Principal Data Engineer

Who you are

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
• 8+ years of professional experience in data engineering, software engineering, analytics engineering, or a related discipline, with demonstrated principal-level scope
• Experience designing, building, and operating production data systems at significant scale
• Hands-on expertise in big-data technologies, including Python, GoLang, Spark, Scala, SQL, and tools like Airflow and DBT
• Proficiency in cloud infrastructure (AWS or GCP) and Databricks
• Demonstrated expertise in data modeling, schema design, data contracts, lineage, governance, and the development of durable sources of truth
• Experience establishing data-quality checks, observability, SLIs/SLOs, incident-management practices, and operational documentation
• Demonstrated ability to set technical direction, lead complex initiatives across multiple teams, and make sound architecture and prioritization tradeoffs
• Strong cross-functional communication skills and experience partnering with engineering, product, analytics, insights, and other technical stakeholders
• Experience mentoring and developing engineers, including senior-level practitioners
• Experience building and operating data systems for a live-service game or another high-scale consumer product
• Experience partnering with game engineering on instrumentation, telemetry, schemas, and launch readiness
• Experience using data and analytics to influence gameplay, product, feature, or live-operations decisions from development through launch
• Familiarity with Teamfight Tactics or strong curiosity about games, player behavior, and live-service operations
• Genuine player empathy, product sense, and pragmatic judgment in balancing player value, engineering quality, delivery, and operational risk
• 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 players' experiences, this could be your role!

What the job involves

• At Riot, Data Engineers build the trusted data foundations that help teams make better decisions and create better experiences for players
• As a Principal Data Engineer on Teamfight Tactics CoreTech, you will own the technical direction and long-term health of TFT’s data ecosystem, from telemetry and schemas to govern data products, metrics, pipelines, and production operations
• You will partner closely with Game Engineering, Design, Product, Insights, and Data Science from feature conception through launch and live operations
• You will translate player and product needs into scalable, reliable, and cost-efficient data solutions, while establishing the standards and operating practices that allow TFT teams to move quickly without compromising data trust
• This is a Principal-level individual contributor role
• You will lead ambiguous, multi-team initiatives; make architecture and prioritization tradeoffs; mentor engineers and data practitioners; and influence data-engineering standards across TFT and Riot
• You will remain hands-on where it creates leverage, while raising the effectiveness of the broader team through technical direction, coaching, and durable systems
• Own the technical strategy, architecture, and roadmap for TFT’s data ecosystem in partnership with TFT and Riot Data Engineering leadership
• Design, build, and evolve scalable batch and near-real-time data systems supporting telemetry, player behavior, game operations, experimentation, insights, and player-facing features
• Establish and maintain data contracts across Data Engineering, Insights, Game Engineering, and Product, including event schemas, metric definitions, and accuracy expectations
• Partner with game teams early in feature development to design instrumentation, validate payloads, and make telemetry a tested part of feature readiness and launch criteria
• Own the reliability and operational health of critical TFT data products, including freshness, availability, accuracy, observability, alerting, runbooks, incident response, and root-cause analysis
• Lead data modeling and warehouse architecture across TFT, creating durable, well-documented sources of truth that serve multiple teams and use cases
• Establish standards for data governance, lineage, documentation, access, retention, lifecycle management, and compliance with applicable privacy requirements
• Reduce ambiguity by clarifying requirements, identifying risks, evaluating alternatives, and communicating tradeoffs across delivery speed, reliability, cost, and complexity
• Improve engineering velocity through automation, self-service tooling, reusable patterns, and pragmatic development and review processes
• Drive cost optimization through thoughtful architecture, workload optimization, storage and compute lifecycle practices, and proactive capacity planning
• Contribute to recruiting, technical interviewing, interview-kit development, and the growth of Riot’s Data Engineering discipline
• Help define and socialize TFT and Riot-wide craft standards for data architecture, reliability, governance, documentation, and operational excellence

Benefits

• Healthcare: Medical, dental, and vision plans that cover you as well as your spouse/domestic partner and children.
• Family Care: Life insurance, parental leave, plus short and long-term disability.
• Open Paid Time Off: In addition to holidays, a 2-week end of year break, and a 1-week mid-year break, Rioters are trusted to take the time they need throughout the year.
• Retirement: Riot matches retirement contributions so you can continue to play games long after you retire.
• Play Fund: Riot’s annual play fund allows Rioters to broaden their knowledge of the games that matter to players and the community.
• Donation Matching: Riot matches donations of time and money to nonprofits to double down on support.