Manager, Software Engineering - VALORANT - Characters

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.   

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

VALORANT is Riot's take on a character-based tactical shooter. As a Manager of Software Engineering on the VALORANT team, you will help Riot expand and scale our newest AAA title. You will help improve the experience of VALORANT to guarantee a smooth and engaging experience for players across the globe.

The Characters team is responsible for working with designers, artists, quality assurance, and production to develop VALORANT agents and related features that allow players to best express themselves in game.  The team also works closely with our UI/UX, Progression, and Live Story teams to create game adjacent features.

Core Responsibilities:

• Create, review, and reframe an engineering vision with the team and key stakeholders including the Technology, Product, and Process Leads.
• Be excited to span the entire VALORANT tech stack - from our golang services and infrastructure internals, to our game client in C++ and UE4 blueprints. We’re not looking for someone who’s an expert across the board and remaining nimble is key.
• You’ll collaborate heavily with Design, Revenue Strategy, and Product Management to build in and out of game systems that create new and exciting ways to engage with VALORANT.
• Identify, recruit, interview, and hire software engineers to help teams scale effectively.
• Provide technical expertise throughout the product life cycle including design, implementation, and delivery of features while continuously improving the software engineering quality and efficiency.
• Build and manage strong relationships between disciplines 
• Lead, grow, and coach team members to build talent over the long term
• Demonstrate a high bar of craft excellence for your team
• Cultivate your team's culture of collaboration, creativity and passion for game making
• Partner closely with shared teams at Riot that provide cross game capabilities

Required Qualifications:

• 5+ years of professional software development experience
• 2+ years experience directly leading an engineering team either as an Engineering Manager or Technical Lead & mentor.
• Familiarity working in an agile environment
• Experience collaborating across departments and disciplines to create solutions.

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience working with Unreal Engine
• Experience working in the gaming industry

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.