Senior Manager, Creative Direction - Wild Rift

Riot Games was established in 2006 by entrepreneurial gamers who believe that player-focused game development can result in great games. In 2009, Riot released its debut title League of Legends to critical and player acclaim. As the most played video game in the world, over 100 million play every month. Players form the foundation of our community and it’s for them that we continue to evolve and improve the League of Legends experience.

We’re looking for humble but ambitious, razor-sharp professionals who can teach us a thing or two. We promise to return the favor. Like us, you take play seriously; you’re passionate about games. We embrace those who see things differently, aren’t afraid to experiment, and who have a healthy disregard for constraints.

That's where you come in.

As the Creative Director for Wild Rift, you are the primary architect and public steward of the game’s creative soul. Your mission is to synthesize the outputs of Art, Audio, Narrative, and Visual Design into a singular, world-class voice that defines the League of Legends experience on mobile.

You are a visionary who bridges the gap between high-level brand aspiration and production reality. By aligning internal Riot teams, Publishing, and global partners like Tencent, you ensure that every player touchpoint—from the UI to the latest cinematic—feels cohesive, immersive, and unmistakably Wild Rift. You don’t just manage a team; you build the "North Star" frameworks that empower a multi-disciplinary apparatus to make fast, high-quality decisions at scale.

Responsibilities:

• Define & Socialize the Vision: Author the "Creative Direction Artifacts" (Tone Maps, Pillar One-Pagers, and Visual Design Systems) that serve as the source of truth for both creative and non-creative stakeholders.
• Discipline Integration: Synthesize Art, Audio, Narrative, and UX into a singular, world-class voice. You bridge the "language gap" between these specialists to ensure they work in concert toward a unified player experience.
• The Creative "Connective Tissue": Align the creative vision with Tech, Production, and Publishing. You will contextualize technical or budgetary constraints (e.g., performance budgets on low-end devices) and transform them into creative opportunities that elevate the player experience.
• Global Co-Creation: Partner with Tencent and regional leads to ensure hyper-local authenticity (maps, skins, celebrations) while safeguarding the global brand lane.
• Strategic Altitude: Maintain effective work-systems and rituals that provide enough scaffolding for the team to move fast, while leaving ample room for individual creative interpretation and problem-solving.
• Systems-Oriented Leadership: Proven ability to move beyond bespoke feedback. You have a track record of building scalable creative "playbooks" and rituals that align disparate disciplines—Art, Tech, Production, and Publishing—behind a single North Star.
• Ecosystem Leadership: Collaborate with other Riot CDs to shape the future of the League of Legends ecosystem, memorializing experiments and validating what works for the global audience.

Required Qualifications:

• 10+ years of proven track record of leading massive, multi-disciplinary creative teams within gaming.
• 5+ years of proven experience managing and mentoring diverse creative team members across Art, Audio, Narrative, and UX.
• You have a "future-facing" pulse on culture (fashion, music, animation) and can anticipate player trends before they hit the mainstream.
• The ability to translate abstract concepts into concrete "bumper-guardrails" and matrices that unlock team speed and quality.
• Expert-level stakeholder management; you can nudge strong, divergent opinions toward a shared outcome while remaining firm on the "world-class" bar.
• Experience navigating the nuances of international IP, specifically in balancing western design sensibilities with the needs of a global, multi-cultural player base.
• A deep understanding of the constraints of mobile platforms and the ability to find the "creative throughline" between technical capabilities and aesthetic output.

Desired Qualifications:

• Genre affinity for games in the mobile free-to-play space, especially MOBAs.
• Fluency in English.

For this role, you’ll find success through craft awareness, cultural empathy, and decision-making that puts Wild Rift players first. If you care about live games, team health, and visual excellence, this could be the role for you.

Don’t forget to include a resume and cover letter. We receive a lot of applications, but we’ll notice a fun, well-written intro that shows us you take play seriously.

(United States) 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.