Software Engineer (Python / Django)

Hyper is a seed-stage startup focused on finding novel use-cases for avatars. We’re backed by YC, Amazon, TSV, MakersFund, and other great investors. Our first product is Hyper, the top VTubing application in the US iOS App Store. Users use our avatars with motion capture to make their own digital live-streaming characters.

We’re working on new AI projects and looking for our first software engineer focused on backend infrastructure and API design for both our existing and new products.

How to apply

• In your application, be sure share any personal pages of yours and talk about the relevant projects you’ve worked on, especially as it relates to backends you’ve built, API’s you’ve designed, and so-on.
• Share one or two things you’ve built that you think are exceptional that represent you well.
• To weed out bots, your application will be automatically archived if you don’t do this.

Responsibilities:

• You’ll own our backend infrastructure, uptime, scaling, and deployment for our projects.
• You’ll be responsible for REST API design, development, and documentation.
• You’ll be responsible for coordinating and collaborating with the team on features, infrastructure, and other needs as they arise.

This role is a good fit for you culturally if:

• You’re interested in the intersection of interactive entertainment and AI.
• You’re interested in the creative storytelling capabilities of LLMs and other AI technologies.
• You want to work on a fast-moving team on something that brings a lot of people joy.
• You’re interested in an early-stage startup where you’ll be wearing many hats, helping build a business from the ground up.

Backend Stack

Our backend stack is built for fast iteration and is primarily written in python. You should be familiar with the following:

• Python & Async paradigms
• Postgres
• Celery

Other Skills

• Ideally you are fast at iterating with Django Rest Framework, with a deep knowledge on how to spin up working APIs in hours and not days or weeks.
• Ideally you have experience interacting with LLMs and other AI APIs
• You should be a good communicator, both written and in-person.

About the team

The Hyper team is 5 people with some additional contractors. We operate collaboratively with each person directly responsible for their own domain. For example, one person is responsible for all of iOS, one person is responsible for all of Unity, one person responsible for all of design, and so-on. We are currently remote, transitioning into in-person in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Hyper believes strongly in “do the work to get the job” as a short, paid contract. Alternatively, we have assigned small projects that show expertise as well. To us, the clearest indication that someone can do the job is to give them the job and see if they can do it.

In most cases the process looks a bit like this:

1. Zoom call or IRL meeting screen
2. Project assignment(s) & contract initiation.
3. Work with the team for a week.
4. Final decision.

However, it isn’t always appropriate to assign something from inside the company. In the case that a standalone project is provided, a contract or may not be issued depending on the complexity of the situation.

In those cases, the process looks similar, however you’ll be providing regular progress on your project instead of on the real task.

What we evaluate for:

• Speed of execution – this is your skill and should flow from your fingers like music does for musicians.
• Knowledge – you should clearly have some crystalized understanding about the technology.
• Problem solving ability - You constantly be running into things you don’t know at a startup, so you’ll have to show how good you are at solving new things you’ve never run into before.
• Communication ability, both written and oral – coordination is often the hardest part of getting things done, you should be good at talking to people and writing down things that need to be remembered. Things should be transparent.