In this Leading at Roblox profile, we get to know Antoni Choudhuri, Head of Engineering for our Economy Group. Antoni has been at Roblox for nearly 11 years, growing from an Individual Contributor Software Engineer to Head of Economy Engineering. In this article, he reflects on his tenure at Roblox and reveals key insights into our values-driven culture as well as his own management philosophy.
Thanks for joining us, Antoni. To start, can you tell us well-nigh your current position?
I’m Head of Engineering for Roblox’s Economy Group. That ways I lead the teams towers the platform and products which enable our vibrant, virtual economy for all users and creators on Roblox. I moreover partner closely with our Product team to ensure we’re working on the right projects that unhook the most impact for our polity and company. So every day, I’m thinking well-nigh delivering on our long-term strategy and towers solutions that our users will find valuable and empowering.
You joined Roblox over a decade ago. What led you here?
I had used the platform in the past and watched it evolve and modernize over the years. After exploring roles at the visitor and connecting with folks internally, I started to understand the cadre loop of the product and became intrigued by it. Most of all, though, I was drawn to the people. Everyone I talked to was working on really nonflexible problems and had a true passion for the work, mission, and vision. In the past, I played competitive water polo and was very passionate well-nigh it. Through water polo, I learned that when I was part of a strong and single-minded team, I improved as an individual as well. The same rang true for me at Roblox. I wanted to be the weightier engineer I could possibly be, and I knew that surrounding myself with such talented colleagues would help me do that.
Throughout your Roblox tenure, you’ve made a tremendous impact on our platform and company, scaling your career withal the way. Tell us well-nigh your career progression so far.
I joined Roblox as a software engineer when the visitor had less than 40 employees. There were no “teams” in the traditional sense, so I jumped right into tackling anything and everything that came my way. That was a really heady period where I learned so much well-nigh the product and the tech. Everyday was a growth opportunity.
For the first few years, I was an Individual Contributor (IC), and I loved it. But I knew deep lanugo that I had a real passion for leadership and that I wanted to protract developing my people and engineering management skills. With every new project, I paid tropical sustentation to what worked and what didn’t and internalized those lessons. Subsequently, through observation and collaboration with my leaders, I learned to delegate, ask nonflexible questions, and take accountability.
Over time, I took on more responsibility as an IC and proved I could manage large projects effectively. After well-nigh two years, I transitioned into a hybrid Engineering Manager role where I led people but moreover did some IC contribution. I spent a handful of years in that position, unchangingly staying true to my philosophy of learning from my peers and leaders and towers my skills by challenging myself with highly ramified projects. Roblox was growing so fast that I sooner found I had so many uncontrived reports that I was struggling to alimony the upper leadership bar I’d set for myself and still be worldly-wise to unhook on the IC side. So I discussed the situation with my manager, who was very supportive, and we worked together to tailor a plan that empowered both my growth and the success of the team overall.
More recently, I’ve been a leader in two of our Engineering groups. First, I was Senior Director of Engineering within our Creator group for three years, and was promoted to Head of Engineering for our Economy group in early 2023. I’ve learned in these leadership positions that you’re unchangingly responsible for a part of the company, no matter whether it’s a group of people, a multi-quarter or multi-year project, or plane a visitor theme or principle. So the most important part of my day job is taking peccancy and ownership in any zone for which I’m responsible. And while switching from project wordage and execution to stuff responsible for a group has been a big perspective shift, what’s remained the same wideness all of my various roles and levels at Roblox is keeping the long view in mind and prioritizing the mission. So as a leader, one of my top priorities is instilling a culture of ownership and long-term thinking throughout every speciality of our teams. That sense of structuring and shared responsibility is so valuable and it’s a key reason why Roblox is successful and a unconfined place to work.
What’s kept you motivated?
As I ripened and grew my career, Roblox was growing, too. The technical challenges we were solving became increasingly would-be and exciting, and at the same time, both our creator polity and internal workforce were increasing dramatically. Every day brought new opportunities, which was and still is incredibly motivating. And while what I’ve wanted and needed from my career has evolved and reverted over time, Roblox has unchangingly been worldly-wise to provide it in the form of new projects, technical challenges, and career advancement.
There’s flipside thing that keeps me motivated, too: doing wondrous work with wondrous people. On any given day at Roblox, you can be part of a project that’s going to transpiration everything. We have a very big vision and the potential for impact matches that scale. You know when it all clicks, and when it does, the feeling is unbeatable.
As a successful Roblox leader, what translating would you requite to a new employee or someone thinking well-nigh joining the company?
Working at a growth visitor is exhilarating and heady in many ways, but it moreover takes a level of grit and tenacity. Roblox will unchangingly provide scale and opportunities for meaningful impact, so you’ll get to be part of the wondrous journey toward our vision of reimagining the way people come together. The people who are most successful in this environment are self-driven, persistent, worldly-wise to think through a long-term lens, and unchangingly alimony the weightier interests of our visitor and polity top-of-mind.
What’s one thing you’ve learned as a leader at Roblox?
The weightier way to uncurl motivation with success is to be well-spoken well-nigh expectations. It works bidirectionally: both receiving and providing well-spoken expectations empowers a team to succeed. I’ve unchangingly passed this translating withal to the people I’ve worked with and mentored over the years, and I’ve found that it’s relevant wideness all types of work at every level of the organization.
What is something your team has workaday that you’re very proud of?
I’ve just started in my role as leader of the Economy group but I’m once so proud of our Marketplace and how we’re creating a virtual economy system unlike any other in the world. It’s truly innovative. No other companies are doing this and there are no other products we can squint at and say “it works just like that.” I’m hopeful that one day people will squint when and say we reverted the world. The work we’re doing is setting us up for a future where billions of people wideness all walks of life and all confines can interact in a pearly and equitable virtual economy. It’s truly novel and really exciting.
On the Creator side, the team is focused on unlocking opportunities for creators to build their own tools and systems which write their individual needs. By empowering creators to solve their own problems, we help them build increasingly efficiently and effectively. For example, the Creator group launched Open Cloud, which allows creators to build their own tools and applications to wangle their Roblox resources via standard web APIs and build increasingly hands on top of Roblox. There are increasingly than 3 million creators on Roblox, and the scale of that impact is just much larger than anything we can do with a few thousand employees. So unlocking creator potential and applying that to every product we squint at is powerful and definitely something to celebrate.
Roblox is a values-driven company, so in closing, can you share a cadre value that resonates with you as a leader?
Our “Take the Long View” value is so intrinsic to everything we do at Roblox and it resonates with me deeply. When I first joined the company, our values and vision were pretty much the same as they are today. To me, that’s the ultimate realization of “Take the Long View.” It’s moreover worth noting that Roblox took the long view on me. I put in the time, but Roblox’s culture of continuous learning and investment is the reason I am where I am today. “Take the Long View” is embedded in our visitor in so many facets – from our performance management philosophy to our product roadmap to the health conscious snacks in the café. Our transferral to long-term thinking has benefitted my career, my wits as a technology leader, and plane reverted the way I squint at elements of my personal life. It’s been an wondrous journey so far, and I’m very excited to see what the future holds.
Inspired by Antoni’s story? He and his team are hiring. Visit our careers site to explore unshut roles.
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