Technical Game Designer II - League of Legends, ARAM Mayhem

Technical Game Designers at Riot contribute to world class teams in delivering great products to players. We focus on significant problem spaces and creating new key features to improve ARAM: Mayhem. Furthermore, we aim to deeply understand the players we serve as we craft features.

As a Technical Game Designer II on the League of Legends ARAM: Mayhem team you will understand, design, optimize, build and communicate the player experience. Your analytical skills, player empathy, and creativity will help craft in- and out-of-game experiences that engage and surprise players. You will work with interdisciplinary teams, contributing and translating feedback to innovate and iterate player-focused designs to delight millions around the world. You will also work with engineering partners to act as a design representative for anything from tooling improvements to new features. We are looking for Technical Designers who understand League of Legends and ARAM: Mayhem and are passionate about building upon these experiences to create novel and innovative play and help define what these experiences are meant to be for our players. While this is primarily a game design role - the requirements also include significant engineering competency.

Responsibilities:

Design and explain a variety of possible solutions, including the tradeoffs between them, to the team and collaboratively reach the best solution. Create design documents and frameworks that help align the team around the chosen solution
Create tools and improve pipelines that amplify the quality and velocity of your fellow designers
Be a bridge between designers and engineers, and an advocate for both solid implementation and high design velocity
Be the "go to" person for complex implementations of design content, and for shepherding projects that require heavy programmer/designer interaction.
As needed, act as a C++ gameplay software engineer no more than 50% of the time (generally closer to 35%, with some weeks at 0% and occasional emergencies near 100%)
Rapidly prototype systems and features (both of your own and others’ design) for iterative playtesting and validation.

Required Qualifications:

2+ years of experience in professional game design, or equivalent experience
2+ years of experience in professional engineering or technical game design, or equivalent experience
Familiarity with C++ development
Experience designing and implementing systems in large, ambiguous spaces
Experience leading development on features in a rapid development environment
Experience with balancing product goals with design decisions
Strong understanding of League of Legends gameplay content, including champions, items, runes, and map objectives.

Desired Qualifications:

Professional experience developing in C++
Experience with both gameplay and system design

For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise and a collaborative spirit that prioritizes the delight of players. We will look at your past studies and experience, but for this role, we also look for dedicated people with a personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about players' experiences, this is the role for you!

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.