Most people think of Valve as a company that makes video games—
and we are. But we also built the software that powers those games and the platform that lets millions of fans play, share, modify, and build communities around more than 1,800 titles. That makes us a full-spectrum entertainment studio. As such, our search for talent has taken us beyond the game industry and into the fields of architecture, economics, psychology, and industrial design. We’re not just growing. We’re diversifying. Where to next? You tell us. We’re after talented people with original ideas and the passion to realize them.
We’re looking for an experienced character artist with a talent for sculpting and character design. Valve has many projects in various stages of production at all times; artists will be expected to apply their skills in a wide variety of ways, depending on the day-to-day needs of these projects. We're interested in artists who share an equal passion for art and games.
We’re looking for versatile, self-directed artists who have experience in 2D character and world design and enjoy working in a fast-paced, collaborative environment. Your folio should, above all, demonstrate originality, an ability to iterate, and an understanding of color and form. It should also reflect a solid understanding of anatomy and painting, and contain examples that show your awareness and appreciation of Valve’s various Intellectual Properties.
Valve’s multi-player games, as well as Steam (Valve’s successful trading platform), have allowed for the spontaneous emergence of complex virtual, yet quite real, economies. These economies are replete with rich trading patterns, fascinating ‘institutions’ (which have also sprung up organically), socio-economic conventions, and, generally, a host of economic phenomena that partly reflect what we observe in the analogue world and partly constitute new and unexplored behavioural patterns.
The task of a Valve economist is to make good use of the incredible wealth of data concerning these social economies, to pose fresh questions about their workings, and to generate methods for converting new knowledge about these economic vistas into tangible ideas that help improve our customers’ experiences.
As an Industrial Designer at Valve, you will join a world-class group of electrical, mechanical, software engineers and designers who are busily defining new entertainment experiences through both hardware and software. We’re hoping to add your expertise in product design and manufacturing, ergonomics, usability, aesthetics, and surfacing to our team.
Valve is an entertainment and technology company driven to design and deliver rewarding experiences to customers. We hire generalists who also exhibit deep expertise. Designers at Valve contribute in a wide variety of ways: We define and articulate goals, we design and ship products, we create and implement user studies, we write press releases and blog posts, we manage projects, and much more. We also recruit designers. People like you.
Valve is traditionally a software company. Open platforms like the PC and Mac are important to us, as they enable us and our partners to have a robust and direct relationship with customers. We’re frustrated by the lack of innovation in the computer hardware space though, so we’re jumping in. Even basic input, the keyboard and mouse, haven’t really changed in any meaningful way over the years. There’s a real void in the marketplace, and opportunities to create compelling user experiences are being overlooked.
At Valve, our design process really gets going once products are in customers’ hands. Our best work is the result of an ongoing dialog with customers. Through years of shipping software as a service through Steam, our digital distribution platform, this has become fundamental to the way we create great products. With an engaged community of millions of users, what will you ship? What will you try, and what will you learn through doing so?
Do you prefer to define the work that you pursue, rather than simply following a vision that’s been set for you? If you’re seeking an opportunity to steer product definition, functional exploration and design decision-making, consider joining Valve. We can’t wait to see where you’ll take us.
Please include with your application an online portfolio of work which conveys your capabilities.
As an Interaction Designer at Valve, you will join a world-class group of software engineers, artists, writers, animators and designers who are continually creating and shipping world-class social entertainment experiences. We’re hoping to add your expertise in visual communication, user experience design, usability, writing, and marketing to our team.
Valve is an entertainment and technology company driven to design and deliver rewarding experiences to customers. We hire generalists who also exhibit deep expertise. Designers at Valve contribute in a wide variety of ways: We define and articulate goals, we design and ship user interfaces, architectures, layouts and graphics, we create and implement user studies, we write press releases and blog posts, we manage projects, and much more. We also recruit designers. People like you.
At Valve, our design process really gets going once products are in customers’ hands. Our best work is the result of an ongoing dialog with customers. This is fundamental to the way we create great products. Through years of shipping software as a service through Steam, our digital distribution platform, we’ve learned to include our customers in the entirety of the design process. With an engaged community of millions of users, what will you ship? What will you try, and what will you learn through doing so?
