Principal Data Engineer, Riot Games

• Bachelor's or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related field
• 8+ years experience in data engineering or a related field
• Hands-on expertise in big-data technologies, including Python, GoLang, Spark, Scala, SQL, and tools like Airflow and DBT
• Proficiency in cloud infrastructure (AWS or GCP) and Databricks
• Expertise in designing efficient and scalable data models with large data sets across multiple teams and in collaboration with insights or data stakeholders
• Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally with engineering, analytics, and product teams
• Experience mentoring and guiding other engineers

Desirable

• At Riot, Data Engineers play a critical role in transforming data into actionable insights that drive decisions across the company. Our engineers are deeply player-focused and collaborate across diverse teams to enhance the experiences of millions of players worldwide
• As a Principal Data Engineer within Riot Discovery Studio, you’ll work directly with game teams at the ground floor, building and shaping data systems from day one
• This role is designed for an engineer who thrives in ambiguous environments, takes initiative to solve real problems quickly, and enjoys wearing multiple hats
• You’ll play a pivotal role in laying the technical foundation for how we collect, manage, and leverage data across the Riot Discovery Studio game portfolio
• You’ll also lead and mentor junior data engineers, providing technical guidance and context. With visibility across all early lifecycle games, this role offers a unique opportunity to drive impact across multiple projects while setting up systems that will scale as games move into production and live operations
• Design and optimize scalable ETL pipelines for structured and semi-structured data to support Insights use cases, including independently coding and providing optimizations where applicable
• Architect and implement robust, maintainable, and high-performance data solutions
• Collaborate directly with multiple game teams from the early stages of game development to instrument games and ensure proper data collection
• Own and manage data pipelines and infrastructure throughout the game development lifecycle for assigned game teams
• Standardize best practices for instrumentation, telemetry, and metrics collection across early lifecycle games
• Ensure data quality, governance, and compliance with regulatory standards (e.g., GDPR, CCPA)
• Mentor data engineers across all levels, setting best practices and fostering technical growth
• Automate workflows to reduce manual intervention and enhance data processing efficiency
• Optimize query performance and resolve pipeline bottlenecks to improve data accessibility
• Evaluate and adopt new tools, frameworks, and methodologies to advance data engineering capabilities
• Support cost optimization by ensuring scalable and efficient data solutions
• Be a leader within Riot’s Data Engineering discipline shaping infrastructure, craft standards, tooling, and organizational best practices