Staff Software Engineer, Gameplay/AI - Unpublished R&D Product

Riot engineers bring deep knowledge of specific technical areas but also value the opportunity to work in a variety of broader domains. As a Software Engineer, you’ll also dive into projects that focus on team cohesiveness and cross-team objectives. You’ll drive gameplay features and provide other engineers with a clear illustration of extraordinary engineering.

As a Staff Software Engineer within Research & Development, you will be responsible for the design and implementation of AI systems for an early stage R&D product. This will include decision making, behaviors, pathing, positioning/choreography, and any other related features required to bring our enemy characters and bots to life.

Responsibilities:

• Identify, prioritize, and implement game systems and engine features in a new title that bring our characters to life
• Collaborate across disciplines to identify feature requirements, pain points, and areas of focus to help craft a fantastic player experience
• Lead development of and contribute to architecture requirements, technical design, and implementation for relevant AI systems
• As development advances into full production, iterate on robust, scalable, and performant solutions
• Mentor other engineers on the team in all aspects of game development

Required Qualifications: 

• Software development experience where you identified customer needs and delivered great results to meet them
• Able to provide mentorship and/or technical direction to other team members while being accountable for overall technical quality
• Demonstrated experience with excellent AI systems in game engines (Pathfinding/positioning, behaviors, multi-agent coordination, etc)
• Demonstrated aptitude developing data driven systems in C++ that are easy for content creators to use
• Ability to balance technical quality with pragmatism around timelines (You know when to do something right, and when to do something “good enough”)
• You thrive when collaborating with teammates across multiple disciplines

Desired Qualifications:

• Unreal Engine or other commercial game engine experience
• Strong game design sensibilities
• Experience with pre-production and production phases of game development
• Experience with agile development processes
• Familiarity with reinforcement learning

For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise and a collaborative spirit that prioritizes the delight of players. We will look at your past studies and experience, but for this role, we also look for dedicated people with a personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about players' experiences, this is the role for you!

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.

Riot Games fosters a player and workplace experience that values teamwork embodied by the Summoner's Code and Community Code. Our culture embraces differences as a strength, and our values are the guiding principles for how we approach work. We are committed to putting diversity and inclusion (D&I) at the center of everything we do, and promoting a fair and collaborative culture where Rioters treat one another with dignity and respect. We encourage you to read more about our value of thriving together and our ongoing work to build the most inclusive company in Gaming.

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.