Director of Data Engineering (Player Lifecycle & Personalization)

Riot Games; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 250,000 - 350,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare plans

Parental leave

Open Paid Time Off

Retirement matching

Play Fund

Donation matching

Job summary

Riot Games seeks a senior data leader to define and execute the data strategy for Player Lifecycle & Personalization across the company. You will establish trusted data products and models to support engagement, retention, personalization, experimentation, and AI-driven experiences.

You will partner with Product, Insights, Data Science, and AI leaders to translate business needs into scalable data capabilities, while guiding modernization of the data ecosystem, governance, and quality.

Qualifications

• Experience building data products and data capabilities that support lifecycle management, personalization, customer intelligence, loyalty, CRM.
• 5+ years of people leadership experience, including leading managers and senior technical leaders.
• Experience leading data engineering, ML engineering, data platform, analytics engineering, or customer intelligence teams.
• Strong leadership building teams, developing managers, and delivering through others.
• Deep understanding of modern data platforms, governance, and data quality practices including AI platforms.
• Proven ability to partner with Product, Analytics, Data Science, Engineering, and executives.
• Experience defining strategy and operating in ambiguous environments.
• 12+ years in data engineering, data platforms, analytics engineering, or related disciplines.
• Experience with large-scale data platforms in gaming or adjacent consumer products.
• Familiarity with large-scale experimentation platforms and cross-surface measurement.
• Experience with autonomous AI coding platforms and metadata tooling (e.g., Devin, Databricks, Atlan).
• Experience leading platform-focused engineering organizations and distributed teams.
• Experience supporting machine learning, experimentation, and AI-driven products.
• Experience leading data modernization and organizational data maturity initiatives.
• Gaming industry experience is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the data strategy for Player Lifecycle & Personalization across Riot Games.
• Establish trusted data products, data models, and intelligence capabilities supporting engagement and personalization.
• Partner with Product, Insights, Data Science, and AI leaders to translate needs into scalable data capabilities.
• Lead modernization of Riot’s data ecosystem, improving quality, governance, observability, and accountability.
• Drive standardization of player data, business metrics, and semantic definitions across teams.
• Build and grow a high-performing organization of managers and senior engineers.
• Define long-term investment priorities and roadmap for Player Lifecycle & Personalization data capabilities.
• Communicate strategy, priorities, risks, and outcomes to senior leadership.

Skills

Data strategy

People leadership

Data products

Experimentation

AI platforms

Cross-functional leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Master’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Databricks

Atlan

Devin

Job description

• Define and execute the data strategy for Player Lifecycle & Personalization across Riot
• Establish trusted player data products, data models, and intelligence capabilities that support engagement, retention, personalization, experimentation, and AI-driven experiences
• Partner with Product, Insights, Data Science, and AI leaders to translate business needs into scalable data capabilities and platforms
• Lead modernization of PubSports’ data ecosystem and improve data quality, governance, observability, and operational accountability
• Drive standardization of player data, business metrics, and semantic definitions across teams
• Build and grow a high-performing organization of managers, senior engineers, and technical leaders
• Define long-term investment priorities and roadmap for Player Lifecycle & Personalization data capabilities
• Communicate strategy, priorities, risks, and outcomes to senior leadership and stakeholders

Benefits

• Healthcare: Medical, dental, and vision plans that cover you as well as your spouse/domestic partner and children.
• Family Care: Life insurance, parental leave, plus short and long-term disability.
• Open Paid Time Off: In addition to holidays, a 2-week end of year break, and a 1-week mid-year break, Rioters are trusted to take the time they need throughout the year.
• Retirement: Riot matches retirement contributions so you can continue to play games long after you retire.
• Play Fund: Riot’s annual play fund allows Rioters to broaden their knowledge of the games that matter to players and the community.
• Donation Matching: Riot matches donations of time and money to nonprofits to double down on support.

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent experience
• Experience building data products and data capabilities that support lifecycle management, personalization, customer intelligence, loyalty, CRM, or similar domains
• 5+ years of people leadership experience, including experience leading managers and senior technical leaders
• Experience leading data engineering, machine learning engineering, data platform, analytics engineering, or customer intelligence organizations
• Strong leadership experience building teams, developing managers, and delivering through others
• Deep understanding of modern data platforms, data products, governance, and data quality practices including Agentic DE AI platforms
• Proven ability to partner across Product, Analytics, Data Science, Engineering, and executive leadership teams
• Experience defining strategy and operating effectively in ambiguous environments
• 12+ years of experience in data engineering, data platforms, analytics engineering, or related disciplines
• Master’s degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent experience
• Experience with large-scale data platforms in gaming or adjacent consumer products
• Familiarity with large-scale experimentation platforms and cross-surface measurement
• Experience with autonomous AI coding platforms, modern data platforms, including transformation frameworks and governance or metadata tooling (e.g., Devin, Databricks, Atlan)
• Experience leading platform-focused engineering organizations
• Experience leading and scaling distributed or remote teams
• Experience supporting machine learning, experimentation, and AI-driven products
• Experience leading data modernization and organizational data maturity initiatives
• Gaming industry experience is a plus but not required