Valve Sustains Flat Organization at Billion-Dollar Scale Without Titles or Hierarchy

Valve Corporation, the Bellevue-based gaming company behind Steam and the Steam Deck, operates without traditional hierarchy, job titles, or formal management. Employees self-organize around projects and are hired for broad expertise spanning art, engineering, design, and business domains. The approach persists as the company maintains profitability comparable to much larger firms—unusual for flat structures, which typically revert to hierarchy as they scale.