Jobs / United States / Riot Games INC
Staff Software Engineer, Build Platforms - VALORANT
Riot Games INC · 🇺🇸 Los Angeles, USA; Mercer Island, USA
Sponsorship verdict
Sponsorship possible
One solid signal, not two — worth applying, and worth asking about sponsorship early.
- Employer is on a government sponsor recordThe US Department of Labor certified 64 H-1B/E-3 labor condition applications for this employer between Oct 2025 and Jun 2026 (latest Jun 2026) — the step every H-1B hire needs first. USCIS also records 33 H-1B approvals in FY2023. Source: LCA disclosure data (US Department of Labor (OFLC)).
- The posting doesn’t mention sponsorshipSilence isn’t a refusal — ask the recruiter before investing much time.
- No salary bar for this routeH-1B has no fixed salary bar: the employer must pay at least the prevailing wage for the role and area. Cap-subject employers enter a lottery weighted by wage level. Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/12/29/2025-23853/weighted-selection-process-for-registrants-and-petitioners-seeking-to-file-cap-subject-h-1b, rules effective 2026-02-27.
- What Riot Games INC paid sponsored hires in similar roles21 certified filings for “Software Engineer II” (Software Developers) in CA: $158k–$185k, median $185k. Most were filed at wage level IV (58%) — 4 lottery entries, ≈61% projected selection odds for cap-subject employers. Source: US Department of Labor LCA disclosure data (Oct 2025 – Jun 2026).
- Confirmed live todayWhen a source last listed this job as open.
US H-1B: cap-subject employers enter a lottery weighted by wage level — Level I gets 1 entry, Level IV gets 4 (DHS projected selection odds ≈15% at Level I to ≈61% at Level IV). Universities and non-profit research employers are cap-exempt. The $100,000 fee for new petitions from abroad is currently blocked by a court order (appeal pending).
A verdict summarises public evidence; it is not legal advice and never a guarantee — the employer and the immigration authority decide. Sign in to factor in where you can already work.
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Sponsor Radar — Riot Games INC
The US Department of Labor certified 64 H-1B/E-3 labor condition applications for this employer between Oct 2025 and Jun 2026 (latest Jun 2026) — the step every H-1B hire needs first. USCIS also records 33 H-1B approvals in FY2023. Source: LCA disclosure data (US Department of Labor (OFLC)).
Past sponsorship or register membership never guarantees sponsorship for this vacancy or for you. Full Sponsor Radar for Riot Games INC →
About the role
Riot engineers bring deep knowledge of specific technical areas but also value the opportunity to work in many broader domains. As a Software Engineer, you’ll also dive into projects that focus on team cohesiveness and cross-team goals. You’ll lead without authority and provide other engineers with a clear illustration of extraordinary engineering. VALORANT is Riot's take on a character-based tactical shooter (learn more about VALORANT here ). As a Staff Software Engineer on the VALORANT Build Platforms team , you will develop and improve the technologies that enable us to deliver VALORANT into our players’ hands. You will improve the iteration flow for hundreds of developers, including designers, artists, and engineers. You will act as a pipeline-aware problem solver in the Unreal development ecosystem, reducing friction across local development, validation, cook, release, and CI. Your work will lay a critical foundation for teams across the globe as they delight players with new features, skins, maps, and agents. Responsibilities: • Drive the technical direction and decision-making at the team level, advising on aspects of delivery such as architecture, maintenance, cost, and scale. • Identify and resolve cross-system bottlenecks across local workflows, Unreal build/cook systems, CI, release infrastructure, and developer-facing tools. • Work with VALORANT developers and stakeholders to align on priorities and deliverables. • Lead efforts to break down and execute on multi-month engineering efforts, partnering with central technology teams to leverage their expertise. • Participate in the team's support rotation. Required Qualifications: • 6+ years of experience as a software engineer. • BS degree or equivalent experience. • Experience architecting and maintaining developer-facing products and platforms, supporting complex workflows and emerging requirements. • Experience building automated build, test, and release pipelines. • Strong empathy for improving the developer experience and reducing friction within the iteration loop. • Expertise with C++, C#, Java, or Go. • Ability to communicate complex technical subjects to all levels. • Willingness to jump into unfamiliar technologies and take on new challenges. • Experience mentoring other engineers. Desired Qualifications: • Professional experience working with cloud technologies. • Experience working directly with Unreal Engine game build systems. • Experience with Perforce workflows, large Unreal workspaces, content cooking, packaging, or build artifact debugging. • Game DevOps experience is a plus. • BuildGraph and Horde experience is a plus. • Professional experience serving as a technical lead for a team of engineers. • Professional experience building large-scale backend systems or game services. 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 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