Do you prefer to define the work that you pursue, rather than simply following a vision that’s been set for you? If you’re seeking an opportunity to steer product definition, functional exploration and design decision-making, consider joining Valve. We can’t wait to see where you’ll take us.
Please include with your application an online portfolio of work which conveys your capabilities.
Can you turn a whiteboard concept into a sensational gameplay sequence—or help us figure out why players don’t ever look up when they’re trying to solve puzzles? If so, we need you! We’re looking for level designers to help us create exciting new gameplay experiences. In collaboration with peers from all disciplines (artists, programmers, animators, writers, etc.), you’ll use your skills and knowledge of game design to create imaginative gameplay, produce creative solutions to playtest issues, and quantify and analyze feedback to ensure that players get the most out of every Valve game.
As a Motion Designer at Valve, you will join a world-class group of software engineers, artists, writers, animators and designers who are continually creating and shipping world-class social entertainment experiences. We’re hoping to add your expertise in visual communication, animation, user experience, and motion design to our team.
Valve is an entertainment and technology company driven to design and deliver rewarding experiences to customers. We hire generalists who also exhibit deep expertise. Designers at Valve contribute in a wide variety of ways: We define and articulate goals, we design and ship products, we define and implement user studies, we write press releases and blog posts, we manage projects, and much more. We also recruit designers. People like you.
At Valve, our design process really gets going once products are in customers’ hands. Our best work is the result of an ongoing dialog with customers. This is fundamental to the way we create great products. Through years of shipping software as a service through Steam, our digital distribution platform, we’ve learned to include our customers in the entirety of the design process. With an engaged community of millions of users, what will you ship? What will you try, and what will you learn through doing so?
Do you prefer to define the work that you pursue, rather than simply following a vision that’s been set for you? If you’re seeking an opportunity to steer product definition, functional exploration and design decision-making, consider joining Valve. We can’t wait to see where you’ll take us.
Please include with your application an online portfolio of work which conveys your capabilities.
We believe that the more we know about human behavior, about how and why people do what they do, the better our products will be. All game designers are, in a sense, experimental psychologists. That’s why we’re looking for a experimental psychologist to apply knowledge and methodologies from psychology to game design and all aspects of Valve’s operations. We want to exploit your experience with experimental design, research methods, statistics, and human behavior to help craft even more compelling gameplay experiences for future Valve titles. We’d also expect you to research and weigh in on any and all topics that are relevant to improving the experiences of our customers, partners, and employees.
Do you have a strong desire to combat cheating in online games? If so, this could be the gig for you. As a Valve Anti-Cheat engineer, you will use your reverse engineering, debugging, and programming skills to bring down cheaters throughout the Steam community. Your familiarity with executable file formats, dynamic link libraries, and process management will help us unravel webs of online cheaters. As part of the Steam Team, you’ll also help deliver all different kinds of digital content to millions of customers.
The Steam Platform, one of the fastest growing multimedia digital distribution platforms in the industry today, has a growing need for engineers with a variety of experience in online payment processing, management, and financial auditing systems. Growth and diversity of products mean that we’re looking for Software Engineers who have expertise in multiple disciplines, and the ability to rapidly incorporate new business insights into the Steam Platform. Could that be you?
We believe that good information makes for good decisions. We need help mining the data we collect from our online systems and games to improve game design, pricing, sales, security, and operations. If you relish the idea of poring through millions of rows of data each day to find clues and trends, then you might be the engineer we're looking for.
Steam is one of the fastest growing multimedia digital distribution platforms in the industry today, and we want Software Engineers who bring a variety of experience with databases and data management. Growth and diversity of products mean that we’re looking for people with expertise in multiple disciplines, and the ability to rapidly incorporate new business insights into the Steam Platform.
We need engineers who can deal with all aspects of data management strategy:
Can you use an outer join with a table-valued expression to find your car keys while underwater, breathing through a reed? Does your inner serenity multiply 30 million users by 3.5 million concurrent logins by 300 friends by 1000 group memberships and cry: "Again!"? If so, contact us.
