Senior Software Engineer, Gameplay Systems & AI - Unpublished R&D Product
About The Position
Riot engineers bring deep knowledge of specific technical areas but also value the opportunity to work in a variety of broader domains. As a Software Engineer, you’ll also dive into projects that focus on team cohesiveness and cross-team objectives. You’ll drive important features and provide other engineers with a clear illustration of extraordinary engineering. As a Senior Software Engineer (Gameplay AI & Systems) on an unpublished R&D product, reporting to the Gameplay Engineering Lead, you will develop and evolve gameplay AI systems that bring our NPC characters to life and define the challenges for players to overcome. Working within an established technical foundation, you’ll design scalable gameplay frameworks that enable designers to create challenging character behaviors. The ideal candidate is passionate about gameplay AI, thrives in cross-disciplinary collaboration, and takes pride in building robust systems that unlock ambitious design at scale. For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise and a collaborative spirit that prioritizes the delight of players. We will look at your past studies and experience, but for this role, we also look for dedicated people with a personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about players' experiences, this is the role for you!
Requirements
- 5+ years of professional experience in game development.
- 3+ years of experience developing gameplay AI systems.
- Strong C++ programming skills and solid computer science fundamentals.
- Experience working with Unreal Engine AI systems
- Experience building scalable gameplay systems that empower designers rather than hard-coded behaviors.
- Strong debugging, optimization, and performance-tuning skills.
- Experience collaborating effectively in cross-disciplinary teams, with strong product sense and player empathy.
Nice To Haves
- Experience shipping a multiplayer or networked game.
- Familiarity with physics or middleware integrations.
- Experience building encounter systems or dynamic level interaction systems.
- Experience working on mid-sized engineering teams in a live or in-development game environment.
Responsibilities
- Design and implement scalable gameplay AI systems that power enemies and player-facing challenges, ensuring strong performance, multiplayer integrity, and content scalability.
- Extend and evolve gameplay AI systems by building features on top of existing frameworks to support combat, coordination, and challenge needs.
- Partner closely with designers and technical designers to enable gameplay exploration while maintaining long-term system integrity and performance.
- Identify technical risks in AI and gameplay systems and collaborate with technical leaders to implement sustainable architectural solutions.
- Contribute to adjacent gameplay domains such as dynamic level systems and other core gameplay systems as needed.
- Mentor peers across disciplines by sharing insights on gameplay AI, systemic design, and technical problem-solving.
Benefits
- 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.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
Education Level
No Education Listed
Number of Employees
1-10 employees
