Principal Software Engineer, Rendering - Game Tech Group, Unreal Ecosystem

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.


The UnEco (or Unreal Ecosystem) team has an impact on a wide array of topics, including gameplay features, runtime performance, tooling, CI/CD, just to name a few. As a Principal Software Engineer on the UnEco team, you'll gain organizational alignment by building a strong engineering vision and offering creative solutions to technical problems. They also serve as mentors for engineers, guiding their performance and finding growth opportunities delivering compelling player experiences.
Responsibilities:

• Be hands-on in development, writing excellent code that sets a high standard for other engineers.
• Drive the ideation and process of setting technical direction within the Unreal Ecosystem, including advising leadership on prioritization of work efforts and buy/build decisions for major system components.
• Lead the technical execution of multi-month to year-plus work efforts across the business unit, holding teams to established standards.
• Help teams navigate ambiguity and complexity by breaking down problems, identifying risks, and clearly communicating trade-offs.
• Work on a range of tech stacks including underlying infrastructure, build and test automation, release pipelines, and developer tooling for internal teams leveraging the Riot Unreal Ecosystem.
• Work with stakeholders across the organization to address their pain points and exceed their expectations for what continuous delivery game development can be.
• Be a standard-bearer and role model of Riot values for your team and others.
• Be a force multiplier for your team. Mentor senior engineers on your team and enable them to deliver complex projects.
• Lead efforts to build and evangelize shared technology and best practices to realize rendering techniques for custom needs (e.g. stylization approaches), GPU optimization, asset budgeting and other graphics-oriented area as a key vision holder in a complex multi-game shared engine environment.

Required Qualifications:

• 8+ years of software engineering experience
• Expertise with C++
• Expertise in game rendering and engine performance profiling
• Experience working with modern video game engines
• Experience working with large game teams
• Experience working with large code bases
• Experience debugging, profiling and optimizing complex projects
• Strong knowledge of common game and software design patterns
• Experience collaborating with teammates across multiple disciplines

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience with mobile development
• Experience with Unreal Engine
• Experience building online games
• Experience with console development
• Experience partnering closely with artists

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.