Developer Connections (DevCon) connects developers around the globe allowing them to ship games reliably and efficiently. We sit at the intersection of Game Studios, R D, and Central Tech, allowing us to keep our fingers on the pulse of development across Riot. Our aim is to unblock teams so they can hit essential milestones for launching future games.

As a Principal Software Engineer on Riot’s Developer Connections team, you are a technical force multiplier. This role requires significant hands-on engineering and breaking out work across engineering teams. You will embed directly with teams across Riot to understand their Developer Experience pain points, directly impacting product vision and driving measurable improvements.

Operating in an elite, highly mobile strike team, you will build production-ready AI integrations, develop robust developer tools, and level up partner engineers through side-by-side collaboration. You will stand at the forefront of cutting-edge AI in the games industry, bridging the gap between new technologies and live environments to shape how Riot develops products and games.

Responsibilities

: Partner with Riot’s build teams to identify developer needs and improvement opportunities, aligning on technical approaches for DevCon to solve them. Define Riot-wide standards for what "good" looks like in the Code, Build, and Release spaces, grounding them in industry best practices and team needs. Identify and champion high-impact technology investments across Riot to ensure maximum business value.

Eliminate cross-system bottlenecks spanning local workflows, build systems, CI, release infrastructure, and developer-facing tools. Lead the execution of multi-month to multi-year initiatives, holding engineering teams to high technical and operational standards. Deconstruct ambiguity and complexity for teams by breaking down large problems, identifying risks, and clearly communicating trade-offs.

Drive the technical strategy for source control interaction, designing and maintaining high-performance, resilient tooling that enables thousands of global developers to sync, build, and ship friction-free. Act as the primary advocate for Riot developers by proactively targeting latency and stability issues, automating manual processes, and improving local development speeds. Elevate the engineering organization by setting the bar for code quality, architectural design, and operational excellence.

Requirements

into actionable roadmaps that balance immediate needs with long-term scalability. Evaluate industry-standard tools against bespoke internal needs, making build-versus-buy decisions that maximize development velocity while minimizing technical debt. Standardize technical interview bars and design specialized hiring kits for Build engineering, assisting other Riot organizations with hiring talent when needed.

Required Qualifications

: BS in Computer Science (or equivalent experience) with 8-12 years of software engineering experience. Extensive experience with systems integration, technical leadership, and early-stage software development. , Python, C#).

Shipped at least one AAA game or large-scale, high-concurrency live service product. Proven track record of managing high ambiguity, setting technical strategy, and leading multi-month/year initiatives. Practical experience utilizing, integrating, or building modern AI tools, APIs, or infrastructure.

Qualifications

: Experience extending or developing within Unreal Engine (C++). , PyTorch, TensorFlow) or LLM orchestration. Background working on shared engine technology, central tools, or platform engineering teams.

Familiarity with the League, Runeterra, and VALORANT IPs.

Principal Software Engineer - Developer Connections