Principal Software Engineer - Riot Client

Riot Client is the gateway for millions of players to play, discover, and install Riot games. Every single player goes through the Riot Client on their way to experience one of Riot’s games, and ensuring their needs, whether they be providing more ways to discover games, engage with Riot’s culture & community, or getting into their game as fast as possible, is the primary goal of the Riot Client team. Introduced in 2021, the multi-game Riot Client is becoming a destination for players to engage with Riot games, events and communities.

As a Principal Software Engineer , you will be the Tech Lead on the Riot Client team. As a tech lead, you will be responsible for driving technical excellence and long-term technical direction for the team, ensuring high-quality deliverables, and fostering a collaborative and innovative work environment. You will play a crucial role in guiding and mentoring our engineering team through the software development lifecycle. You will partner with different disciplines and collaborate across teams and organizations at Riot to deliver the best player experience with sound architecture decisions. Your work will be instrumental for Riot’s out-of-game ecosystem to be successful by unlocking Riot Client’s next level of capabilities for game distribution, content, social and internal developer efficiency.

Responsibilities:

• Involve in high-level strategic planning and hands-on technical leadership with engineers to ensure the delivery of high-quality, scalable, and reliable engineering solutions
• Manage the wide Riot Client dependency map across Riot, understand the tech complexity and provide strong guidance on how to evolve the application with integrity
• Partner closely with team engineering manager and across disciplines (product, production, QA, design, data insight) to achieve the best player experience
• Collaborate and align across teams and organizations to drive long-term technical solutions
• Develop a strong technical vision that incorporates different customer needs (players, game teams, internal developers) and drive the implementation
• Mentor other engineers in technical and interpersonal skills

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's or Master’s degree in Computer Science or a related field, or comparable experience in software development
• 10+ years of industry experience in software engineering. 2+ years of experience in a technical leadership role or comparable experience
• Expertise in C++ and web technology (React, Node.js)
• Experience in building desktop client applications
• Have been responsible for driving the design and leading the development of long-term (1 year plus) efforts across teams, including stakeholder alignment, requirements gathering, planning, testing, and release
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills. Ability to work collaboratively across disciplines and organizations

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience with Electron
• Experience in build pipelines
• Experience in developer efficiency tooling

For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise, a collaborative spirit, and decision-making that prioritizes your fellow Rioters, who are the customers of your work. Being a dedicated fan of games is not necessary for this position!

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 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.

Diversity and Inclusion:

Riot Games fosters a player and workplace experience that values teamwork and embraces differences as a strength. 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.

It’s our policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and members of Riot Games, Inc. Riot Games makes reasonable accommodations for handicapped and disabled Rioters and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, handicap, veteran status, marital status, criminal history, or any other category protected by applicable federal and state law.

Per the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, the following core duties may create a basis for disqualifying candidates with relevant criminal histories:

• Safeguarding confidential and sensitive Company data
• Communication with others, including Rioters and third parties such as vendors, and/or players, including minors
• Accessing Company assets, secure digital systems, and networks
• Ensuring a safe interactive environment for players and other Rioters

These duties are directly related to essential operations, safety, trust, and compliance obligations within our organization. Please note that job duties may evolve based on business needs and additional responsibilities may be assigned as necessary to maintain operational efficiency and security.