Software Engineer III - OpenXR at Mercor

Software Engineer III – OpenXR Developer | $75–105/hr | Onsite – Redmond, WA

Join a cutting-edge XR engineering team in Redmond, WA, building and maintaining OpenXR-based immersive applications. As a Software Engineer III, you'll collaborate with engineers and cross-functional partners to prototype, implement, and iterate on real-time XR experiences across OpenXR-capable runtimes and devices.

Key Responsibilities

• Architect, implement, test, and iterate on XR applications using OpenXR.
• Build interactive features including input handling (controllers, hands, action sets, haptics), scene and interaction systems (grabbing, ray interactions, 3D UI), and rendering/performance optimizations (frame pacing, latency-sensitive updates).
• Integrate platform and runtime features such as tracking spaces, anchor-like constructs, passthrough, and scene understanding via extensions.
• Write clean, testable code and contribute to CI/build scripts as needed.
• Debug runtime and device issues related to graphics, tracking, and input — providing clear reproduction steps and fixes.
• Collaborate with product, UX, and engineering stakeholders; document designs and technical tradeoffs.

Minimum Qualifications

• 3+ years of professional software development experience.
• Hands-on experience shipping 3D real-time applications (XR, games, simulation, or visualization).
• Practical knowledge of OpenXR core concepts: instance/session, swapchains, spaces, and actions.
• Strong proficiency in C/C++ and/or C# with solid debugging skills.
• Experience with a real-time engine or framework: Unity (C#) with OpenXR plugin, Unreal (C++) XR pipeline, or custom/native OpenXR rendering with Vulkan/OpenGL/DirectX.
• Understanding of XR rendering constraints including frame rate targets (72/90/120 FPS), GPU/CPU bottlenecks, and latency considerations.

Preferred Qualifications

• Shipped at least one OpenXR-based app or feature to production.
• Familiarity with OpenXR extensions: hand tracking, eye gaze, foveated rendering, and scene/space-related extensions.
• Graphics experience with Vulkan/OpenGL/DirectX, shaders, and profiling tools such as RenderDoc.
• Android XR experience including Gradle, NDK, JNI, or low-level platform integration.
• Experience building reusable XR interaction components or app scaffolding frameworks.

Applicants must be located in the United States. Visa sponsorship is not available for this role.