Senior Researcher - Unpublished R&D Product

The Insights discipline helps empower Rioters' decision-making to be more data-informed. We're an interdisciplinary group of scientists, consultants, and strategists from all sorts of backgrounds who join together to represent and advocate for gamers around the world. We believe that illuminating the globally diverse experiences, behaviors, and needs of gamers is critical to Riot living up to our player-focused mission. We're a group united by our love of games, science, and helping others succeed.

As a Senior Researcher on an unpublished R&D product, you will be embedded on a team developing a brand new game experience. You'll conduct a wide range of studies and analyses - including playtests, qualitative interviews, and usability studies - to inform the direction, experience, systems, features, and content of the game product. You’ll be part of an interdisciplinary team and work closely with Rioters from other disciplines (design, art, production, publishing, etc.) to turn the findings of your research into actionable insights which guide the course of game product development and publishing. Your applied and/or experimental research background coupled with your deep understanding of data will ensure that you’re an effective advocate for players and can provide strategic guidance about how to best meet players where they are. 

Responsibilities:

• Perform user research efforts on complex ambiguous problem spaces to help inform the experience and direction of content, systems, features, and publishing strategies, in partnership with cross-functional leadership
• Construct and perform labs, studies, market research and surveys - sometimes with novel or complex methodologies - designed to answer product, design, development, and usability questions
• Conduct research to inform monetization strategy, including player value perception, pricing models, and purchasing behavior for cosmetic content
• Partner closely with analytics and data insights where appropriate to incorporate player data into your work
• Be an advocate for our players and provide strategic research-informed perspective about their wants, needs, and behaviors
• Meaningfully contribute to discussions on the best way to conduct and improve testing and audience research work for the game in development
• Closely collaborate and develop a high-trust relationship with teams at multiple levels of the game’s organization, becoming a trusted, self-starting and independent partner to support collaborator and stakeholder needs.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Psychology, Anthropology, Human-Computer Interaction, or a related discipline plus 5 years of relevant research experience in game development
• Broad experience in a variety of research methods including playtests, user interviews, and market research with deep expertise in at least one of these areas
• Trusted to operate independently regardless of structure and comfortable with owning large projects, problem spaces, and workstreams
• Experience synthesizing research into actionable insights and socializing to team and product leadership
• Trusted to operate independently regardless of structure, owns larger problems/projects/workstreams
• Ability to work collaboratively with others

Desired Qualifications:

• Meaningful familiarity and affinity for multiplayer competitive games
• Experience conducting games user research during the early stages of the development life cycle particularly incubation, prototype, and pre-production
• Experience conducting games user research during lead-up to launch and into live service
• Demonstrated familiarity with player value drivers for cosmetic content, including aesthetics, identity expression, rarity, theming, and social signaling within games.
• Familiarity with feature and content specific testing (RITEs, usability testing, content concept testing)
• Familiarity with basic statistical methods for data analysis (regressions, correlations, factor analyses)
• Familiarity with qualitative methods and analysis
• Experience managing vendors

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.

At Riot Games, we put players first. That mission drives every decision in our quest to create games and experiences that make it better to be a player. Whether you’re working directly on a new player-facing experience or you’re supporting the company as a whole, everyone at Riot is part of our mission. And just like in our games, we’re better when we work together. Our goal is to create collaborative teams where you are empowered to bring your unique perspective everyday. If that sounds like the kind of place you want to work, we’re looking forward to your application.

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. We consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, including the California Fair Chance Act, the City of Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, and the Washington Fair Chance Act.

Per the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, the following core duties may create a basis for disqualifying candidates with relevant criminal histories:

• Safeguarding confidential and sensitive Company data
• Communication with others, including Rioters and third parties such as vendors, and/or players, including minors
• Accessing Company assets, secure digital systems, and networks
• Ensuring a safe interactive environment for players and other Rioters

These duties are directly related to essential operations, safety, trust, and compliance obligations within our organization. Please note that job duties may evolve based on business needs and additional responsibilities may be assigned as necessary to maintain operational efficiency and security.