Sr. Engineering Manager - Game Infrastructure NEW

The Briefed; Los Angeles (CA); Hybrid; USD 260,000 - 380,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible Work Culture

Healthcare & Family Benefits

Retirement Planning

Player-Centric Culture

Job summary

VALORANT Foundations is seeking a senior engineering leader to guide a distributed team across Los Angeles, Seattle, and Sydney. You will own strategy, release orchestration, and operational execution powering Unreal Engine build pipelines, game server deployments, and live ops across Riot and Tencent ecosystems.

You will mentor engineering managers, shape cross-team architecture, drive platform reliability, and expand developer infrastructure.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience building large-scale backend systems.
• 4+ years of formal engineering management experience (managing managers).
• Experience with live service infrastructure, release engineering, or developer platforms.
• Deep understanding of distributed systems and modern cloud/backend stacks (Go, Java, C#).
• Experience shaping cross-team architecture and driving organizational technical strategy across multiple engineering groups.

Responsibilities

• Lead a multi-site engineering organization across Los Angeles, Seattle, and Sydney.
• Define and execute long-term technical and organizational strategy for build pipelines, release engineering, microservices deployment, live ops tooling, and developer infrastructure.
• Drive continuous improvements to Unreal Engine build, packaging, and deployment of game clients, dedicated server fleets, and backend microservices globally.
• Partner with Riot and Tencent engineering teams to elevate release velocity, service reliability, and developer workflows across regions.
• Establish technical standards across build infrastructure, service orchestration, telemetry/observability stacks, and operational readiness practices.
• Mentor engineering managers and senior staff engineers while fostering ownership, accountability, psychological safety, and continuous improvement.

Skills

Software engineering

Distributed systems

Cloud platforms

Go

Java

C#

Leadership

Engineering management

Job description

On VALORANT Foundations, we build the core platforms, developer workflows, microservices, and operational infrastructure that enable VALORANT to ship continuously at global scale to millions of players. In this role, you will lead a distributed engineering organization of engineers and engineering managers across Los Angeles, Seattle, and Sydney. You will own the strategy, release orchestration, and operational execution powering Unreal Engine build pipelines, game server deployments, player-facing services (provisioning, configuration, administration), and live operations across both Riot and Tencent global ecosystems.

Key Responsibilities

• Distributed Organization Leadership: Lead, mentor, and grow a multi-site engineering organization of software engineers and engineering managers spanning Los Angeles, Seattle, and Sydney.
• Platform & Live Operations Strategy: Define and execute the long-term technical and organizational strategy for VALORANT’s build pipelines, release engineering, microservices deployment, live ops tooling, and developer infrastructure.
• Unreal & Service Pipeline Optimization: Drive continuous improvements to how VALORANT builds, validates, packages, and deploys Unreal Engine game clients, dedicated server fleets, and backend microservices globally.
• Cross-Ecosystem Alignment: Partner closely with Riot and Tencent engineering teams to elevate release velocity, service reliability, operational visibility, and developer workflows across international regions.
• Technical Architecture & Governance: Establish technical standards across build infrastructure, service orchestration, telemetry/observability stacks, and operational readiness practices.
• Leadership & Talent Mentorship: Mentor engineering managers and senior staff engineers while fostering a culture of ownership, accountability, psychological safety, and continuous improvement.

Requirements

Technical & Management Depth

• Software Engineering Depth: 8+ years of professional software engineering experience building and operating large-scale, external customer-facing backend systems, cloud platforms, or live game services.
• Management Track Record: 4+ years of formal engineering management experience directly managing software engineers and engineering managers (managing managers).
• Infrastructure & Release Platforms: Proven track record leading organizations responsible for live service infrastructure, release engineering, developer platforms, or high-scale operational ecosystems.
• Distributed Systems & Cloud: Deep understanding of distributed systems, microservices reliability, deployment workflows, and modern cloud/backend stacks (Go, Java, C#, or equivalent).
• Architecture & Technical Strategy: Demonstrated success shaping cross-team architecture and driving organizational technical strategy across multiple engineering groups.

Desired Qualifications

• Direct experience supporting, shipping, or operating large-scale, globally distributed live-service games.
• Practical familiarity with Unreal Engine build systems, deployment pipelines, or engine ecosystems.
• Proven experience modernizing enterprise CI/CD platforms, release engineering tools, or developer experience (DevEx) infrastructure.
• Hands-on experience optimizing observability, site reliability, and automated alerting for service-oriented architectures.
• Experience operating effectively within globally distributed, multi-region engineering organizations.

Total Rewards & Perks

• Flexible Work Culture: Open paid time off (PTO) policy paired with flexible work arrangements to maintain healthy work/life balance.
• Healthcare & Family Benefits: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with 100% company-paid options, life insurance, and parental leave for employees, spouses/domestic partners, and children.
• Retirement Planning: 401(k) retirement savings plan with competitive company matching.
• Player-Centric Culture: Deep commitment to putting players first, featuring game stipends, team play-testing sessions, and personal development perks.