Director of Software Engineering, Riot Games
League of Legends
$252.7-379.6k
+ Incentive compensation + Equity
Player-focused game development platform
Be an early applicant
Player-focused game development platform
1001+ employees
Be an early applicant
$252.7-379.6k
+ Incentive compensation + Equity
1001+ employees
Company mission
To be the most player-focused game company in the world.
Role
Who you are
- 10+ years of overall engineering experience, 4+ years of experience in people management, 2+ yrs managing managers
- Demonstrated experience leading software engineering teams including mentoring and growing individuals into senior engineering and management roles
- Experience leading and delivering complex technical projects
- Experience building and operating multi-stack production applications with expertise in one of services, game tool, or gameplay tech stacks
- BS degree in Computer Science or equivalent
- Experience as a Senior Software Engineer or higher
- For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise, a collaborative spirit, and decision-making that prioritizes the delight of players
- If you embody player empathy and care about players' experiences, this could be your role!
Desirable
- Experience in multiple tech domains including services, front-end, game, and tools
- Experience running games-as-a-service
What the job involves
- As the Director of Software Engineering for the League of Legends PC, you will lead an engineering organization that focuses on the Champions, gameplay systems, and game focused features in League of Legends
- The teams you will support build technology for Champions, Summoners Rift, world class matching making, and much more
- You will shape the technical vision and drive the execution of the team's roadmap in partnership with other engineering leaders while working with cross functional roles in product management and design
- You will strengthen the engineering culture in the organization and support the managers and engineers, working with them on growing their skills and helping them reach their career goals
- You will report to the League of Legends PC Product Engineering Lead
- Hiring exceptional talent
- Develop an organizational structure, in partnership with product and technical leadership, to accomplish the priorities of the teams and, the broader, League PC studio
- Cultivate a learning organization, biased towards delighting players
- Engage product leadership ensuring the roadmap evolves and shapes our technical systems, without compromising sustainability and stability while delivering exciting and engaging player experiences and capabilities
- Collaborate with the technical leadership on teams to establish a multi-year technical vision
- Communicate progress on active projects to the organization, cross-discipline leadership team, partner teams, and stakeholders, highlighting risks, mitigations, and asks
- Ensure your teams are reviewing and maintaining the necessary security audits and compliance for the systems they own
- Work with engineering leads across League PC studio and Riot to align and champion excellent technical practices using best in class technology standards
- Work cross-functionally on and with distributed teams
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 at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Some 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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