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Lead User Experience Researcher

PlayStation isn’t just the Best Place to Play —it’s also the Best Place to Work. We’ve thrilled gamers since 1994, when we launched the original PlayStation. Today, we’re recognized as a global leader in interactive and digital entertainment. The PlayStation brand falls under Sony Interactive Entertainment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation.

Lead User Experience Researcher

Santa Monica, CA

Sony Interactive Entertainment Experience Lab, in partnership with Santa Monica Studio, is looking for a Lead UX Researcher to join the Games User Research team. This is an exceptional opportunity to join PlayStation and be part of a team creating the best games in the industry.

You will be part of the research team that is based in San Mateo, but will be located with the development team in Santa Monica. You will report to the Sr. Director, User Experience Research.

You have a passion for video games and enjoy applying scientific method to help deconstruct the player experience.

You will understand the product development cycle to identify opportunities to bring player experience insights to help improve the quality and consumer relevance of our games. You will collaborate with the teams to organize, co-ordinate, conduct, and deliver research insights for our product testing efforts.

Job Responsibilities:

The Lead User Experience Researcher is responsible for developing research, coordinating research staff, conducting research and reporting research insights.

• Collaborate with game developers to effectively fit high impact user feedback into their development processes
• Manage stakeholder requirements; production, development, design and research
• Translate development goals and strategies into research opportunities
• Plan, organize and moderate user research sessions
• Lead, collaborate and support other experienced and junior games user researchers
• Collate and analyze results, identify actionable insights and report/discuss synthesized findings with relevant stakeholders.
• Prepare and effectively communicate bespoke reporting deliverables which demonstrate an understanding of the game design process, written to be consumed by the various disciplines of the team.
• Work with teams to create and track post-test action plans
• Organize and coordinate research work with the central research team based in San Mateo
• Act as an ambassador, evangelizing user research and UCD principles internally and externally

Required Qualifications:

• Master’s Degree in Psychology, Cognitive Science, HCI, Human Factors Engineering, or related field

• This is a senior level position requiring with 5+ years of games industry experience delivering across all phases of research on AAA videogame titles.
• 7 years of practical experience developing study designs, testing, analyzing, reporting, and presenting findings

• This opportunity would suit a self-motivated individual with a usability, user centered design, or human factors research background. The ideal candidate will have an MSc in an analytic field that focuses on people and/or product development such as Psychology, Cognitive Science, or Human Factors.

• Demonstrate a strong commitment to quality work, a deep passion understanding of game design, be organized, analytical, methodical, and have an interest in improving player experiences and overall quality through user research.
• Proven methodological skills including 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
• Organized and capable of managing multiple projects simultaneously in a fast-paced and exciting environment.
• Comfortable interacting and communicating with stakeholders of different backgrounds and responsibilities.
• Strong verbal, numerical and written communication skills required; presenting information concisely and effectively to people at all levels of the organization is critical.
• Strong negotiation skills are important and must work well with cross-functional teams, including producers, engineers, artists and designers.
• Must be forward thinking and actively maintain an interest in your field; keeping up-to-date with developing tools and techniques.
• Must have a passion and interest in videogames across a wide variety of genres with an innate curiosity for understanding player motivations and behaviors.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s Degree/PhD in Psychology, Cognitive Science, HCI, Human Factors Engineering, or related field
• Proficiency in Japanese language highly desired, but not required.

Sony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, pregnancy, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, legally protected physical or mental disability, covered veteran status, status in the U.S. uniformed services, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, genetic information or membership in any other legally protected category.

We strive to create an inclusive environment, empower employees and embrace diversity. We encourage everyone to respond.

We sincerely appreciate the time and effort you spent in contacting us and we thank you for your interest in PlayStation.

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