Manager, Software Engineering, Core Services - VALORANT

Riot Games; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 235,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Life insurance

Parental leave

401k with company match

Job summary

Riot Games in Los Angeles is seeking an Engineering Manager for VALORANT Core Services. You will lead a team of 5–10 engineers, shape the technical vision, and partner with production and product teams to deliver reliable game services powering a global live-service title.

You will mentor engineers, drive performance, and ensure high quality while coordinating with Tencent and Riot partners. If you value craft, collaboration, and player-centric decisions, this role offers a path to influence the

Qualifications

• 5+ years professional software engineering experience in services development.
• 2+ years directly leading an engineering team as an Engineering Manager.
• Experience driving technical direction and influencing architecture within a team.
• Experience with cloud computing and cloud technologies.
• Experience building large-scale external customer-facing backend systems or game services.

Responsibilities

• Manage a team of 5-10 Software Engineers across experience levels.
• Ensure VALORANT Players receive a consistently great services experience across Riot and Tencent regions.
• Be a hands-on engineering leader, contributing across all product lifecycle phases.
• Develop a technical vision for your team and communicate it clearly to partners.
• Advocate for players and internal customers when deciding what to build and why.
• Ensure high technical quality and provide a backstop while enabling invention.
• Foster a collaborative, challenging environment and celebrate wins.
• Coach and develop the engineering team to grow in roles and skills.
• Champion Riot values and model them for the team and peers.
• Participate in the team’s on-call rotation.

Skills

Experience as software engineer

Engineering management

C#, Java, Golang

Lean/Agile development

Cloud computing

Backend services / game services

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS or related field

Job description

Riot engineers bring deep knowledge of specific technical areas but also value the opportunity to work in many broader domains. As an Engineering Manager, you will gain organizational alignment by building a strong engineering vision and offering creative solutions to organizational design. You’ll also serve as a mentor for a team of engineers, overseeing performance management, growth opportunities, and accountability.

VALORANT is Riot’s take on a character-based tactical shooter (for more info on VALORANT click here!). As a Manager, Software Engineering (Services) in VALORANT’s Core Services team, you will lead a team of engineers responsible for the core game services that power VALORANT, a global live-service game with millions of daily active Players. You will lead development of new services, drive evergreen improvements to existing services, improve standards and frameworks to improve services development across VALORANT, and improve the tools and pipelines used to load test, ship, and operate those services. You will work closely with technical teams in Tencent to improve services delivery and operations in China, closing divergences in developer experience and platform behavior between Tencent and Riot regions. You will report to the Senior Manager, Software Engineering (Platform Engineering) for the VALORANT Foundations area.

Responsibilities:

• Manage a team of 5-10 Software Engineers across experience levels.
• Ensure VALORANT Players receive a consistently great services experience in Riot and Tencent regions.
• Serve as a hands‑on engineering leader, comfortable contributing across all phases of the product lifecycle, including implementation.
• Develop a technical vision for your team, working with production and product partners to ensure consistency with overall product goals. Communicate this vision to your team clearly.
• Advocate for Players, your team, and internal development customers when deciding what to build and why. Coordinate with other teams across Riot and Tencent working on Services technology.
• Ensure high technical quality of what your team produces. Establish mechanisms to ensure your engineers have room to invent while maintaining a technical backstop for them.
• Foster a collaborative, challenging, and satisfying environment for your development team. Find and surface issues, opportunities, and address them head‑on. Celebrate wins.
• Coach and develop your engineering team to grow in their roles, develop technical skills, and improve their effectiveness.
• Champion and model Riot’s values, setting the tone for your team and peers.
• Participate in your team’s on‑call rotation.

Required Qualifications:

• 5+ years professional experience as a software engineer working in services development roles.
• 2+ years experience directly leading an engineering team as an Engineering Manager.
• Professional experience driving technical direction and influencing architecture within a team.
• Expertise with C#, Java, Golang, or similar language(s).
• Professional experience with Lean or Agile development processes (Scrum, Kanban, etc).
• Professional experience working with cloud computing and cloud technologies.
• Professional experience building large‑scale external customer‑facing backend systems, game services, or cloud platforms.

Desired Qualifications:

• Fluent in written and spoken Mandarin Chinese and English; comfortable communicating technically in both languages.
• Professional or academic experience working with C++.

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 the experiences of players, this could be the role for you!

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.

At Riot Games, we put players first. That mission drives every decision in our quest to create games and experiences that make it better to be a player. Whether you’re working directly on a new player‑facing experience or you’re supporting the company as a whole, everyone at Riot is part of our mission. And just like in our games, we’re better when we work together. Our goal is to create collaborative teams where you are empowered to bring your unique perspective everyday. If that sounds like the kind of place you want to work, we’re looking forward to your application.

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. We consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, including the California Fair Chance Act, the City of Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, and the Washington Fair Chance Act.

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.