Character Behavior Developer

Bring character performance to life for real-time experiences at Apple in Cupertino, CA (onsite). In this role, you will design and author responses that feel expressive, responsive, and well-timed within real-time constraints. You will collaborate closely with animators and engineers to drive behavior, animation, speech, and timing from contextual input, with a strong focus on believable social interactions.

Compensation: Base pay range is USD 144,600 - 263,800 per year, depending on skills, qualifications, experience, and location.

What you’ll do

• Author complete character interactions, from first pass through final tuning
• Drive animation, expression, speech, and timing from contextual input so each response feels intentional
• Design interactions that remain believable across a range of social contexts
• Collaborate with animators and engineers on the animation each interaction requires
• Work with the engineering team on tool design and development
• Explore emerging techniques for interactive character behavior

What you bring

• Experience authoring and tuning NPC or companion character behaviors using tools such as behavior trees, state machines, utility systems, or visual scripting
• Working knowledge of interactive animation, including idles, reactions, look-ats, and additive layers
• Experience with real-time game engines such as Unity, Unreal, or others
• Understanding of technical constraints in real-time environments
• Strong ability to provide and receive feedback in a collaborative, cross-discipline environment

Preferred background

• Background in animation, acting, physical comedy, or improvisation
• Familiarity with conversational systems, including latency and failure modes
• Solid grasp of traditional principles of animation and performance
• Experience with prototyping, iterating, and evaluation
• Experience with themed entertainment, animatronics, or interactive installation work

Tools and technologies

• behavior trees, state machines, utility systems, visual scripting
• interactive animation
• Unity, Unreal

Benefits

• Base pay range between $144,600 and $263,800 (depends on skills, qualifications, experience, and location)
• Opportunity to become an Apple shareholder through participation in Apple’s discretionary employee stock programs
• Eligible for discretionary restricted stock unit awards
• Can purchase Apple stock at a discount if voluntarily participating in Apple’s Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Comprehensive medical and dental coverage
• Retirement benefits
• Discounted products and free services
• Reimbursement for certain educational expenses, including tuition for formal education related to advancing your career
• This role might be eligible for discretionary bonuses or commission payments as well as relocation
• Apple benefit, compensation, and employee stock programs are subject to eligibility requirements and other terms of the applicable plan or program

This position emphasizes a deep understanding of social interaction and technical proficiency in behavior authoring tools, while meeting real-time constraints and maintaining high creative standards. Expression, animation, and speech come together in performance, with dialogue authored in partnership with writers.