Principal Software Engineer - Developer Connections, Game Release

About the Position

We are seeking a Principal Software Engineer for Developer Connections, Game Release to join our team in Los Angeles, USA. In this role, you will serve as a senior technical leader for Riot’s game release ecosystem, shaping technical direction and improving how Riot delivers games globally.

Responsibilities

• Define Technical Direction: Shape and execute the strategy for Riot’s centralized game release capabilities, balancing speed, safety, and scale.
• Partner with Game Teams: Work directly with game teams to understand real-world release constraints and ensure centralized solutions directly address production needs.
• Build Cross-Team Alignment: Communicate technical vision clearly, establish trust, and help partners evaluate the value and tradeoffs of centralized release systems.
• Guide End-to-End Architecture: Lead architectural strategy across complex surfaces, including clients, game servers, backend services, content, configuration, and publishing workflows.
• Drive Reliable Release Decisions: Champion cross-team technical decisions that maximize release predictability and safety without sacrificing game team velocity.
• Apply Strong Technical & Product Judgment: Navigate ambiguous release challenges by balancing player impact, workflow efficiency, platform constraints, and time-to-market.
• Advise Leadership: Serve as a trusted technical sounding board, linking engineering strategy and technical investments directly to partner adoption.
• Raise Engineering Standards: Elevate technical design, system architecture, operational rigor, and cross-functional collaboration across the domain.
• Resolve High-Impact Issues: Hands-on diagnose complex technical blockers, build context quickly, and partner directly with engineers to drive solutions through to production.

Requirements

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a track record of developing and shipping at least one live-operated game.
• Deep domain expertise in the end-to-end game shipping lifecycle, including production workflows, platform constraints, and live operations challenges.
• Broad release surface experience across game clients, game servers, backend services, configuration, content pipelines, or release orchestration.
• Holistic technical perspective, with a proven ability to connect architectural decisions directly to player experience and operational stability.
• Strong hands-on engineering skills, with recent experience designing, building, debugging, and maintaining large-scale production systems.
• Proven crisis response & problem-solving ability, adept at stepping into unfamiliar, high-pressure technical situations to diagnose root causes and unblock delivery.

Nice to Have

• Experience in release engineering, deployment systems, publishing systems, or live game operations.
• Experience shipping games across multiple platforms or regions.
• Experience designing or evolving shared technical capabilities used by multiple game teams.
• Experience serving as a senior technical partner in product or platform strategy discussions.
• Experience helping organizations move from bespoke workflows toward scalable common patterns.
• Experience in a central platform or developer infrastructure team supporting game teams.
• Strong technical leadership experience in ambiguous, cross-team problem spaces, with a track record of successfully delivering impactful results.
• Proven ability to define technical direction and influence adoption beyond their immediate team.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build trust and alignment with game teams and senior technical partners.

We Offer

• Competitive base salary range between $229,200.00 - $319,500.00 USD + incentive compensation + equity + 401K with company match.
• Comprehensive benefits including medical, dental, vision, and life insurance.
• Short and long-term disability coverage.
• Open paid time off policy.
• Parental leave for you, your spouse/domestic partner, and children.

About the Company

At Riot Games, we put players first. Our 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. We strive to create collaborative teams where you are empowered to bring your unique perspective every day.

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.