Cheil USA/TechOps/Creative Technology

Software Engineer

Plano, Texas

Role Overview
We're hiring a Software Engineer, Creative Technology to build the web experiences, interactive systems, AI-enabled tools, and creative technology projects at the core of our work. This is a hands-on engineering role embedded in a creative agency environment. You'll work closely with designers, creative technologists, producers, and strategists to bring technically ambitious ideas to life.

This is a mid-level generalist role for someone who writes clean, production-ready code and is equally comfortable building a polished marketing website, an AI-powered content tool, or a real-time interactive installation. Strong creative instincts, a high standard for quality, and the ability to communicate across technical and non-technical teams are just as important as engineering skill.

What You'll Do

Engineering & Delivery

• Build and ship web experiences, interactive applications, AI-enabled tools, and creative technology projects from development through launch
• Write clean, maintainable, well-documented code across frontend and backend systems
• Collaborate with designers and creative leads to implement work that meets both technical and creative standards
• Contribute to technical architecture decisions, approach recommendations, and build-vs-buy tradeoffs
• Participate in QA, bug fixing, launch preparation, and post-launch support
• Work within project timelines and flag technical risks, blockers, or scope concerns early

Creative & Interactive Development

• Build rich interactive experiences using WebGL, animation libraries, or similar tools
• Implement motion, interaction design, and visual effects in close collaboration with creative and design teams
• Prototype quickly and iterate on novel concepts, including AI-integrated experiences, generative systems, and experimental interfaces
• Optimize for performance, responsiveness, and cross-browser/cross-device compatibility

AI Integration

• Integrate AI APIs and LLM-powered features into client-facing tools, internal workflows, and creative experiences
• Work with the team to prototype and ship AI-enabled products, content systems, and interactive applications
• Contribute practical engineering judgment to AI feasibility discussions, capability scoping, and implementation planning

CMS, Platform & Systems Work

• Build and integrate headless CMS solutions, content pipelines, and editorial tooling
• Develop APIs, data integrations, and backend services as project needs require
• Manage deployments, environments, and hosting configurations across projects
• Contribute to code reviews, shared tooling, and engineering standards

Collaboration & Communication

• Work directly with technical producers, designers, creative leads, strategists, and account teams throughout project delivery
• Communicate technical constraints, tradeoffs, and decisions clearly to non-technical collaborators
• Contribute to scoping, estimation, and technical planning for new and ongoing projects
• Participate in standups, reviews, retrospectives, and planning sessions

Required Skills

• Strong proficiency in JavaScript or TypeScript, HTML, and CSS
• Experience with at least one modern frontend framework (React, Vue, Svelte, or similar)
• Experience with NoSQL and SQL databases (MongoDB, Postgres, Supabase, etc.)
• Ability to implement complex visual, interactive, or animated experiences from design direction
• Strong written and verbal communication with both technical and non-technical collaborators
• Practical approach to scoping, estimating, and flagging technical risk
• High attention to detail across code quality, visual fidelity, and user experience
• Ability to work effectively in ambiguous, fast-moving creative environments

Technical Skills
Core (Required)

• JavaScript / TypeScript, HTML, CSS
• Modern frontend framework (React, Vue, Svelte, or similar)
• RESTful and/or GraphQL API integration
• Git and version control workflows
• Web performance optimization
• Cross-browser and responsive implementation

Strongly Preferred

• Three.js, WebGL, GLSL shaders, or canvas-based creative development
• Animation libraries such as GSAP, Framer Motion, or similar
• Headless CMS platforms (Contentful, Sanity, Prismic, or similar)
• AI/LLM API integration (OpenAI, Anthropic, or similar)
• Node.js or another backend runtime for API and service development
• Deployment and hosting platforms (Vercel, DigitalOcean, Netlify, AWS, or similar)

Familiarity a Bonus

• Unreal Engine, Unity, or game engine environments
• AR/VR/XR development
• Hardware integration, physical computing, or connected installations
• Python for AI tooling, scripting, or data workflows

Required Experience

• 3-5 years of professional software engineering experience, with a focus on web development
• Demonstrated experience shipping production-quality websites, web applications, or interactive experiences
• Experience working with cross-functional creative teams including designers, producers, and strategists
• Experience integrating third-party APIs, services, or platforms into web projects
• Experience managing work across multiple concurrent projects or workstreams
• Experience contributing to technical scoping, estimation, or architecture discussions

Preferred Qualifications

• Agency, studio, or digital production company background
• Experience working on experiential technology, interactive installations, or event-based digital projects
• Experience building and shipping AI-powered tools or features in a production environment
• Familiarity with accessibility standards and inclusive development practices
• Experience contributing to technical proposals, estimates, or new business planning

Ideal Candidate
A skilled, curious engineer who takes equal pride in technical quality and creative outcome. Comfortable translating a designer's vision into a working experience, pushing back constructively when a direction creates unnecessary technical risk, and finding practical paths forward when constraints are real. Equally at home writing a clean component architecture and prototyping something experimental for a pitch. Communicates clearly, estimates honestly, and cares about the work landing well, and not just shipping.