Technical sound designer — Hello Sunshine

We’re Red Thread Games, the Oslo-based indie studio behind Dreamfall Chapters, Draugen, Dustborn, and Hello Sunshine.

We’re looking for a technical sound designer to join the Hello Sunshine team. This is a contract position, working remotely with our development team in Oslo. We’re looking for someone who can take ownership of the game’s audio implementation: not simply creating and editing sounds, but designing the systems that determine how sound and music behave dynamically in the game.

Read more about applying for a position at Red Thread Games.

About the project

Hello Sunshine is a single-player and co-op multiplayer survival mystery set in the ruins of a corporate empire. Walk in the shadow of a giant robot during the hot days; stay close to keep warm during the cold nights. Scavenge, craft, upgrade — and piece together the broken puzzle of a world ruled by AI automation gone wild.

Read more about the game here.

Job description

Hello Sunshine is built in Unreal Engine 5, and this is a hands-on implementation role. You must be comfortable working directly in UE5 and with Blueprint-based audio workflows, collaborating closely with designers, programmers and artists to build responsive, systemic audio.

You will be responsible for designing, implementing and maintaining audio systems across the game. This includes environmental and spatial audio, character and object sounds, dynamic ambience, interactive music, and the technical systems that connect audio to gameplay and the game world.

You will work directly in Unreal Engine 5 and should be capable of taking audio features from initial design through implementation, debugging, optimisation and final polish.

Depending on your background, the role may also include composition and music production. Experience designing and implementing adaptive or interactive music systems is particularly relevant.

What we’re looking for

You should have professional experience implementing audio in Unreal Engine 5, including a strong working knowledge of Unreal’s audio tools and Blueprint workflows.

In particular, we’re looking for experience with the following:

  • Designing and implementing interactive and systemic game audio in UE5.

  • Blueprint-driven audio logic and gameplay integration.

  • Unreal audio systems including Sound Cues, MetaSounds, attenuation, concurrency, audio volumes, modulation and submixes.

  • Spatial and environmental audio, including positioning, attenuation, occlusion and acoustics.

  • Surface- and material-driven audio systems, such as footsteps, impacts and movement sounds that respond appropriately to physical materials and gameplay context.

  • Dynamic ambience and environmental soundscapes.

  • Interactive or adaptive music systems that respond to gameplay state, location, tension and narrative context.

  • Building reusable audio systems rather than relying entirely on individually scripted or placed sounds.

  • Profiling, debugging and optimising audio for performance, memory and voice count.

  • Designing systems that work reliably across PC and console hardware.

  • Working with programmers and designers when audio behaviour needs access to gameplay systems, events or data.

You should be comfortable with the broader craft of sound design: recording, sourcing, editing, processing, mixing and implementing high-quality sound effects and ambience.

Experience composing and producing music is a significant advantage, particularly if you have previously worked with interactive or adaptive music. It is not, however, a requirement for the role.

About you

We’re looking for someone who is both creative and technically confident. You should be comfortable investigating problems independently, understanding how existing game systems work, and proposing sensible technical solutions rather than waiting for detailed implementation specifications.

Because this is a remote position, you will need to communicate clearly, document your work where necessary, and be comfortable collaborating with a distributed development team.

Professional game-development experience is strongly preferred, and we’d like to see examples of shipped work or playable projects demonstrating both sound design and implementation.

Practical information

This is a remote contract position working on Hello Sunshine with Red Thread Games.

The contract duration, workload and start date will be agreed with the successful candidate. Overlap with normal European working hours will be necessary for collaboration with the development team.

Applicants should include a CV or résumé and examples of relevant work. Where possible, we’d particularly like to see examples that demonstrate in-engine implementation and interactive audio systems, rather than only linear sound design or music reels.

Follow this link to learn more about working at Red Thread Games and how to submit your application for this position.