Manager, Software Engineering - VALORANT, Competitive Features

Job Description

Riot Sydney is looking for an experienced Software Engineering Manager to join the Sydney-based VALORANT team.

Partnering with the LA Headquarters, Riot Sydney is a powerhouse of talent with expertise in global development. Our team works on VALORANT, League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics, alongside exciting R&D and Tech projects. Riot Games players are a diverse group from different backgrounds, and we want to see that reflected in the people who make our games, all qualified applicants will be considered for employment. We believe that the Player Experience comes first and if you agree we want to hear from you.

Riot engineers bring deep knowledge of specific technical areas but also value the opportunity to work in many broader domains. As an Engineering Manager at Riot, you’ll predominantly serve as a mentor for a team of engineers, overseeing performance management, growth opportunities, and accountability. You’ll also offer creative solutions to organizational design.

VALORANT is Riot’s take on a character-based tactical shooter (for more info on VALORANT click here!).

As an Engineering Manager on the VALORANT team, in addition to working in the code, you’ll also guide engineers on the team to grow in their careers and help the overall team meet its product and technical goals. You will help lead the delivery of new features and content to a live, tactical shooter on multiple platforms. As a leader on our Competitive team, you will concentrate on features players and Esports. You’ll own the technical direction for making these features a quality experience. You will report to the Senior Manager of Engineering of the project.

Responsibilities:

• Technology Leader and People Manager for a group of 4-8 engineers
• Participate in discussions about our product vision and ensure that vision is clear to your team
• Know what’s being built and why. We are concerned with velocity, execution, quality, and technical debt
• Demonstrate a high bar of craft excellence for your team
• Have a positive and productive tone. Surface issues, opportunities, wins, and address them head-on
• Establish teams that are balanced, functional and strongly aligned with Riot values
• Help ensure our teams are healthy. We want team members to be motivated, encouraged, and perform well
• Where do people want to grow? What role is next for them? How can we help them to get there? We will hold them accountable for getting there while providing mentorship, coaching, and support
• Handle tension within and around the team. This could mean keeping a calm head, helping resolve conflicts or responding to emergent issues

Required Qualifications:

• 2+ years of experience directly leading a software delivery team either as Engineering Manager or Technical Lead & mentor
• 5+ years of experience as a hands-on software engineer
• Experience across multiple systems and languages
• Experience working in an agile environment
• Experience collaborating across departments and disciplines to create solutions

Desired Qualifications:

The Manager in this role will lead a team working on competitive feature systems within the Unreal Engine, as well as supporting back-end services. Ideal candidates will have broad experience which cover 1 or more of the following:

• Professional experience building games, preferably with Unreal
• Exposure to animation, sound and/or VFX systems
• Experience working with Golang and/or C++
• Experience building scalable services

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 focuses on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy and other perks such as flexible work schedules.

We offer:

• Medical, Dental and Vision Stipend
• Wellbeing Reimbursement
• Play Fund to broaden and deepen your knowledge of our players and community through games
• We will double down on your donations of time and money to non-profits
• Paid parental leave (both primary and secondary careers)
• Employee Assistance Program
• Stocked gaming room
• Learning and Development opportunities

Riot Games fosters a player and workplace experience that values teamwork embodied by the Summoner's Code and Community Code. Our culture embraces differences as a strength, and our values are the guiding principles for how we approach work. We are committed to putting diversity and inclusion (D&I) at the center of everything we do, and promoting a fair and collaborative culture where Rioters treat one another with dignity and respect. We encourage you to read more about our value of thriving together and our ongoing work to build the most inclusive company in Gaming.