Software Engineering Manager, UI Tech - VALORANT

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 Engineering Manager of the UI Tech team, you will lead a team of engineers responsible for all aspects of the VALORANT UI. You will partner with leaders across multiple disciplines and collaborate closely with teams across the studio to deliver meaningful UI experiences. This includes building new UI features, improving the UI development experience, and establishing guardrails for the future. You bring management and UI development experience, strong technical and communication skills, and a passion for advocating for both players and developers. You will report into an Engineering Manager. 

• Manage a team of 5-10 engineers across experience levels, providing regular feedback and performance management. 
• Develop and communicate the technical vision for your team, working with design, production, and game leadership to ensure consistency with product goals. Communicate the vision with your team clearly. 
• Ensure players have a consistently high-quality UI experience throughout the client.
• Advocate for players, your team, and internal development customers when deciding what to build and why. Collaborate closely with leaders across disciplines, and gameplay and feature teams.
• Foster a collaborative, challenging, and satisfying environment for your development team. Find and surface issues, opportunities, and address them head-on. Celebrate wins. 
• Provide technical oversight by reviewing technical designs and enforcing best practices and architectural standards. 
• Resolve conflicts, remove obstacles, and respond to emergent issues. 
• Other reasonable activities required by management.

• 5+ years of experience as a hands-on Software Engineer
• 2+ years experience directly leading an engineering team either as an Engineering Manager or Technical Lead & mentor.
• Professional experience building and shipping UI/UX features in games or player-facing systems.
• Experience reading, writing, and reviewing C++
• Experience working in large, complex codebases
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills across disciplines

• Experience developing games for Xbox and Playstation console platforms
• Experience developing in Unreal, Unity, or another game engine.
• Experience working on live service games

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!

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.