Riot Games

Sr. Manager, Game Production - Unpublished R&D Product

Riot Games$120K — $160K *
Media
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 10+ years in game production
  • 6+ years in production leadership roles on cross-disciplinary teams
  • Experience shipping at least one game from pre-production to launch
  • Background in cross-platform and live-service game development
  • Strong skills in milestone planning and risk management
  • Proven ability to lead through ambiguity and complex production tradeoffs
  • Fluency across design, art, engineering, product, and QA
  • Experience managing vendors and outsourcing teams

Responsibilities

  • Own the production approach for all development phases
  • Translate product strategy into actionable plans and milestones
  • Align scope, quality, staffing, and timelines with game leadership
  • Lead cross-functional production teams
  • Build systems for scalable planning and accountability
  • Identify delivery risks and drive resolutions
  • Manage relationships with vendors and co-development partners
  • Maintain visibility on progress and decisions
  • Foster team dynamics and strong feedback loops

Benefits

  • Open paid time off policy
  • Flexible work schedules
  • Medical, dental, and life insurance
  • Parental leave for employees and partners
  • 401k with company match
Full Job Description
As a Sr. Manager, Game Production on an unannounced R&D product, you will own the production approach that turns creative ambition, product strategy, and team capabilities into clear plans, healthy operating rhythms, and shipped player value. You will help move games from early ideas through production, launch, and live operations. You will build production systems that create clarity without over-prescribing the work, helping the team adapt as the product, audience, and opportunity become clearer. You'll work through ambiguity, energized by hard tradeoffs, and work across design, art, engineering, product, QA, analytics, publishing, and external development. You will partner closely with game leadership and discipline leads to build and own the production operating model for the game. This includes how teams plan, make commitments, manage dependencies, use vendors and co-development partners, and prepare for future stages of development. You will help the team scale from a small, adaptive group into a larger production organization without losing momentum, accountability, or care for players and team health. You will report to the Director, Game Production.

Responsibilities
  • Own the game's production approach through each phase of development, helping the team make strong decisions today while preparing for future launch and live-service needs.
  • Translate product strategy and creative direction into actionable plans, milestones, rituals, and decision-making systems.
  • Partner with game leadership and discipline leads to align scope, quality, staffing, timelines, and delivery expectations.
  • Lead cross-functional production across design, art, engineering, product, QA, analytics, publishing, and external development.
  • Build scalable planning, dependency, risk, and accountability systems as the team grows.
  • Identify delivery risks, organizational gaps, and execution constraints early; drive resolution with the appropriate leaders and teams.
  • Manage production relationships with vendors, outsourcing teams, and co-development partners.
  • Maintain clear visibility for stakeholders on progress, tradeoffs, risks, and decisions.
  • Foster healthy team dynamics, strong feedback loops, psychological safety, and productive conflict.

Required Qualifications
  • 10+ years of professional experience working in game production.
  • 6+ years of in production leadership roles on cross-disciplinary game teams.
  • Experience shipping at least one game or major game initiative with production responsibility from pre-production through launch.
  • Background in cross-platform and live-service game development or live operations.
  • Strong command of milestone planning, roadmap execution, dependency management, risk management, and launch readiness.
  • Proven ability to lead through ambiguity, scale, changing priorities, and complex production tradeoffs.
  • Strong cross-discipline fluency across game design, art, engineering, product, QA, analytics, publishing, and external development.
  • Vendor, outsourcing, or co-development management background.
  • Deep understanding of games, player audiences, team health, modern development tools, production technology, and emerging AI-enabled tools and workflows.

Desired Qualifications
  • Experience as a Lead Producer, Principal Producer, Production Director, or equivalent senior production owner on a shipped game.
  • Shipped and operated multiple cross-platform, multiplayer, or live-service games.
  • Experience building production practices for a new game, new team, or ambiguous development environment as it scaled.
  • Familiarity with studio operations, business planning, workforce planning, budgeting, player insights, economy, content operations, release management, or liveops planning.

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.

About Riot Games

Riot Games is a video game developer and publisher based in Los Angeles, California. The company was founded in 2006 by Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill, and is best known for its flagship game, League of Legends. The game has become one of the most popular esports titles in the world, with millions of players and fans around the globe. Riot Games is committed to creating high-quality, immersive gaming experiences that bring people together and foster a sense of community. The company is also dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusion in the gaming industry, and has launched several initiatives to support underrepresented groups.
Learn more about Riot Games
Size
2,500 employees
Industry
Founded
2006

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