The Steam Platform is one of the fastest growing multimedia digital distribution platforms in the industry today and we need Software Engineers who bring a variety of experience in databases and data management. Growth and diversity of products mean that we’re looking for engineers with expertise in multiple disciplines, and the ability to rapidly incorporate new business insights into the Steam Platform.
We want people with the experience to deal with all aspects of our database implementation needs:
We’re looking for an experienced sound designer and/or interactive audio "integrator" who can help us create sophisticated, emotionally-compelling audio experiences for a variety of media formats and products. You’ll collaborate with a team of broadly-skilled peers to make sound a powerful element in all current and future Valve products, from multimedia ads to video game consoles, PC, and on-line gaming.
One thing we have a lot of at Valve is data. Lots and lots of data. And we love using all that information to make better decisions. To help us do that, we’re looking for an experienced statistician who can perform quantitative analyses on all aspects of Valve’s gameplay, financial, and company data. Intrigued? You’d get to use your extensive statistical knowledge, along with practiced data-mining skills, to derive insights from the immense volumes of data we collect. In addition, you’d improve Valve’s existing metrics collection and analysis techniques by formulating new lines of inquiry into untracked metrics and creating best practices for the analysis of all collected data.
The Steam Account Manager is one step away from millions of customers, delivering top-tier entertainment on a daily basis. Steam Account Managers come from diverse backgrounds (marketing, business development, project management, etc.). But a primary qualification is experience in the video game industry and a demonstrated capability to work with third parties to ship products and projects. This role is a blend of business development, marketing, partner management, project management and execution—you’ll be working with internal teams and game studios around the world to publish and market games.
You must have experience working with third party partners in a business development or account manager capacity. The ideal candidate must be self-directed and a self-starter, but enjoy working closely with a team. Marketing experience and technical skills are also highly desirable.
As a Steam Technical Account Manager on the Steam publishing team, you’ll be working with top-tier developers throughout the industry. The role is a blend of developer support and project management; you’ll help developers get their games on Steam and utilize the Steamworks platform. C++ skills are a must. So is experience in the video game industry helping third parties ship products and projects. This is the perfect role for someone with the unique combination of technical proficiency and people/organizational skills.
Valve is looking for systems engineers with solid networking foundations to help grow, evolve, and support the critical internal and production infrastructure behind Steam and our award winning games. Deep proficiency with Windows and/or Linux in a large scale heterogeneous server environment is a must, as is a solid grasp of TCP/IP networking and related network technologies.
A successful candidate will be familiar with both Windows and POSIX systems, have the ability to triage and troubleshoot, capacity plan, and communicate complex technical concepts to colleagues in a rapidly evolving environment.
We’re looking for highly experienced, versatile and passionate Technical Artists to solve problems, improve our tools and pipelines, and apply ingenuity to our award-winning games! Applicants must demonstrate a specialized capability as well as general versatility in all aspects of a CG pipeline. We look for individuals that proactively solve issues and have the flexibility and foresight to research, design and implement cutting-edge tools before artists require them. Technical Artists should be ready to jump into everyday production and force-multiply our art and technology capabilities.
Sorry, we do not accept student reels.
Submit a portfolio or reel with your application as well as a detailed description of work found therein.
Steam is one of the fastest growing multimedia digital distribution platforms in the industry today. A rich web presence and strong web backend are central to the architecture of Steam. The Steam team is seeking senior level engineers who can help design, implement, and ship new features on the web in addition to strengthening the web-based architectural components of the platform.
As a part of our extremely motivated and experienced group of people, you'll work with Valve's game and Steam development teams to add exciting new web-based features to our best-of-breed computer games and pioneering e-commerce platform.
Steam is one of the fastest growing multimedia digital distribution platforms in the industry today. A rich web presence and strong web backend are central to its architecture. The Steam team is seeking senior level engineers who can help design, implement, and ship new features on the web in addition to strengthening the web-based architectural components of the platform.
As a part of our extremely motivated and experienced group of people, you'll work with Valve's game and Steam development teams to add exciting new web-based features to our best-of-breed computer games and pioneering e-commerce platform.