Staff Software Engineer, Riot Games
League of Legends, Data
$178.5-249.9k
Player-focused game development platform
Open for applications
Player-focused game development platform
1001+ employees
Open for applications
$178.5-249.9k
1001+ employees
Company mission
To be the most player-focused game company in the world.
Role
Who you are
- 6+ years of experience as a software engineer
- Experience building software across multiple languages (e.g., C++, Golang, or Python)
- Professional experience working with cloud computing and cloud technologies (AWS, Google, Azure)
- Professional experience building large-scale backend systems (e.g. game services, data)
- Experience with related data processing (e.g., Spark, BigQuery, DataProc), storage (e.g., S3, Google Cloud Storage), transport (e.g., Kafka, PubSub), and orchestration (e.g., Airflow, Luigi)
- Experience deploying cloud infrastructure (e.g., AWS, GCP) using containers and orchestration (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes), managed using infrastructure as code (e.g., Terraform, Ansible)
- Provide mentorship and technical leadership to more junior members of the team
Desirable
- Experience working with data scientists and analysts
- Professional interest in machine learning applications, techniques, and infrastructure
- Professional or other experience working with game engines
- Written and verbal fluency in Mandarin
What the job involves
- As a Software Engineer III on the League Data Central team you will build player facing game features powered by machine learning models, and the backend services that collect and process data at global scale.
- You'll influence the technical direction for how data services are built, scale and are operated, and will report directly to the League Data Central Engineering Manager
- Develop in-game features that are backed by analytics or machine learning services
- Design large-scale backend services to support analytics and data science capabilities
- Work with other engineers, producers, game designers, data science and UX experts
- Handle a range of engineering problems related to data capabilities in the game engine, game server, and backend services
- Apply software engineering best practices in your work, ensuring that you're building reliable, maintainable systems and contribute to the engineering community within Riot
Our take
Riot Games has grown into one of the world’s most prominent online and mobile game developers, due in large part to the success of its 2009 flagship title League of Legends which hosts just under seventy million users every month.
Riot is riding the wave of online gaming growth, having made a well timed switch from PC-only into mobile-based gaming, as capitalising on the rising popularity of esports, with the League of Legends World Championships one of the most watched events in the space.
However, adding further titles to its resume will be key to building on its success, as League of Legends was its only offering for the best part of a decade. Since being acquired by Chinese tech giant Tencent in 2011, the company has grown significantly in Asian markets, opening its Shanghai Game Studio in 2021 and expanding its China Game Studio Group in 2022. These two hubs will help Riot Games make further inroads in a country where PC gaming is already huge and continues to grow.
Regardless of League of Legends' success both online and in live arenas, the company nevertheless experienced a round of layoffs internationally that amounted to 11% of its workforce. Pair that with legal troubles in 2024 concerning the company’s partnership with now bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, and Riot Games appears to be in a period of transition. Thanks to the strength of its gaming products, however, Riot will no doubt maintain a comfortable position within the gaming world.
Freddie
Company Specialist
Insights
Most candidates hear
back within 2 weeks
24% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (2 rounds)
Sep 2009
$8m
SERIES C
Jul 2008
$7m
EARLY VC
Total funding: $15m
Company benefits
- 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
Company values
- Player experience first
- Dare to dream
- Thrive together
- Execute with excellence
- Stay hungry, stay humble
Company HQ
Sawtelle, Los Angeles, CA
Articles
Leadership
Brandon Beck
(Co-Chairman)Having studied at the University of Southern California, they worked as a Management Consultant at Bain & Company. they left this role in September 2006 to co-found Riot Games, where they served initially as co-CEO.
Marc Merrill
(Co-Chairman)After a degree at the University of Southern California, they worked as a U.S. Bank Analyst and a Manager of Advanstar Communications. They co-founded Riot Games with Brandon in September 2006, alongside being a Principal of NaHCo3 since 2016.
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