Staff Software Engineer- Esports

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.   

Riot Games Esports will carry sport and sports entertainment to its future. We’ve been there for fans from the beginning, and we’re just getting started. We held our most-watched League of Legends Worlds Championship and ran our first global tournaments for VALORANT, Wild Rift, and Legends of Runeterra; now, this is your opportunity to become part of the organization that makes all these moments possible for fans and players alike. 

We’re looking for passionate, innovative individuals with a drive to push esports teams, players, and tournaments to be better! As a Staff Software Engineer in the Esports Sport Innovation and Optimization organization, you will work with a cross-functional team of producers, designers, engineers, artists, and QA to develop and iterate on the systems that manage and automate all aspects of esports tournaments, live statistics, and data pipelines. This system runs all official Riot tournaments, from League Splits to Valorant Masters while also providing data from the game engine to our web properties. 

You will be responsible for owning these systems within Sport Innovation and Optimization, setting the example for engineering excellence, charting the course of work, and growing the capabilities of our backend systems. You and your work will shape the execution, delivery, and performance of systems critical to making all our tournaments possible! 

You will report to the Sr. Manager, Software Engineering on our team.

Responsibilities:

• You will lead and contribute to technical direction, design, and implementation of the Esports Management Portal (EMP), Esports League Data Service (ELDS), and the Livestats data pipeline
• You will lead by technical example, lifting the expertise and skills of people around you through spec reviews, code reviews, documentation, and testing
• You will collaborate closely with tournament operators and representatives from professional leagues across the globe, empowering leagues to operate efficiently

Required Qualifications:

• BS in Computer Science (or equivalent experience)
• 6+ years of experience or equivalent in Software Engineering in cloud-native or microservice architectures
• 4+ years of experience with AWS (or comparable cloud environments)
• Deep hands-on programming experiences with Java

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience with management tools such as Jira
• Experience with agile methodologies such as Scrum or Kanban
• Familiarity with "Infrastructure as Code" and tooling like Terraform
• Familiarity with CI/CD using Docker and Jenkins
• Comfort in failing fast and learning to make things better!

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:

We offer medical, dental, and vision plans that cover you, your spouse/domestic partner, and children. Life insurance, parental leave, plus short-term and long-term disability coverage are also available. Riot will support your retirement benefits with a company match, and double down on your donations of time and money to non-profit charitable organizations. Balance between work and personal life is encouraged with open paid time off, and a play fund so you can broaden and deepen your personal relationship with games.

(Los Angeles only) Base salary range between $170,000 USD - $238,000 USD + incentive compensation + equity + 401K with company match + medical, dental, vision, and life insurance + short and long-term disability + open PTO.

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, including the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance relating to an applicant's criminal history (LAMC 189.00).