Senior User Experience Researcher

Company: PlayStation Global
Location: San Mateo
Posted on: March 17, 2023

Job Description:

Senior User Researcher (San Mateo, CA)


Position Overview


The PlayStation Studios User Research Team is looking for a Senior User Researcher to establish and drive programs of research in collaboration with development studios in the interest of creating exceptional player experiences. The successful candidate will join our research team based in San Mateo, CA (on-site or remotely) to work on PlayStation-exclusive games.


The Senior User Researcher is a highly effective, expert individual contributor responsible for developing long-term strategic research plans, coordinating junior research staff, conducting high-quality research, and reporting research insights for the end-to-end lifecycle of one or more games.


Responsibilities

• 
  
• 
  Own therelationship with the Studio team / Sony Interactive Entertainment Producers for a product and define the working model between research and the Studio for that product, with some coaching & help from manager when needed.
  
  
• 
  Deeply understand the needs of Studio team stakeholders and thecreative goals of agiven product, then work backwards fromproduct needs & expected outcomes to create a research roadmapto support Studioteam's needsacross a product lifecycle/roadmap.
  
  
• 
  Create effective research roadmaps forcomplex andhigh-profileproducts.
  
  
• 
  Supervise the work of Associate and Intermediate-levelresearchers to drive results whilemaintaining Studio trust.
  
  
• 
  Mentor junior team members and help them and theirmanagersidentify opportunities forcareer growth.
  
  
• 
  Drive product improvement at the systems levelthough effectivecommunication, post-study follow-up & planning, and relationalinfluence across the Studio team.
  
  
• 
  Proactively investigate and learn new processes, techniques, andemerging technologies for user research.
  
  
• 
  Proactively providestrategic ideasand suggestions for researchteam improvement to management.
  
  
• 
  Constantly seek opportunities toimproveresearchquality atthe productlevel.
  
  
• 
  Effectively navigate competing priorities for a product's researchplan to deliver qualityresults on time.
  
  
• 
  Lead by example in embodying teamvalues and upholding a healthy team culture.
  
  
  
  
  Qualifications
  
  
  This opportunity would suit a self-motivated individual with a usability, user centered design, or human-computer interaction research background. The ideal candidate will have a postgraduate degree in an analytic field that focuses on people and/or product development such as Psychology, Cognitive Science, or Human Factors.
  
  
  
  • 
    
  • 
    Strongly committed to quality, organized, analytical, methodical, and interested in improving player experiences through user research.
    
    
  • 
    Process and methodological mastery to enable selection of researchmethods across a series of studies with a reliable sense ofoutcome.
    
    
  • 
    Demonstrated skill with a broad variety of user research methods, including but not limited to expert review, usability testing, playtesting, survey design, text & verbal analysis, and observational fieldwork.
    
    
  • 
    Proven competency with descriptive and analytical statistical techniques/tools such as telemetry, SPSS, R, regression and ANOVA.
    
    
  • 
    Comfortable interacting and communicating with stakeholders of different backgrounds and responsibilities.
    
    
  • 
    Strong verbal, numerical and written communication skills.
    
    
  • 
    Able to present information concisely and effectively to people at all levels of the organization.
    
    
  • 
    Strong negotiation skills and ability to work with cross-functional teams, including producers, engineers, artists and designers.
    
    
  • 
    Comprehensive, detailed knowledge ofgamedevelopmentandthecontributions ofvarious functionstoproduct development.
    
    
  • 
    Passionate interest in video games across a wide variety of genres with an innate curiosity for understanding player motivations and behaviors.
    
    
    
    
    Required experience / education
    
    
    
    • 
      
    • 
      Bachelor's degree in Psychology, Cognitive Science, HCI, Human Factors Engineering, or related field.
      
      
    • 
      5 years' practical experience developing study designs, testing, analyzing,reporting, and presenting findings in video games or an equivalent field.
      
      
      
      
      Preferred experience / education
      
      
      
      • 
        
      • 
        Postgraduate degree in Psychology, Cognitive Science, HCI, Human Factors Engineering, or related field.
        
        
      • 
        7years' practical experience developing study designs, testing, analyzing, reporting, and presenting findings in video games or an equivalent field.
        
        
        #LI-JM1
        

Keywords: PlayStation Global, San Mateo , Senior User Experience Researcher, Other , San Mateo, California