Principal Software Engineer, VALORANT - Foundations Developer Experience & Workflows

Riot engineers bring deep knowledge of specific technical areas but also value the opportunity to work in a variety of broader domains. As a Principal Software Engineer, you’ll work alongside other engineers to implement technical solutions at a company-wide scale. You’ll collaborate with teams to ensure high quality and stack applicability, and provide other engineers with a clear illustration of extraordinary engineering.

VALORANT is Riot's take on a character-based tactical shooter (for more info on VALORANT click here!). As a Principal Software Engineer on the Developer Experience & Workflows team, you will lead the technical design and execution of major improvements to VALORANT’s Unreal Engine-based development platform. Guiding engineers across multiple teams, your work will reimagine how developers across all disciplines build amazing new content and experiences for players. You will report to the Director of Engineering for the VALORANT Foundations area.

Responsibilities:

• Be hands-on in development, writing excellent code that sets a high standard for other engineers.
• Define and drive the technical direction in an area spanning multiple teams located in North America and Australia.
• Be a vital part of the live development of agents, maps, skins, modes, and more by creating new capabilities, reducing pain points, and supporting new workflows in VALORANT’s development platform.
• Drive improvement to the VALORANT developer experience through major development in Unreal Engine, Unreal Editor, and the around-editor developer tooling.
• Provide mentorship to engineers, tech artists, and tech designers. You help Rioters develop the tools and creative atmosphere to shine, but ultimately hold them accountable for making smart calls and delivering player value.
• Be a standard-bearer and role model of Riot values for your team and others.
• Participate in the team's support rotation.

Required Qualifications:

• 10+ years of experience as a hands-on software engineer.
• 5+ years professional experience with C++.
• 3+ years experience developing in a commercial game engine (e.g. Unreal, Unity) or an equivalent multi-game multi-platform internal engine (e.g. Frostbite).
• Experience driving the design and execution of organization-sized efforts involving multiple teams, including requirements gathering, planning, testing, and release or deployment.
• Experience working with creative disciplines to improve content workflows or pipelines.
• You have a strong history of mentoring others in both soft and hard skills.

Desired Qualifications:

• 2+ years professional experience with C#.
• 2+ years experience in one or more of the following areas: game engine development, game client features, game content pipelines, game editor workflows.
• Experience with Unreal Engine.
• Experience developing games for Xbox and PlayStation console platforms.
• Experience in Agile processes and continuous delivery.

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 players' experiences, this could be your role!

Our Perks:

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.

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