As Riot continues to deliver games and content to our passionate players, our Data discipline has challenges and opportunities centered on crafting, building, and maintaining data products that support the organization’s growth. Whether you are a Data Scientist building machine learning and AI models, a Data Engineer bringing scale and efficiency to systems, or a Software Engineer developing data systems as part of our live games, we need you to help push forward our “Player Experience First” aspirations.As a Staff Data Scientist on the League Data Central team, you will champion and build data products to support the games and functions of the organization. The LoL Inc Data team is the hub for all Data Science and Data Engineering for League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics, and Wild Rift. The team collaborates on cross-functional projects that range from in-game features to content design to infrastructure. In a world of high volume data, you will develop products that bring personalized experiences to players, optimize our strategy, and refine in-game features. You will report in to the Data Science Manager.Responsibilities:* Collaborate with team leadership, leading the execution and delivery of data science products that directly impact League of Legends systems and player experience* Develop relationships with product and engineering teams to understand their data science needs* Identify opportunities for data-driven approaches that deliver value to teams across the organization, and champion data solutions to product leads and engineers* Work with stakeholders across the organization and on initiatives, gathering requirements, designing project plans, determining approaches, and defining success criteria* Improve our data science practice by identifying novel techniques and technical approaches* Act as a mentor to advise and level up data scientists in both data science and technical best practicesRequired Qualifications:* Ph.D. in Machine Learning, AI, Statistics, Math, Physics, or related Computer Science/Quantitative field with 3+ years of industry experience, or equivalent experience* Deep knowledge of League of Legends gameplay and metagame systems (e.g. how progression through ranked ladder works) OR experience with a similar PVP competitive game* Hands-on programming experience in Python and SQL* Deep knowledge of data science methodologies, including machine learning, statistics, deep learning, optimization* Experience in data science use cases and data engineering concepts (e.g., modeling, pipelines, distributed processing)* Stakeholder management skills. Ability to build alignment, define scope, deliver, and maintain data science products* Strong written and verbal communication skills. Ability to effectively present and share information across a wide array of technical expertise and seniority within the organizationDesired Qualifications :* Experience with elo rating or similar ranking and match-making systems* Experience with Scala, Spark, big data tech (e.g., Hadoop)* Experience with cloud data tools (AWS, GCP)* Experience working in an Agile environmentOur Perks:We offer medical, dental, and vision plans that cover you, your spouse/domestic partner, and children. Life insurance, parental leave, plus short-term and long-term disability coverage are also available. Riot will support your retirement benefits with a company match, and double down on your donations of time and money to non-profit charitable organizations. Balance between work and personal life is encouraged with open paid time off, and a play fund so you can broaden and deepen your personal relationship with games.===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).