Software Engineer, Framework Engineering

Remote; San Francisco (CA); Remote; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Flexible hours and vacation

Talent growth culture

Cutting-edge tech exposure

Job summary

Nex, based in San Jose, California, USA, is building the Nex Playground platform to bring motion gaming to families. We’re seeking a Software Engineer to own design and development of a cross-platform framework powering detection, sensing, haptics, and ML inference.

You’ll work on real-time systems, hardware abstraction layers, and developer APIs, tackling challenging ML and sensing problems in a small, highly technical team that values ownership and collaboration.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of professional software engineering experience in real-time or performance-critical systems.
• Proficiency in C++/C# with cross-platform development experience.
• Experience building developer APIs or software frameworks used by other engineers.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop a cross-platform framework for sensing, detection, and ML inference.
• Build runtime execution systems and hardware abstraction layers.
• Develop developer APIs to expose complex sensing and inference.
• Optimize for real-time performance on multimodal data streams.
• Collaborate with small, high-performance engineering teams.

Skills

Real-time software

Cross-platform development

Performance optimization

Developer APIs

Tools

CI/CD pipelines

Job description

Nex is on a mission to help families rediscover the joy of movement. Created by parents for parents, Nex combines technology and play to deliver fun, social, and interactive experiences powered by natural body motion, encouraging kids and adults to move more, play more, and have fun together. Nex Playground, the company's award-winning active play system, is purpose-built to get families moving year-round, with safety and privacy as core considerations in its intentional design. It is certified kidSAFE+ COPPA compliant and built to support healthy, active play for all ages and abilities.

Nex Playground features a growing library of 50+ experiences, including motion and dance games, fitness and educational experiences, and Nex Originals. Content includes collaborations with partners like Hasbro, Sesame Workshop, and NBCUniversal. Nex has been recognized by Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies, TIME's Best Inventions, and Parents' Best Entertainment System for Families, and has earned Red Dot, IDEA, and Core77 international design awards. We encourage you to explore Have Fun and Is Motion Gaming Back?, as they offer a deeper look into our culture, values, and explain how our approach to motion gaming differs from previous generations.

Location: Hong Kong or Remote
Type: Full Time

The Role

As a Software Engineer at Nex, you will contribute to building the technical foundations that power our platform's most demanding capabilities. In the Framework Engineering track, you will own the design and development of our cross-platform software framework for detection, sensing, haptics, and ML inference. You will build the real-time systems, hardware abstraction layers, and developer APIs that enable multimodal interaction on Nex Playground.

The offers the opportunity to work on deeply technical problems in machine learning systems, data infrastructure, sensing technologies, and real-time inference. You will be part of a small, highly technical team that values both specialization and collaboration, with clear ownership of core technology areas.

The Mindset

You are drawn to solving complex technical challenges at the intersection of research and production engineering. You care deeply about building systems that are reliable, performant, and maintainable. You thrive in environments where technical depth matters, where your expertise in ML systems, distributed computing, or real-time software directly shapes what the platform can do.

What You'll Do

• Design and develop a robust, performant, cross-platform framework for sensing, detection, haptics, and ML inference
• Build efficient runtime execution systems and hardware abstraction layers
• Develop developer APIs that make complex sensing and inference accessible
• Optimize for real-time performance on multimodal data streams
• Work on camera, microphone, and haptics integration
• Implement code that runs reliably across different platforms and hardware configurations
• Improve framework stability, performance, and developer experience
• Write clean, well-tested code that maintains high engineering standards
• Participate in code reviews and help raise the engineering bar across the team
• Contribute to shared tools, infrastructure, and cross-role projects (20% Time)
• Work with the dual-leadership model (Engineering Manager and Tech Lead) to understand priorities and technical direction
• Document systems and decisions to support team knowledge sharing

Must Have

• 3+ years of professional software engineering experience in building real-time software frameworks, cross-platform systems, or performance-critical applications
• Proficiency in C++/C#, additional experience with at least one other systems language (C++, C#, Java, Rust, or Go)
• Experience with cross-platform development
• Proven track record with performance optimization, real-time systems, or hardware abstraction layers
• Experience building developer APIs or software frameworks used by other engineers

Nice To Have

• Experience building real-time systems or low-latency software
• Familiarity with computer vision, signal processing, or embedded systems
• Experience with cross-platform development or hardware abstraction
• Knowledge of performance optimization and profiling
• Experience with sensing technologies (cameras, microphones, or similar)
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and automated testing
• Experience working in small, high-performance technical teams
• Background in startups, high-growth environments, or consumer product companies
• Passion for pushing technical boundaries and deep problem-solving

We Offer

• Competitive compensation package.
• Flexible working hours and vacation policy.
• Product-driven culture that treasures talents and individual growth.
• Front-row seat and hands-on experience with cutting edge technologies in the evolving gaming field

Nex is located in San Jose, California, USA and Hong Kong. Learn more about us at nex.inc/who-we-are.

We encourage applications even if you don't meet more than 50% of the requirements — we believe that experience comes in many forms!

Nex is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, ancestry, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. This policy applies to all individuals at every stage of the employment relationship, including all current and prospective employees, and covers all employment decisions including recruitment, hiring, job assignment, promotion, compensation, benefits, training, discipline and termination.

We are committed to providing a workplace free from discrimination and harassment and to fostering an inclusive environment for all employees.