Manager, Game Design - Valorant, Characters

Job Description

As a Game Design Manager, you'll be front and center in defining the direction of our game. You'll partner with leads from multiple disciplines to ensure that our game is the best it can be, leaving no conceptual stone unturned. You'll be a champion for design excellence, and level up those around you. You'll apply rigorous critical thinking and a strong dose of imagination to engineer the fun of thrilling in and out-of-game experiences. You'll work with every tool at hand and collaborate with multiple interdisciplinary teams to create player-focused designs that'll delight millions around the world.

VALORANT is Riot's take on a character-based tactical shooter (for more info on VALORANT click here!). As a Game Design Manager working on the agents team, you will be responsible for designing exciting, resonant agents that evolve and push the boundaries of the tactical shooter genre. You will have a keen eye for detail and ensure that each new agent is satisfying to play, yet balanced for a competitive environment. You will mentor the team and provide design leadership on agents for VALORANT. You will report to the Design Director of the Project.

Responsibilities:
• Work with team leads to develop exciting, resonant agent fantasies that continuously evolve the tactical shooter genre
• Ensure that VALORANT design teams are highly performing teams
• Anticipate player needs regarding agents
• Ensure execution in gameplay and delivery schedule for a range of projects in flight from early concept to final polish
• Manage and coach designers across the team
• Influence senior leadership frequently regarding product direction and strategy, both regarding projects and related work (e.g. events, etc...)
• Build positive relationships across other teams at Riot in shared gameplay spaces
• Builds strong relationships with leadership from a range of disciplines to multiply their quality and output

Required Qualifications:
• 5+ years experience in Game Design role; experience as a game design owner of multiple large projects in parallel with successful delivery
• 1+ years people management experience; experience with mentorship of other designers leading to a promotion or substantial positive improvements in their work
• Experience creating systemic change to a design team's process or principles to improve output significantly across the team
• Experience communicating and expressing complex and nuanced designs in simple ways
• Leadership experience resolving conflict, and when needed offering difficult feedback with respect

Desired Qualifications:
• Experience working as a developer on an FPS title.
• Strong understanding Tactical FPS principles and can apply them effectively
• Can quickly produce a wide breadth of mechanics solutions, and generate and identify an excellent solution

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 the experiences of players, this could be the role for you!
Our Perks:

Riot has a focus on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy, in addition to 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.

Riot Games fosters a player and workplace experience that values teamwork embodied by the Summoner's Code and Community Code. Our culture embraces differences as a strength, and our values are the guiding principles for how we approach work. We are committed to putting diversity and inclusion (D&I) at the center of everything we do, and promoting a fair and collaborative culture where Rioters treat one another with dignity and respect. We encourage you to read more about our value of thriving together and our ongoing work to build the most inclusive company in gaming

(Bellevue only) Base salary range between $151,000 USD - $211,000 USD + incentive compensation + equity + 401K with company match + medical, dental, vision, and life insurance + short and long-term disability + open PTO.

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, including the City of Los Angeles' Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance relating to an applicant's criminal history (LAMC 189.00).

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-rv54vm-18-217-116-183-42 in your application.