Technical Game Designer III, Sandbox and AI - Unpublished R&D Product

All Game Designers at Riot have a base set of skills: you design, tweak, and optimize the player experience. Your analytical skills, player insight, and creativity aid in crafting in- and out-of-game experiences that engage and surprise players.

As a Senior Technical Game Designer focused on the sandbox and AI, you’ll build AI, content components, and encounters that create a living and delightful world. You will also help designers and engineers build and expand our engine capabilities creating powerful tools that can empower other designers to make varied and delightful NPCs and content.

You will partner closely with design leads and engineering leads to translate ambitious creative visions into actionable, scalable technical designs. Through a mix of mentorship and content reviews, you also ensure that local designers are building the game with strong technical rigor. Reporting directly to the Lead Content Designer, your contributions will elevate the capabilities of the entire team on this ambitious project.

Responsibilities:

• Deliver on our AI and content aspirations in the solutions, content, and decisions in the details of design and implementation
• Be a hands on owner for a portion of NPC AI and encounters
• Create and provide multiple potential designs and solutions, articulating trade-offs and risks between different options
• Collaborate with engineering to define the technical strategy and execution of AI systems, encounters, and content tools like quests.
• Implement content as a vanguard in the most technical areas of design. Building out solutions to design problems that require a deep level of technical expertise and leaving those problems with the ability to teach others how to work in those spaces in the future.
• Develop, advocate, and enforce a system of organizational excellence in content creation that allows for the long-term sustainability of software without being cumbersome to rapid prototyping culture.
• Implement gameplay workflows and tools within Unreal Engine to enable designers and artists to rapidly prototype and iterate.
• Proactively identify technical risks, develop mitigation strategies, and communicate clearly with team leadership and stakeholders.
• Ensure high-quality implementation of complex gameplay systems, promoting performance, scalability, and maintainability.

Required Qualifications:

• 5+ years of experience in professional Technical Game Design or related Tech Design or Engineering roles
• 2+ years of experience in either Enemy AI, NPC simulation, Encounters, or Content Design in real time games
• Proven experience shipping high-quality titles using Unreal Engine, demonstrating expertise in Blueprints, scripting, and technical workflows
• Experience with C++ and C#
• Deep understanding of gameplay system architecture, online networking, and AI behaviors
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills with experience working cross-functionally between engineering, test, production, art, and design
• Deep level of understanding of multiplayer PvE and PVP games (ARPG, MMOs, MOBAs etc.)

Desired Qualifications:

• Direct experience across real time combat, third person action, shooter, or MMO genres
• Direct experience with NPC simulation in open world games
• Experience with group based combat and cooperative play
• Experience with technical optimization and performance profiling within Unreal Engine.
• Is familiar with the LoL IP

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!

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.

• (Los Angeles Only) Base salary range between $185,200.00 - $258,000.00 USD + incentive compensation + equity + 401K with company match + medical, dental, vision, and life insurance + short and long-term disability + open PTO.