Student Research Assistant - Unity Frontend & LLM Backend

About the role

The Digital Character AI team at ETH Zurich's Computer Graphics Laboratory is looking for a student research assistant to support the development of its interactive AI avatar platforms, covering both the Unity frontend and the LLM-based backend. The project, Digital Einstein, brings an interactive conversational agent to life using large language models, affective computing, speech technologies and real-time rendering, and has been deployed at events such as the World Economic Forum, Berlin Science Week and GITEX. The position is fixed-term, 10% to 30% workload, based in Zurich.

Key responsibilities

• Develop and maintain the Unity frontend, including UI components, interaction flows, character behaviour and real-time rendering features.
• Develop and maintain the Python/LLM backend for interactive conversations, integrating and evaluating large language models and related AI services.
• Test and improve the reliability, latency and overall interaction quality of the system.
• Provide on-site support at selected events and demonstrations.
• Take part in weekly team meetings (1-2 hours) to discuss progress and plan next steps.

Required profile

• Enrolled student at ETH Zurich or another Swiss university.
• Strong programming skills and practical software-development experience.
• Reliable, proactive and able to work independently as well as in a team.
• Willingness to provide occasional on-site event support, including on weekends.
• German language skills are a plus.

Required skills

• Unity and C#
• Python
• Interest in or experience with large language models, including LLM APIs, prompting, agentic systems or dialogue systems

What we offer

• Hands-on experience with a high-profile AI avatar platform shown at international events.
• Exposure to a research environment spanning real-time graphics, large language models and affective computing.
• Regular 1-on-1 mentoring and weekly team meetings.
• A collaborative, international team at ETH Zurich's Computer Graphics Laboratory.

Applications close on November 30 and must be submitted online through the university's application portal; they require a short motivation letter, CV, academic transcripts and a brief portfolio or code sample. Interviews are expected in December 2026, with a start date of January 1, 2027.