regularly review our internal builds to make sure we haven’t broken anything
• Review the forums and feedback to identify user-reported bugs
• Verify that the bug occurs and write a clear description and reproduction steps (so it’s very easy for our developers to identify the issue without spending time figuring it out)
• Post bugs to our internal Trello board
• Communicate with our developers on Slack to help squash bugs
• Verify that tasks, new features, and bug fixes completed by our developers are, in fact, completed

 Ideal Candidate

• Has already spent many hours exploring Universe Sandbox ² and loves it… and has spotted a bug or two
• Has experience with/insight into software testing and methodology, and knows what developers are looking for
• Maintains a flexible schedule which allows for varying hours (depending on where we are in development cycle)
• Owns both a Windows and a Mac machine and maybe even a Linux machine

Mandatory Qualifications

• Ability to write clear descriptions and reproduction steps for bugs in English
• Detail-oriented and an eye for noticing when things aren’t quite right
• Intuition about science and how our simulations should work
• Must own a Windows or Mac machine

Company Overview

Giant Army is the company behind Universe Sandbox ². Our headquarters are in Seattle, Washington, USA, with team members across the United States and in Germany and Denmark.

Team members enjoy a flexible, collaborative environment. We strive for work-life balance, and we pursue the features that get us excited about science. We do the work so that we can share that with others. We’re also committed to creating an accessible experience that can’t be found elsewhere.

Science is for everyone, and we welcome all qualified applicants.

Product Overview

Universe Sandbox ² is a space simulator that merges real-time gravity, climate, collision, and material interactions to reveal the beauty of our universe and the fragility of our planet. It’s more than a game; it’s a way of experiencing and learning about reality in a way that’s never been done before. Early access now available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

How to Apply

Please see our updated job post for this position.

Email us: jobs at universesandbox.com

In the email please include:

• Relevant email subject
• Link to or copy of your resume or CV
• Answer to this question:
  • What is the most appealing part of this opportunity?
• A description and reproduction steps for a bug which is currently in Universe Sandbox ² Alpha 18
  • These don’t need to be long. Succinct and clear is best.
  • Example description of an old bug:
    • Loading a saved sim with a star in it causes a supernova
  • Example reproduction steps:
    1. Open new sim
    2. Add Sun (seems to happen with any star)
    3. Save sim
    4. Load sim
    • Star instantly supernovas
• Where you originally heard about this job posting

This position has been filled. Thank you to everyone who applied.

If this still sounds like an ideal job for you, please reach out. We are always looking for more help from the right candidates.

Giant Army is looking for a planetary scientist or astronomer with a strong scientific computing background to join our team. You should be interested in helping us extend, improve, and develop the physical simulations at the heart of Universe Sandbox ². This is a contract position, but has the potential to become more permanent.

You will work closely with Giant Army’s current astronomer, as well as the creator of Universe Sandbox, in addition to our climate scientist, core game architect, numerical physics developer, graphics programmer, and technical artist.

Join us… we’re making something incredible that’s never been done before.

Your Role

• Help design, improve, and code the real-time simulation, which merges the gravity simulator with other simulated systems and incorporates as much realistic science as possible
• Help discover simulation edge cases and develop solutions to solve them
• Advise the team on how to best make the simulation, data, and visuals more realistic
• Some potential areas for development include connecting composition and physical properties, gas giant atmospheres, habitability, major impact aftermath, and your favorite project.

 Ideal Candidate

• Loves physics simulations and fantastical what-if scenarios: https://what-if.xkcd.com/
• Is a self-driven and talented programmer with experience developing numerical models in a compiled language using modern developer best-practices
• Writes clean code that is comprehensible to teammates
• Is excited about developing a tool that allows users to experiment with simulations, pushing the boundaries of what has been done in real-time for public consumption
• Can envision what makes the best interactive experience with physical concepts, and how best to crunch the numbers to make it happen

Mandatory Qualifications

• Planetary science || (astronomy && (physics || chemistry)) background
• Simulation design and coding experience
• Strong enthusiasm for using models to explore both realistic and fantastical what-if scenarios
• Strong interest in helping change the way the world perceives our universe and fragile planet
• Good communication skills and proficiency in English, both writing and speaking

Preferred Qualifications

• (Strong C# && Unity Engine experience) || (Experience with an entity component model && object-oriented programing)
• M.S. or PhD in relevant field
• Ability to meet in person at least once a month in Seattle, WA, United States, but will consider outstanding candidates from anywhere in the world

Company Overview

Giant Army is the company behind Universe Sandbox, a space simulator that’s sold hundreds of thousands of copies on Steam. Our headquarters are in Seattle, Washington, USA, with team members in Montana, Florida, Germany, and Denmark.

