Staff Software Engineer - VALORANT, Player Dynamics

Riot engineers bring deep knowledge of specific technical areas but also value the opportunity to work in a variety of broader domains. As a Staff Software Engineer, you’ll also dive into projects
that focus on team cohesion and cross-team objectives. You’ll lead with authority and provide other engineers with a clear illustration of extraordinary engineering.

VALORANT is Riot’s take on a character-based tactical shooter (for more info on VALORANT click here!). As a Staff Software Engineer on the VALORANT Player Dynamics Team, you will be responsible for the systems that keep VALORANT a fun and engaging gaming experience for everyone by enforcing fair play and communication. You will be driving discussions with the team to react to analytics and community feedback, and develop new features for social gameplay, player behavior, and region specific platform integrations (such as Xbox, PSN, or QQ). You will report to the Engineering Manager of the Player Dynamics team.

Responsibilities:

● Build, operate, and support live game services, including participation in an on-call rotation
● Lead the design and development of features from in-game all the way down to the backend service implementation
● Take ownership of key components within VALORANT’s architecture, ensuring reliability, scalability, and long-term sustainability
● Lead, mentor, and coach team members to build talent over the long term

● Demonstrate a high bar of craft excellence for your team
● Provide cross-team technical expertise throughout the product life cycle including design, implementation, and delivery of features while continuously improving the software engineering quality and efficiency.
● Collaborate closely with producers, game designers, and UX experts

Required Qualifications

● 6+ years of experience as a software engineer
● 2+ years professional experience building distributed systems at scale
● Experience working in the games industry or on gaming personal projects
● Familiarity working in an agile environment
● Expertise with C++, Golang, or similar language(s)

Desired Qualifications

● Professional experience working with cloud computing and cloud technologies
● Professional experience building large scale backend systems or game services
● Professional experience building player- or user-facing frontend experiences (e.g. web, mobile, game)
● Experience with social systems in large scale multiplayer games, especially ones with long standing, healthy communities
● Professional or hobby experience working with Unreal Engine

For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise, a collaborative spirit, and decision-making that prioritizes the delight of players. We will be looking at your past studies, experience, and your personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about players' experiences, this could be your role!

Our Perks:

Riot focuses on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy and other perks such as flexible work schedules. We offer medical, dental, and life insurance, parental leave for you, your spouse/domestic partner, and children, and a 401k with company match. Check out our benefits pages for more information.

At Riot Games, we put players first. That mission drives every decision in our quest to create games and experiences that make it better to be a player. Whether you’re working directly on a new player-facing experience or you’re supporting the company as a whole, everyone at Riot is part of our mission. And just like in our games, we’re better when we work together. Our goal is to create collaborative teams where you are empowered to bring your unique perspective everyday. If that sounds like the kind of place you want to work, we’re looking forward to your application.

It’s our policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and members of Riot Games, Inc. Riot Games makes reasonable accommodations for handicapped and disabled Rioters and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, handicap, veteran status, marital status, criminal history, or any other category protected by applicable federal and state law. We consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, including the California Fair Chance Act, the City of Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, and the Washington Fair Chance Act.

Per the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, the following core duties may create a basis for disqualifying candidates with relevant criminal histories:

Safeguarding confidential and sensitive Company data
Communication with others, including Rioters and third parties such as vendors, and/or players, including minors
Accessing Company assets, secure digital systems, and networks
Ensuring a safe interactive environment for players and other Rioters

These duties are directly related to essential operations, safety, trust, and compliance obligations within our organization. Please note that job duties may evolve based on business needs and additional responsibilities may be assigned as necessary to maintain operational efficiency and security.