Principal Technical Product Manager - VALORANT, Developer Tooling

Riot Games; Mercer Island (WA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Life insurance

Parental leave

401k match

Open PTO policy

Flexible work schedules

Job summary

Riot Games in the United States is hiring a Principal Technical Product Manager for VALORANT Foundations to identify high-impact opportunities and lead delivery across platforms, pipelines, developer tools, engine capabilities and core backend services.

You will work with engineering leads, game teams, and central tech partners to drive faster development workflows, more predictable releases, and AI-augmented tooling that improves both developer experience and player outcomes.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in Technical Product Management or a related engineering/technical field.
• Familiarity with the game development lifecycle: engines, art/build toolchains, live-ops workflows
• Proven ability to operate at a Principal level, navigating organizational complexity to drive outcomes without direct authority
• Strong technical background (CS degree or equivalent experience) sufficient to credibly debate tradeoffs with engineering leads
• Experience translating open-ended or ambiguous technical capabilities into concrete product roadmaps with defined milestones and success metrics
• Track record owning platform, developer-tools, or systems products with internal customers
• Experience integrating agentic AI tooling into the product-management craft, using agents to shorten the loop from insight to execution

Responsibilities

• Define and align product strategy for critical, cross-cutting platform areas, prioritizing outcomes that create measurable value for developers and players
• Bring strategic structure and clarity to Foundations' hardest, most ambiguous initiatives so they're set up for long-term success
• Lead cross-functional teams through influence, bridging engineering reality and product requirements, and driving decisions to closure across the groups that own build and release pipelines, the developer inner loop and editor, engine capabilities, and core backend services, all without direct authority
• Serve as a strategic proxy for Foundations leadership, stepping in with autonomy to own high-stakes opportunities end to end
• Partner deeply with engineering leads to ensure platform solutions are robust, scalable, and seamlessly integrated into developer workflows
• Broker across the seam with central tech team partners, representing VALORANT's needs into shared platforms and negotiating what's owned where
• Translate empathy for internal developers into infrastructure and tooling that solves genuine pain points; champion data-informed decisions
• Champion AI-augmented ways of working: bring agentic tooling into the PM craft to compress cycle time and model what modern product management looks like for Foundations

Skills

Strategic product leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Technical depth

AI tooling integration

Platform roadmaps

Developer experience

Communication with engineers

Education

CS degree or equivalent

Job description

Technical Product Managers combine deep technical knowledge and experience with product leadership capabilities which are needed to enable Riot Games to deliver key products and experiences to make it better to be a player. You will develop and execute strategies on Riot's products and technologies while leading diverse teams to deliver creative solutions to our most difficult technical and experiential challenges.

As a Principal Technical Product Manager for VALORANT Foundations, reporting to the Director of Technical Product Management for VALORANT, you’ll identify and lead the highest-impact opportunities across the platforms that make the game predictable to build, release and operate worldwide. Foundations serves VALORANT’s engineers, artists and designers through build and release pipelines, developer tools and workflows, engine capabilities and core backend services. Working with engineering leads, game teams and central technology partners, you’ll bring independent product judgment to ambiguous problems, build support for a clear direction, and lead delivery across teams without direct authority. Your success will be measured in faster development workflows, more predictable releases, and platforms that let VALORANT grow sustainably.

Responsibilities:

• Define and align product strategy for critical, cross-cutting platform areas, prioritizing outcomes that create measurable value for developers and players
• Bring strategic structure and clarity to Foundations' hardest, most ambiguous initiatives so they're set up for long-term success
• Lead cross-functional teams through influence, bridging engineering reality and product requirements, and driving decisions to closure across the groups that own build and release pipelines, the developer inner loop and editor, engine capabilities, and core backend services, all without direct authority
• Serve as a strategic proxy for Foundations leadership, stepping in with autonomy to own high-stakes opportunities end to end
• Partner deeply with engineering leads to ensure platform solutions are robust, scalable, and seamlessly integrated into developer workflows
• Broker across the seam with central tech team partners, representing VALORANT's needs into shared platforms and negotiating what's owned where
• Translate empathy for internal developers into infrastructure and tooling that solves genuine pain points; champion data-informed decisions
• Champion AI-augmented ways of working: bring agentic tooling into the PM craft to compress cycle time and model what modern product management looks like for Foundations

Required Qualifications:

• 8+ years of relevant experience in Technical Product Management or a related engineering/technical field
• Familiarity with the game development lifecycle: engines, art/build toolchains, live-ops workflows
• Proven ability to operate at a Principal level, navigating organizational complexity to drive outcomes without direct authority
• Strong technical background (CS degree or equivalent experience) sufficient to credibly debate tradeoffs with engineering leads
• Experience translating open-ended or ambiguous technical capabilities into concrete product roadmaps with defined milestones and success metrics
• Track record owning platform, developer-tools, or systems products with internal customers
• Experience integrating agentic AI tooling into the product-management craft, using agents to shorten the loop from insight to execution

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience with developer experience / platform-as-a-product domains, including internal platforms, SDKs, or CI/CD tooling
• Experience operating across the studio/central-tech boundary, or in a shared-infrastructure org serving multiple teams
• Hands-on familiarity with Unreal Engine and the Unreal Editor, VALORANT's engine and the primary environment its developers work in

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 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.