Senior Software Engineer, Reinforcement Learning - Tech Research

Riot Engineers bring deep knowledge of specific technical areas but also value the chance to work in many broader domains. As a Senior Software Engineer, you’ll also dive into projects that focus on team cohesiveness and cross-team objectives. You’ll lead without authority and provide other engineers with a clear illustration of extraordinary engineering.

Tech Research performs applied research to build AI enabled applications for our game teams and to establish AI as a core capability at Riot. Riot engineers bring deep knowledge of specific technical areas but also value the opportunity to work in a variety of broader domains. As a Senior Software Engineer, you’ll also dive into projects that focus on team cohesiveness and cross-team objectives. You’ll lead without authority and provide other engineers with a clear illustration of extraordinary engineering In this role, you will be responsible for developing and optimizing the distributed deep learning computing infrastructure required to train AI agents at scale. You will work alongside a team of research scientists to build AI agents for various applications in gaming. You may also be building tooling, visualization, and proof-of-concept prototypes to demonstrate functionality to the game teams.

Responsibilities:

• Develop and optimize a distributed training infrastructure used for training AI agents on complex games
• Lead the proof-of-concept implementation of AI features for players and designers
• Integrate game servers into research & training infrastructure
• Prototype ideas for visualizing AI behavior or for new applications

Required Experience:

• BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science or equivalent field
• 2+ years developing distributed computing systems
• 2+ years deep learning
• Experience optimizing distributed systems, algorithms, neural network architectures, neural network inference, hyperparameters, CPU, memory, networking, or other resource contention
• PyTorch or TensorFlow
• AWS or GCP

Desired Experience:

• Experience training reinforcement learning algorithms
• Experience training imitation learning agents
• Game development / game engine (Unreal) experience
• Ray / RLLib
• Databricks
• Kubernetes
• Docker

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 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.

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.

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.