Researcher III - Player Platform

The Insights discipline helps empower Rioters 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 important 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 Researcher on the Player Platform team, you will dive into ambiguous problem spaces, applying a variety of research methods in creative ways to support the design work around Riot’s platform services, including but not limited to: our player behavior systems, the commerce services that power Riot’s monetization products, UX of the client and mobile app, and much more. Additionally, you will partner with other Insights Rioters from the different game teams to improve our understanding of our player audience and to ensure that Player Platform's services are built to best serve each game's needs. You will report to the Research Manager.

Responsibilities:

• Drive user research efforts in partnership with diverse stakeholders on high complexity, ambiguous problem spaces to help direct the experience of new platform features, systems, and experiences.
• Advocate for players and provide strategic guidance about their wants, needs, and behaviors
• Provide strategic insights to test teams' assumptions and inform their actions
• Construct and execute studies and surveys - sometimes with novel or complex methodologies - designed to answer business, design, development, and usability questions
• Share your results with other Rioters in clear, illustrative presentations that drive meaningful change
• Mentor other researchers, helping them learn from your experiences

Required Qualifications: 

• 5+ years of relevant research experience (an advanced degree can account for 1 or more years of experience depending on degree)
• Bachelor's degree in Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Human-Computer Interaction, or a related discipline 
• Broad experience in user research across digital products or services, especially in methods that yield useful qualitative sentiment (i.e. focus groups, IDIs), quantified sentiment (i.e. surveys), and direct observation of behaviors (i.e. usability testing, think aloud), with deep expertise in at least one of these areas
• Familiarity with basic statistical methods for data analysis (i.e. regressions, correlations, factor analyses)
• Experience summarizing and socializing research findings, and turning them into strategic, actionable insights for cross-functional teams and product leadership
• Trusted to operate independently in evolving problem spaces, owning large projects and workstreams

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience leading complex efforts with multiple collaborators, including designers, engineers, project managers, and game designers.
• Experience prioritizing research initiatives and scoping work to balance impact, resources, and timelines
• Familiarity with advanced quantitative methods such as max diff or conjoint analysis 
• Experience querying behavioral or product data using tools such as SQL
• Vendor management experience

For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise, a collaborative spirit, and decision-making that prioritizes the delight of players. We will be looking at your past studies, experience, and your personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about players' experiences, this could be your role!

Our Perks:

Riot has a focus on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy, in addition to 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 for more information.

Riot Games fosters a player and workplace experience that values teamwork embodied by the and . Our culture embraces differences as a strength, and our values are the guiding principles for how we approach work. We are committed to putting diversity and inclusion (D&I) at the center of everything we do, and promoting a fair and collaborative culture where Rioters treat one another with dignity and respect. We encourage you to read more about our value of and our ongoing work to build the .

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.