Manager of Software Engineering (Services Lead, Unpublished R&D Product)

• As a Manager, Software Engineering within Riot Discovery Studio, you will report to the Tech Director on an unpublished R&D product, leading a team of internal and external engineers to support product exploration, integrate and extend critical backend technologies, and scale our technology to meet the needs of a live Riot title
• You will be accountable for all technical decisions of your team’s focus areas and help shape the product
• You will own the technical health of the product’s backend services from prototype through live operation, including architecture, scalability, reliability, observability, deployment, incident response, and infrastructure cost
• You will be hands-on in implementation, at least initially
• Support defining the engineering strategy and technical roadmap to develop our global backend infrastructure with an understanding of our audience and product goals
• Manage and scale an engineering team to support product needs through various development stages (i.e. pre-production, production, and post-launch)
• Partner with product and delivery as they define product features and product roadmap
• Collaborate and coordinate with Riot Central technology teams to efficiently deliver world-class solutions
• Direct development and manage performance of external engineers in other geographies
• Collaborate in technical/architectural discussions, provide direction and drive decision-making
• Drive the planning and execution of engineering work including requirements gathering, technical discovery, technical design, and work breakdown and estimation
• Own the technical success of the services team, including operational excellence and cost in live environments
• Identify, interview, and hire software engineers to support team and Riot hiring goals
• Support engineers with performance management and career development, including stretch opportunities for them to grow
• Create a culture of leadership across engineering by seeking different perspectives at all levels to solve problems and contribute ideas

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.

• Experience leading teams through feature development (planning, execution, delivery, post-release support)
• 2+ years experience in a leadership position, working directly on the production of a game as an Engineering Manager
• Experience with modern backend technologies such as Go, Java, C#, or similar
• Experience with the full software development lifecycle, including shipping one or more products on large code bases that span a range of platforms and tools
• 6+ years of experience as a software engineer
• Experience collaborating across non-engineering departments to create solutions
• 4+ years of game development experience working in various platforms (i.e. mobile, console, PC, etc.)
• Experience building reliable, scalable, and maintainable backend distributed systems
• Experience developing online games integrating Unreal Engine and backend services
• Experience managing co-development or outsourcing relationships
• Experience leading a backend transition from prototype to production
• Experience improving live service uptime, reliability, and operational readiness
• Familiarity with modern game platforms and practices