Team members enjoy a flexible, collaborative environment. We strive for work-life balance, and we pursue the features that get us excited about science. We do the work so that we can share that with others. We’re also committed to creating an accessible experience that can’t be found elsewhere.

Science is for everyone, and we welcome all qualified applicants.

Product Overview

Universe Sandbox ² is our core product that lets the user explore and learn about our amazing universe and fragile planet while creating and destroying on a scale they’ve never before imagined. It’s more than a game; it’s a way of experiencing and learning about reality in a way that’s never been done before. Early alpha access now available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

How to Apply

This position has been filled. Thank you to everyone who applied.

If this still sounds like an ideal job for you, please reach out. We are always looking for more help from the right candidates.

Email us: jobs at universesandbox.com

In the email please include:

• Relevant email subject
• Link to or copy of your resume or CV
• Answer to these two questions:
  – What is the most appealing part of this opportunity?
  – What feature would you be most interested in adding or helping make better?
• Where you originally heard about this job posting

This position has been filled. Thank you to everyone who applied.

If this still sounds like an ideal job for you, please reach out. We are always looking for more help from the right candidates.

We’re looking for a enthusiastic physics programmer interested in developing a system for handling planetary collisions (and collisions at other scales of objects) for the upcoming sequel to Universe Sandbox. This is a contract position, but has the potential to become more permanent.

You’ll be working with the creator of Universe Sandbox, our astronomer, the core game architect, the developer of our gravity integrator and smooth particle hydrodynamics tech, and aiding our graphics programmer. We are creating a robust, real time model for collisions of objects at all scales – asteroids, planets, moons, and stars (and smaller human sized objects) that works at wide range of time steps (including super slow motion). The collision system will need to work with variable numbers of spawned bodies and particles with smooth transitions between all states.

We want to create a system that will handle the Moon colliding with the Earth, the Earth colliding with Jupiter, Jupiter colliding with another gas giant, and something that works when a user decides to spawn a black hole inside of a moon.

You will oversee the integration of existing collision physics analytical and numerical solutions into one system that smoothly transitions between the handling of various cases, making sure that edge cases are accounted for.

Our continuing goal is to make the easiest and most captivating way to learn about the universe through real-time interaction, creation, and destruction… while keeping the simulation representative and true to our best understanding of reality.

Join a talented team and let’s make something amazing that’s never been created before.

In short: collisions must be amazing.

Requirements

• Physics programming experience
• Love watching slow motion videos of collisions and explosions
• Interest in helping change the way the world perceives our universe and fragile planet

Ideally

• Strong C# and Unity experience
• Experience with rigid body physics systems like: PhysX, Jitter, or Bullet
• Ability to meet in person at least once a week in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, WA

Company Overview

Giant Army is the company behind Universe Sandbox, a space simulator that’s sold hundreds of thousands of copies on Steam. We’re based in Seattle, Washington, USA, but the team has members in Montana, Germany, and Denmark.

Product Overview

Universe Sandbox is our core product that lets the user explore and learn about our amazing universe while creating and destroying on a scale they’ve never before imagined. It’s more than a game; it’s a way of experiencing and learning about reality in a way that’s never been done before. The new version will be available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Interested?

This position has been filled. Thank you to everyone who applied.

If this still sounds like an ideal job for you, please reach out. We are always looking for more help from the right candidates.

If you’re interested please email us at:
jobs at universesandbox.com

In the email please include a:

• Relevant email subject
• Answer to these two questions:
  – What is the most appealing part of this opportunity?
  – What aspect of physics simulations do you find most interesting?
• Link to where you originally heard about this job posting
• Link to or copy of your resume

Current State of Collisions and Development

We’ve been developing the sequel to Universe Sandbox in C# and Unity for 2 years. We have a great Open CL based gravity integrator and an analytical system in place for simple collisions that works fairly well. We have ideas for how to move forward with this, but there’s too much else for everyone to do for this critical feature to get the attention it needs. We’re open to new ideas and rebuilding the existing system to get the best end result.