Character Artist

Human Computer Lab; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Human Computer Lab in San Francisco is seeking a character artist to shape LeLamp's look, movement, and personality. You’ll drive concept art, mood boards, and expressive design that translates into motor curves, lighting, and behavior for the robot.

Collaborating with hardware, mechanical, and software teams, you’ll iterate quickly from sketches to prototypes, build a character bible, and ensure brand consistency across all touchpoints as the company builds a new generation of interactive

Qualifications

• Pursuing a degree in design, animation, industrial design, or related field, or equivalent hands-on portfolio.
• Portfolio demonstrates character design or expressive design in 2D or 3D.
• Ability to explain design decisions and iterate quickly with feedback from engineers.
• Interest in physical products and translating visuals into real hardware constraints.

Responsibilities

• Create concept art, mood boards, and character studies defining LeLamp's personality and visual identity.
• Collaborate with hardware on form factor, silhouette, materials, and color.
• Design expressive motion, including gestures, emotional states, and lighting cues.
• Prototype and iterate from sketches to physical mockups.
• Translate character intent into concrete behavior parameters for motion and timing.
• Build and maintain style guides and a character bible for consistency.
• Review prototypes and provide actionable feedback to hardware and software teams.
• Support brand and marketing assets to keep the character consistent across touchpoints.

Skills

Character design

2D/3D illustration

Portfolio showcase

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

Blender

Maya

Photoshop

Job description

Human Computer Lab is a research lab building character robots that feel alive and responsive. Our first robot, LeLamp, explores a new category of consumer robotics where everyday objects become interactive and help us reshape our attachment to technology.

Our goal is to push the frontier of human-robot interaction by making technology more legible, emotionally intuitive, and human-centered. We are building the foundation for a new generation of robots designed for everyday environments.

What to expect

We're looking for a character artist to help define how LeLamp looks, moves, and feels — the visual and expressive language that makes a robot read as alive rather than mechanical. You'll work on everything from early concept sketches and mood boards to the motion, gesture, and lighting cues that give the robot its personality, translating character intent into something the hardware and software teams can actually build and ship. This role requires tight, fast-cycling collaboration with electrical, mechanical, and software teams — character decisions here don't stay on paper, they become motor curves, timing, and light behavior. You'll work closely with the CEO and founding team to shape the character identity of LeLamp and the robots that follow.

In this role, you will:

• Create concept art, mood boards, and character studies that define LeLamp's personality and visual identity.

• Collaborate with the hardware team on form factor, silhouette, materials, and color to keep the physical design aligned with the character.

• Design expressive motion — gestures, "emotional" states, and behaviors expressed through movement, light, and sound.

• Prototype and iterate quickly, moving between sketches, renders, and physical mockups.

• Partner with robotics and software engineers to translate character intent into concrete behavior parameters (motion curves, timing, lighting cues).

• Build and maintain style guides and a character bible to keep the robot's expression consistent as the team grows.

• Review hardware and software prototypes against the character vision and give clear, actionable feedback.

• Support brand and marketing assets to keep the character consistent across every touchpoint.

You may be a good fit if you:

• Are pursuing a degree in screen-writing, animation, character design, industrial design, or a related field — or have equivalent hands-on portfolio experience.

• Have a portfolio that shows character design or expressive design work, in 2D or 3D.

• Document clearly and can explain the reasoning behind a design choice, not just the choice itself.

• Are comfortable iterating quickly, moving from rough sketch to testable prototype without waiting for a perfect brief.

• Are genuinely interested in physical products, not just screen-based or purely digital characters.

You will be a strong fit, if you:

• Have designed characters or mascots that had to work within real hardware or physical constraints, not just on a screen.

• Understand core animation principles (timing, weight, squash and stretch, anticipation) and know how to translate them into motors, servos, and lighting.

• Are comfortable collaborating directly with engineers, turning an abstract sense of "feel" into concrete specs they can build against.

• Move quickly through iteration cycles and don't wait for perfect information to make progress.

• Take ownership over your work end to end, from first sketch to a behavior that's live in the robot.

• Work well in small, collaborative teams where character, electrical, and mechanical are in constant conversation.

• Care about what the character enables: warmth, expressiveness, and the feeling that the robot is alive.

The early team becomes the DNA of the company. We set ourselves and others to a high standard, and we respond with kindness when things get hard but keep everyone accountable. This requires us to be curious, creative, and diverse in our thinking and approach.

We’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer and consider all qualified applicants regardless of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. Even if you don’t meet every single requirement, we encourage you to apply. Studies show that women and underrepresented groups often hold back unless they meet 100% of the criteria - we don’t want that to be the reason we miss out on great talent.