Principal Software Engineer - VALORANT, Foundations, Build Platforms

Want to lead technical development of the VALORANT development platform? As a Principal Software Engineer on VALORANT’s Build Platforms team, you will drive efforts across multiple teams to improve and rethink the technologies depended on to deliver VALORANT into the hands of tens of millions of players each month. You will work on improving the iteration flow for hundreds of developers with the opportunity to improve the experience of designers, artists and engineers alike. Your work will lay a critical foundation for teams across the globe as they work to delight players by adding new features, skins, maps and agents to our game. In addition, you will support our aspirations to expand to additional platforms and titles.

You will bring a deep passion for the experience of Riot players and, by extension, that of its developers. You will lead the design and execution of technical solutions that VALORANT developers rely on to provide joy to players in a sustainable, consistent, and efficient manner across PC and console platforms. In service of that goal, your work will touch a diverse set of technical areas in order to address needs wherever they exist. You will draw on not only your deep technical expertise, but also your abilities to communicate, collaborate, mentor, and inspire across the organization. You will lead without authority, marshaling resources from various disciplines and holding teams to our high technical standards. As a technical leader, you will also advise studio leadership on major technical decisions, helping to set the technical direction for the game.

This role will report to the Senior Engineering Manager Tech Lead for VALORANT Foundations.

Responsibilities:

Be hands-on in development, writing excellent code that sets a high standard for other engineers.
Drive the ideation and process of setting technical direction within the business unit, including advising leadership on prioritization of work efforts and buy/build decisions for major system components.
Lead the technical execution of multi-month to year-plus work efforts across the business unit, holding teams to established standards.
Help teams navigate ambiguity and complexity by breaking down problems, identifying risks, and clearly communicating trade-offs.
Work on a range of tech stacks including underlying infrastructure, build and test automation, release pipelines, and developer tooling for VALORANT’s client, server, services, and developer tooling
Work with stakeholders across the organization to address their pain points and exceed their expectations for what continuous delivery game development can be.
Be a standard-bearer and role model of Riot values for your team and others.
Be a force multiplier for your team. Mentor senior engineers on your team and enable them to deliver complex projects.
Represent VALORANT in collaboration with central Riot teams and other Riot studios on co-development and technology sharing.

Required Qualifications:

10+ years of software engineering experience, or infrastructure experience
3+ years of with Infrastructure as Code experience
3+ years of experience with a major cloud provider (AWS, Azure, GCP)
2+ years of experience as a technical lead
Have been responsible for driving the design and execution of organization-sized efforts (1-year+ scope), including requirements gathering, planning, testing, and release or deployment
Expertise with automated build systems
Expertise with C#
Experience setting up and supporting the Perforce branching strategy for a significantly complex and large scale project
Experience with one or more shell languages (e.g. bash, bat, powershell)
Experience working with interdisciplinary teams at scale.

Desired Qualifications:

Professional experience in C++ and Python
Experience with Unreal Engine, and/or its build and release pipeline
Experience shipping a title on multiple platforms
Experience with distributed build tools
Experience with test automation at scale

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.