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Video Games, Entertainment, Esports

Staff Software Engineer, Engine Performance - Central Technology, Unreal Ecosystem

Los Angeles, CAOnsiteFull TimeStaffPosted 23 days agoVisa sponsorship available

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Required skills

  • Staff Software Engineer
  • Engine Performance
  • Unreal Ecosystem
  • C++
  • modern video game engines
  • large game teams
  • large code bases
  • profiling
  • optimizing complex projects
  • shipping games

Nice to have

  • Unreal Engine 5
  • rendering in Unreal Engine

Role summary

Riot Games is seeking a Staff Software Engineer specializing in Engine Performance for their Unreal Ecosystem (UnEco) team. This role involves hands-on development, driving key features, and setting high engineering standards. You will leverage deep expertise in profiling, benchmarking, and optimization to solve complex performance challenges for game teams and deliver central solutions. Responsibilities include improving developer experience, optimizing build times, and collaborating with infrastructure and game teams on performance enhancements. You will also mentor engineers, lead technical execution, and help teams navigate complex technical landscapes. Experience with C++, modern game engines, and large codebases is required, with a preference for Unreal Engine 5 and online game development.

Riot engineers bring deep knowledge of specific technical areas but also value the opportunity to work in a variety of broader domains. We work with both new and current technology, creating innovative solutions to overcome high-volume obstacles and to deliver player value. As a Staff Software Engineer, you’ll drive important features and provide other engineers with a clear illustration of extraordinary engineering.

The UnEco (or Unreal Ecosystem) team has an impact on a wide array of topics, including audio, test automation, runtime performance, tooling, and CI/CD. As a Staff Software Engineer on the UnEco team, you’ll gain organizational alignment by building a strong engineering vision and offering creative solutions to technical problems. You will also serve as a mentor for your fellow engineers, helping guide their performance and finding growth opportunities delivering compelling player experiences. As a specialist in Performance, you will be leveraging your deep experience and expertise in profiling, benchmarking, optimization, and performance analysis to help game teams solve complex challenges hands-on and deliver central solutions.

Responsibilities:

  • Be hands-on in development, writing excellent code that sets a high standard for other engineers.
  • Work with leadership on prioritization of work efforts and identifying opportunities for impact.
  • Partner with game teams to diagnose issues and improve player-facing performance.
  • Partner with infrastructure teams to analyze and drive recommendations around bandwidth optimization, server density, resource utilization, etc.
  • Improve and optimize the developer experience, including improving cook and build times, editor load times, and understanding and fixing developer pain points.
  • 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 how optimization and performance improvements can be realized without sacrificing quality.
  • 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.
  • Required Qualifications:

  • 5+ years of software engineering experience
  • Expertise with C++
  • 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
  • Experience shipping games across multiple platforms
  • Experience with profiling tools like Unreal Insights or Pix
  • Desired Qualifications:

  • Experience with Unreal Engine 5
  • Experience building online games
  • Experience with rendering in Unreal Engine titles
  • 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.

    Sample Riot Games interview questions

    • 1

      Create a real-time data feed for stock prices.

      system designmedium
    • 2

      Buildings with an Ocean View Find all buildings that have an ocean view. Input: heights = [1,2,3,4] Output: [3] Explanation: Since the ocean is to the right, only the rightmost tallest building (index 3) is not blocked by any others.

      codingmedium
    • 3

      Find the majority element in an array. Given an array of size n, find the majority element. The majority element is the element that appears more than ⌊n / 2⌋ times. You may assume that the majority element always exists in the array. Input: nums = [3, 2, 3] Output: 3 Explanation: The number 3 appears 2 times, which is strictly greater than n/2 (1.5).

      codingmedium
    • 4

      Dot Product of Two Sparse Vectors Calculate the dot product of two sparse vectors. Input: nums1 = [0,1,0,0,2], nums2 = [0,0,0,0,5] Output: 10 Explanation: Multiplies the aligned non-zero values (2 * 5) and ignores all the zeros, yielding a dot product of 10.

      codingmedium
    • 5

      Maximum Subarray Sum Find the maximum subarray sum in an integer array. Input: nums = [-3,-4,-1,-2] Output: -1 Explanation: Kadane's algorithm correctly identifies that the single isolated element -1 provides the highest possible sum.

      codingmedium

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