Manager, Software Engineering - Esports

Riot Games was founded in 2006 by Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill with the intent to change the way video games are made and supported for players. In 2009, Riot released its debut title League of Legends to worldwide acclaim. The game has since gone on to become the most played PC game in the world and a key driver of the explosive growth of esports. Players are the foundation of our community and it’s for them we continue to evolve and improve the League of Legends experience. Riot Games is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA and has 23 offices worldwide.

The last 12 months have been amazing for esports at Riot. We held our most-watched League of Legends Worlds Championship, and we ran our first global tournaments for VALORANT, Wild Rift, and Legends of Runeterra. On the back of that success, and in our ever-growing dedication to our mission to be the most player focused company in the world, Riot is doubling down on our investment in the esports and fan experience with industry-leading innovations like Project Stryker that will make our ambitions come to life.

Riot engineers bring deep knowledge of specific technical areas but also value the chance to work in many broader domains. As an Engineering Manager at Riot, you’ll take a seat as a mentor for a team of engineers, overseeing performance management, growth opportunities, and accountability. You’ll also offer creative solutions to organizational design.

As an Engineering Manager within Esports Fandom, you will help lead the delivery of new features and experiences around growing the viewers & players connection to Esports as a whole. These include features like Drops, Collections & Rewards - Mechanisms that have become the foundation of watching esports. Besides leading the team of engineers, you’ll have a strong collaboration with our UI & UX designers, as well as partner-teams within Fandom and Esports.

You will report to the Sr. Engineering Manager of Esports Fandom.

Responsibilities

Develop the teams growth by providing mentorship, overseeing performance management and enabling growth opportunities with impactful outcomes
Manage the health and performance of the engineering team with empathy and authenticity, building trust and inspiring them to overcome challenges
Organize and follow what’s being built and why. Be the standard bearer around execution, quality and technical debt
Develop and support our drops and rewards infrastructure for esports across all Riot Games
Build healthy relationships with other engineering teams within Esports and Riot to strengthen cross-team goals
Partner with product owners to build and operate features end-to-end including technical discovery, product development, production release and live support
Invest in team's complete ownership of our products by participating in on-call rotation
Bring a cool head. Handle tension within and around the team, help to resolve conflicts and high-pressure situations

Required Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent experience
2+ years experience leading or managing engineering teams of 4 or more engineers
5+ years of hands-on Software Engineering experience, preferably within the Java or Go ecosystem
Experience building and maintaining complex distributed systems
Expertise in project management, prioritization frameworks, and guiding investment strategies in people and systems

Desired Qualifications

Familiarity with "Infrastructure as Code" and tooling like Terraform, Docker and Jenkins
Experience creating world-class User-facing experiences for Web & Mobile Clients
Understanding of the world of Sports & Fandom

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 the experiences of players, this could be the role for you!

Our Perks:

Riot has a focus on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy, in addition to 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.

Riot Games fosters a player and workplace experience that values teamwork embodied by the Summoner's Code and Community Code. Our culture embraces differences as a strength, and our values are the guiding principles for how we approach work. We are committed to putting diversity and inclusion (D&I) at the center of everything we do, and promoting a fair and collaborative culture where Rioters treat one another with dignity and respect. We encourage you to read more about our value of thriving together and our ongoing work to build the most inclusive company in Gaming.

(Los Angeles only) Base salary range between $170,000 USD - $238,000 USD + incentive compensation + equity + 401K with company match + medical, dental, vision, and life insurance + short and long-term disability + open PTO.

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, including the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance relating to an applicant's criminal history.