Senior Technical Artist - VALORANT, Premium Content

Technical Artists at Riot blend artistic sensibility with deep technical expertise to create performant, expressive, and scalable player-facing content. As a Senior Technical Artist on the VALORANT Premium Content team, you will operate at the frontier of cosmetic innovation driving initiatives that define the future of premium content.

In this role, you will focus on prototyping and architecting next-generation systems that expand what weapon skins and cosmetic features can do. You will work in highly ambiguous spaces, translating creative ambition into technically viable solutions, and building foundational frameworks that scale across teams and future content. You will act as a technical leader and domain expert, shaping direction, mentoring others, and raising the bar for both craft and innovation.

Responsibilities

• Drive efforts for new cosmetic systems, exploring unproven ideas and translating them into production-ready frameworks
• Architect scalable Blueprint and hybrid (Blueprint + C++) systems for advanced, reactive cosmetic features
• Prototype rapidly to validate creative and technical feasibility, then evolve prototypes into deployable modules.
• Define and evangelize best practices for system design, performance, and cross-discipline integration
• Partner with Art, Animation, VFX, Design, and Engineering to push the boundaries of premium content
• Lead development of foundational systems across:
• Advanced weapon logic and modular state architectures
• Procedural and systemic animation integrations
• Complex event-driven ecosystems (multi-layered reactivity, progression, personalization)
• Cross-system features (UI, gameplay hooks, progression systems)
• Identify long-term technical opportunities and risks, influencing roadmap and team strategy
• Mentor other Technical Artists, providing guidance on architecture, debugging, and system design
• Develop tools, frameworks, and pipelines that unlock team-wide efficiency and scalability
• Profile and optimize experimental systems, ensuring viability within performance constraints

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience as a Technical Artist in games or real-time engines
• Deep expertise in Unreal Engine, including:
• Advanced Blueprint architecture and debugging
• Strong familiarity with C++ for extending engine/system capabilities
• Animation systems, Anim Graphs, and procedural techniques
• Proven experience owning complex, ambiguous technical problems from concept through production
• Experience building scalable systems/frameworks used by multiple developers or teams
• Strong understanding of real-time performance, memory, and optimization strategies
• Demonstrated ability to lead through influence and mentorship
• Experience collaborating deeply across multiple disciplines

Desired Qualifications

• • Experience driving incubation work on shipped or prototype features
  • Strong background in systems design or gameplay-adjacent architecture
  • Experience with procedural animation, simulation systems, or physics-driven features
  • Familiarity with rendering pipelines, shaders (HLSL), or advanced material workflows
  • Experience building extensible tools and pipelines at scale

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. 

• (Los Angeles Only) Base salary range between $185,200.00 - $258,000.00 USD + incentive compensation + equity + 401K with company match + medical, dental, vision, and life insurance + short and long-term disability + open PTO.
• (Mercer Island only) Base salary range between $185,200.00 - $258,000.00 USD + incentive compensation + equity + 401K with company match + medical, dental, vision, and life insurance + short and long-term disability + open PTO.