Staff Software Engineer, Engine & Tools - Unpublished R&D Product

As a Staff Software Engineer, Engine & Tools on an unpublished R&D product, you will be responsible for designing and implementing AI/ML driven tools and features. You will work closely with designers, producers, and other engineers to understand their needs, and will be hands-on in conceptualizing, planning, implementing, and maintaining AI-powered solutions to increase developer efficiency.  We’re looking for someone who is passionate about empowering their team to deliver great player experiences, works well in cross-disciplinary teams, is aware of the latest trends, and finds practical applications of AI/ML technologies to current and future development challenges.

Riot engineers bring deep knowledge of specific technical areas but also value the opportunity to work in a variety of broader domains. As a Staff Software Engineer, you’ll drive important features and provide other engineers with a clear illustration of extraordinary engineering. We work with both new and current technology, creating innovative solutions to overcome high-volume obstacles and to deliver player value. You will report to an Engineering Manager supporting the Tech Foundations team within an unpublished R&D product.

This is a full-time role, based in Sydney, Australia. Internal Job Title: Software Engineer III.

Responsibilities:

• Work closely with designers, artists, and other engineers to discover and conceptualize opportunities for AI-powered workflow enhancements
• Partner with engineering leaders to help define the team’s future vision for AI-based developer tooling and workflows
• Lead the application of AI/ML systems to solve developer and player facing problems
• Architect and help implement the foundational elements of the game’s tools ecosystem
• Collaborate with artists, designers, QA, and fellow engineers to scope, architect, implement, and test AI/ML-based solutions
• Keep up with technical developments in the industry relating to AI/ML and find practical applications that help solve the team challenges
• Partner with central teams to share AI-based solutions across Riot’s portfolio
• Model the team’s best practices for tools architecture and implementation
• Mentor engineers across multiple levels as the team scales, and provide feedback that supports their technical growth
• Support and advance the team’s adoption of AI/ML tools for game development through mentorship, documentation, and advocacy
• Provide documentation and trainings on new tools and workflows to internal customers

Required Qualifications:

• 8+ years (or equivalent depth) of professional experience in software engineering, including experience delivering live or shipped products at scale
• 3+ years (or equivalent depth) working on game development tools & C++
• Experience in Unreal Engine and awareness of upcoming tools in game development
• Experience working with AI/ML systems in a production-ready environment
• B.S. in computer science or equivalent experience
• Proven ability to navigate ambiguity and influence cross-functional stakeholders using strong communication skills across technical and non-technical audiences

Desired Qualifications:

• Applied knowledge in one or more of the following: reinforcement learning, imitation learning, decision-making under uncertainty, LLM, AI planning, or multi-agent systems
• Experience working with modern ML/data science libraries and frameworks such as PyTorch/TensorFlow, pandas, etc.
• Deep knowledge tooling utilized in AAA games & how they integrate with both client and backend systems.
• Experience developing AI- or ML-driven content tools that integrate with art pipelines (e.g. Maya, Blender, etc.)
• Experience mentoring technical leaders and contributing to engineering culture, across distributed teams

Our Perks:

• Medical Insurance that covers you and your dependents
• Employee Assistance Program
• Wellness fund
• Donation matching of time and money to registered charities
• Learning and Development opportunities