IRCAM is a non-profit organization affiliated with the Centre National d’Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, located in Paris at 1 Place Igor Stravinsky, 75004 Paris. Its mission encompasses research, creation, and educational activities cantered on 21st-century music and its relationship with science and technology.

As part of The Island project, funded by BPI (France 2030 Programme – Immersive Culture and Metaverse), IRCAM is recruiting a Development Engineer on a fixed-term contract of 18 months.

The Island is a B2B and B2C artistic and cultural metaverse, created by Blanca LI and dedicated to the performing arts. Its objectives are to bring together a community of artists and cultural institutions, to standardise metaverse tools enabling the creation of artistic works in virtual worlds, and to develop a massively multi-user 3D distribution platform incorporating the latest advances in spatial audio. With regard to its audio component, the ambition of The Island project is to provide a platform for creating immersive and interactive content, equipped with a suite of tools based on the open audio object format ADM, developed by international standardisation bodies (EBU and ITU).The project aims to adopt and extend this format for the development of a set of tools for the creation and dissemination of interactive audio content, ultimately enabling 6DoF (six degrees of freedom) navigation across various immersive platforms. These tools will be designed to align with other creative components (visual, choreographic, etc.), ensuring a high level of interactivity and interoperability.

The project will take place on IRCAM’s premises in Paris, within the Acoustic and Cognitive Spaces team (EAC), which is part of the STMS Joint Research Unit (UMR9912, IRCAM/CNRS/Sorbonne University/Ministry of Culture). The EAC team focuses in particular on the analysis/synthesis, creation/transmission/reproduction, and perception of immersive sound scenes. 

Development of tools for importing/transcoding sound scenes from the ADM format into the Wwise audio engine. Extension of IRCAM’s Spat 3D audio authoring tool and sound engine to support the import/export and rendering of sound scenes in the ADM+ format (extended ADM). Development of spatial audio rendering modules for ADM+ sound scenes within the Unity environment and in web audio.

• Reading and writing audio files and XML files
• Conversion of ADM sound scenes into Wwise scenes
• Prototyping ADM+ (extended ADM) sound scenes in Max/MSP based on the Spat C++ library
• Development of an ADM+ sound scene rendering engine in Unity and web audio, using binaural rendering

• Excellent knowledge / experience in C++ development
• Good understanding of multichannel audio formats
• Familiarity with the Wwise Spatial Audio engine is an advantage
• Familiarity with 3D engines such as Unity and Unreal Engine is an advantage
• Knowledge of Web Audio is an advantage
• Experience with the real-time audio creation environment Max/MSP is an advantage

Depending on qualifications and professional experience.

You will also benefit from: 

• 32 days of paid annual leave and 11 additional RTT[1] days (based on full-time employment and a full year of service),
• Meal vouchers worth €11 per working day,
• 50% reimbursement of your Paris region public transport pass, 
• A competitive and mandatory supplementary health and welfare insurance scheme, 
• Social, cultural, and sports benefits (staff association offering outings and leisure activities at attractive rates)
• After the probationary period, a “Culture Card” providing free or discounted entry and reduced prices for cultural venues and products under the Ministry of Culture, as well as priority access (for the cardholder and one accompanying person)

[1] RTT – Réduction du Temps de Travail, i.e. additional paid days off granted in compensation for working more than the standard 35-hour week

Please send a cover letter quoting the reference TISL/ADM, along with a CV detailing your level of experience/expertise in the areas mentioned above (as well as any other relevant information), to the following address: eac-jobs.tisl@ircam.fr