Senior Software Engineer, Engine & Tools - Unpublished R&D Product

Riot Games is hiring in Sydney, AU for a Senior Software Engineer, Engine & Tools, to work onsite on an unpublished R&D product. The role centers on designing and implementing foundational systems and tooling that power content creation workflows and help developers move faster. You’ll collaborate with designers, artists, producers, and fellow engineers to define long-term capabilities for core features and tooling, and you’ll explore approaches, including AI/ML, to craft solutions that will delight players as the game comes to life.

Within Riot, engineers bring deep knowledge in their technical areas and also have opportunities to work across broader domains. In this role you’ll own important tooling features and model best practices for the team. You’ll report to the Senior Engineering Manager of the Tech Foundations team on an unpublished R&D product. Internal Job Title: Software Engineer II

This is a role for someone who enjoys shaping developer tools that scale, support content creation, and collaborate with multiple disciplines to deliver compelling player experiences.

Day-to-day work in the engine and tools landscape

Expect to work closely with production, design, art, and other engineering teams to deliver tooling that is purpose-driven, robust, and scalable. The role includes building the core elements of the game’s tools ecosystem and partnering with engineering leaders to define the team’s future vision for developer tooling and workflows. You will shape the team’s tooling architecture and practices, advocate the technical direction across disciplines, and provide training and documentation for internal customers. As the team grows, you’ll mentor more junior engineers and help raise the bar for how tooling is built and used.

Must-have qualifications

• A minimum of five years of professional software engineering experience, including delivering live or shipped products at scale
• At least two years spent building tools for game development
• Hands-on experience with Unreal Engine
• A bachelor’s degree in computer science or an equivalent background
• Proven ability to tackle moderately ambiguous problems with input from cross-disciplinary stakeholders
• Strong communication skills across technical and non-technical audiences
• Proficiency in C++

Nice-to-haves

• Experience developing AI- or ML-driven content tools
• Experience building tooling that connects client and backend systems
• Experience creating tooling that integrates with art pipelines such as Maya or Blender
• Working knowledge of tooling solutions used in AAA games
• History of contributing to engineering culture and best practices
• Experience working on distributed teams

Pay, benefits and practical details

The role is based onsite in Sydney, AU, with Riot Games supporting a healthy work-life balance through an open paid time off policy, paid parental leave for both primary and secondary carers, and flexible work schedules. The workspace includes co-op gaming areas, a play fund to broaden understanding of players and communities, and ample snacks. In addition, Riot offers medical insurance that covers you and your dependents, an Employee Assistance Program, a wellness fund, donation matching of time and money to registered charities, and learning and development opportunities.

Riot’s mission centers on putting players first, guiding decisions across the company. The team values collaborative environments where you can bring your unique perspective every day. If this kind of setup resonates with you, Riot looks forward to your application.

Advice for applicants

Put your most relevant experience at the top of your resume, five-plus years in software engineering with any shipped or live products highlighted, and call out Unreal Engine and C++ upfront.

Show how you’ve proven the must-have skills by sharing concrete tooling projects that involved input from designers, artists, and other engineers, including any documentation or training materials you produced and examples where you defined tooling architecture and best practices.

Prepare to discuss how you approached ambiguity in tooling decisions, how you shaped long-term development workflows, and the way you delivered foundational elements for a tooling ecosystem that improved efficiency.

Ask a thoughtful question about the long-term roadmap for developer tooling on the unpublished title and how success for tooling is measured in terms of player experiences and workflow efficiency.