I'm a creative technologist — a senior engineer and a technical artist — and I contract on the parts of a real-time project that need someone who can work either side of the line between code and content: Unity, XR, rendering and shaders, performance, multiplayer, gameplay systems, tools and pipelines, 3D, and the backend integration under all of it. Seven years of that has been production VR.
Unity · XR · technical art · seven years in production
You aren't hiring an agency.You're hiring me.
Jake Fletcher, senior Unity and XR engineer and technical artist.
Seven years of production VR and real-time work — most recently taking a live-service VR platform from around 150 users to more than 50,000 a month. Tell me what you're trying to build and I'll come back with a real number and a written scope. No sales call, no obligation, no email gate.
Rates from $90/hr · Project minimum $1,000 · 20% deposit to book
The rate is how an estimate gets built — you aren't buying an hourly meter. Work is scoped into deliverables and milestones at a fixed fee, agreed in writing before anything starts.
Next opening Aug 27, 2026 · see the calendar
The person you'd be hiring
I'm Jake Fletcher. I sit between engineering, technical art, 3D, and interactive technology — which is where real-time projects usually go wrong, and where hiring two more specialists tends not to help.
More about me →Less ←
Most recently I was a senior VR/XR engineer at ACE, on a live-service platform that I helped take from roughly 150 users to more than 50,000 a month. I refactored large parts of the core game for performance and maintainability while it stayed live, and built the Photon multiplayer, the VR interaction layer, the customizable weapons, and the UI on top of it.
Before that I spent three years at Microsoft as a senior technical artist and producer, making executive communications, all-hands, motion graphics, 3D, and XR experiences to a broadcast schedule — where the date does not move and nothing ships late. I arrived there as a Unity developer building HoloLens demos and immersive prototypes, and stayed. Before all of it I spent eleven years at Boeing leading a team of mechanics and troubleshooting robotics and CNC machines, which is where I learned to be the person called when something expensive has stopped and nobody knows why.
Alongside the day jobs I have shipped over a dozen independent mobile games across iOS and Android and released two Unity Asset Store tools that other developers build on — which means I have also been the person who owns the whole product, design and code and art and support, and not one ticket in it.
The range is the point. Most of what goes wrong on a real-time project goes wrong in the seams — between the art that was authored and the budget it has to run in, between the prototype that proved the idea and the systems that have to carry it. Being able to work either side of a seam usually means fixing the cause instead of the symptom, and it means one contract and one person accountable for it rather than a programmer and an artist pointing at each other.
What that looks like in practice: a studio hands me a feature and I own it end to end; a startup hands me a prototype and I turn it into something that can ship; a team hands me a project that has slowed down and I find out why. I work in a small number of long, focused engagements rather than many short ones, which is why this site prices and books the work up front. You get a real estimate before you talk to me, and a start date you can plan around.
Where I've worked
Senior Software Engineer, VR/XR · ACE
2023 – 2026A live-service VR shooting-sports platform. Helped take it from around 150 users to more than 50,000 a month, refactored the core game systems for performance and maintainability while it stayed live, and built the Photon multiplayer, VR interaction, weapon customization, and UI work on top.
Senior Technical Artist and Producer · Microsoft
2020 – 2023Executive communications and live events — all-hands, fireside chats, motion graphics, 3D, animation, and XR experiences, made to a broadcast schedule where the date does not move.
Unity Developer, VR/XR · Microsoft, via Robert Half
2019 – 2020HoloLens demos and immersive prototypes — where the XR work started.
Lead Maintenance Mechanic A · Boeing
2008 – 2019Eleven years leading a team of mechanics and troubleshooting robotics and CNC machines on a factory floor. Where I learned to be the person called when something expensive has stopped and nobody knows why.
Independent developer · Freelance
2008 – presentOver a dozen mobile games shipped on iOS and Android and two Unity Asset Store tools released for other developers to build on — the work this site exists to book.
Why hire me for it
Real-time work goes wrong in the seams between disciplines. I have spent seven years working both sides of them.
150 users to 50,000 a month
Three years as a senior VR/XR engineer on a live-service platform, helping scale it by that much — refactoring the core systems for performance while it stayed up and shipping.
Both sides of the seam
Engineering, technical art, 3D, XR, and interactive development from one person. The handoffs that usually cost you weeks happen inside one head.
Dates that don't move
Three years at Microsoft building executive events and XR work to a broadcast schedule. A launch date is a kind of deadline I already know how to hit.
I've owned whole products
Over a dozen independent mobile games and two Unity Asset Store tools other developers build on. Hand over a problem, not a ticket queue — including when the answer is less than you asked for.
Priced in writing, first
Scope, deliverables, cost, and payment schedule agreed in writing before work starts — and the rates behind them published, so you can sanity-check my number against them.
Work I've shipped
See all →ACE
2023–26Senior Software Engineer, VR/XR · ACELive-service VR shooting-sports training built in Unity — headset-based marksmanship on virtual ranges. Joined at roughly 150 users and helped scale the product to almost 50,000 monthly users.
Owning VR gameplay and multiplayer on a product that has to stay up while it changes.
Studio Legends
In developmentSolo — design, engineering, and technical artA game built from the ground up in Unity, featuring custom building and terrain systems. The techlog walks through the real-time systems behind it.
Real-time systems built from scratch — terrain, placement, and the tools to author both.
BookJake.com
2026Solo — design, engineering, and productMy own booking and estimating site. Describe what you want built and get a number in under a minute; submit it and it becomes a written scope and a fixed-fee proposal — no sales call, no email gate.
Taking a whole product from an idea to something running in public.
How booking works
Five steps from a rough idea to a start date you can plan around. No sales call, no obligation to go further than the estimate, and nothing charged until you have read and accepted a Statement of Work I wrote for your project.
- 1
Tell me about it
Describe what you need built, and what you had in mind for budget and timing if you know. No email gate, no callback, nothing owed for asking. A calculator is there if you want a rough number first.
- 2
Send it
It lands in the queue with your brief attached. Still nothing owed, and nothing committed — you can walk away at any point up to signing.
- 3
I price it
I read it, work out the actual deliverables, and come back with a real number or with questions. If it isn't a fit, I'll say so rather than quote past you.
- 4
Statement of work
You get scope, deliverables, milestones, fees, and change control in writing. Read all of it before a penny moves.
- 5
Book
Accept the SOW, place the deposit, and your start date is locked in. The deposit is credited against your first invoice.
Let's find out if it's a fit.
Describe what you're trying to build and I'll come back with a real number and a written scope. No email gate, no sales call, nothing owed for the asking.