Senior Manager, Data Engineering - Valorant

Riot Games; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 190,000 - 270,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Life insurance

Parental leave

401(k) with company match

Job summary

Riot Games is seeking a Senior Data Engineering Manager for VALORANT in Los Angeles. You will shape data strategy, mentor a team of engineers, and partner with analytics, product, and data science to drive impactful data initiatives that enhance player experiences.

The role demands leadership in ambiguous environments, hands-on technical excellence, and a passion for building scalable data solutions across Riot’s studios.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in CS, IS, Engineering, or related field.
• 10+ years in data engineering; 5+ years leading a team.
• Hands-on with big-data tech, especially Apache stack (Airflow, Spark).
• Cloud infrastructure proficiency (AWS or GCP) and Databricks.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of data engineers; coach and grow talent.
• Collaborate with analytics, data science, product teams on projects.
• Set technical direction, processes, and tooling for the team.
• Ensure data quality, governance, and regulatory compliance (GDPR/CCPA).
• Drive cost optimization with scalable, efficient data solutions.

Skills

Leadership

Mentoring

Cross-functional collaboration

Data modeling

Data governance

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s in CS/IS/Engineering

Tools

Airflow

Spark

Databricks

AWS

GCP

Job description

At Riot, Data Engineers play a critical role in transforming data into actionable insights that drive decisions across the company. Our engineers are deeply player-focused and collaborate across diverse teams to enhance the experiences of millions of players worldwide.

As a Senior Data Engineering Manager within VALORANT, you will be shaping the direction of the game by working with designers, product managers, data scientists, analysts, and engineers using data to better serve and understand our game and our players. This role is designed for an engineering leader who thrives in ambiguous environments, takes initiative to solve real problems quickly, and enjoys wearing multiple hats. As one of the senior-most data leaders on the game team, you will influence how data is managed and used across the studio.

Responsibilities:

• Manage a team of 5 data engineers, provide them career coaching and growth opportunities, and ensure all work is aligned with business needs.
• Partner with leaders in analytics, data science, and product disciplines to align on the most important data engineering projects and collaborate with them through all phases of the development and operational lifecycle.
• Set the technical direction of the team, including processes and tooling.
• Be accountable for the technical health of products owned by the team.
• Working with other engineers, standardize best practices for instrumentation, telemetry, and metrics collection
• Ensure data quality, governance, and compliance with regulatory standards (e.g., GDPR, CCPA).
• Support cost optimization by ensuring scalable and efficient data solutions.
• Build healthy relationships with data engineering teams across Riot, and lead by shaping infrastructure, craft standards, tooling, and organizational best practices.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related field.
• 10+ years experience in data engineering or a related field. 5+ years managing a team.
• Hands-on expertise in big-data technologies, particularly the Apache stack (Airflow, Spark, etc).
• Proficiency in cloud infrastructure (AWS or GCP) and Databricks.
• Expertise in designing efficient and scalable data models with large data sets across multiple teams and in collaboration with insights or data stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally with engineering, analytics, and product teams.
• Experience mentoring and guiding other engineers.

Desired Qualifications:

• 2+ years of experience in data engineering for major video game titles.
• 1+ years experience working with DBT in a production environment
• Experience using analytics to drive gameplay and feature changes (ideally from game dev through launch)
• Experience working in close partnership with data analysts or product managers.

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.