Senior User Experience Researcher

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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 to work on PlayStation-exclusive games. 

Responsibilities 

• Highly effective, experienced 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. 

• Responsible for the relationship with a Studio team and define the working model between research and the Studio for a product. 
• Deeply understand the needs of Studio team collaborators and the creative goals of complex and high-profile products in order to create effective research roadmaps to support Studio team’s needs across the product lifecycle. 
• Navigate competing priorities for a product's research plan to deliver quality results on time. 
• Drive product improvement at the systems level. 
• Supervise and mentor junior researchers in service of both driving research results and developing their skills. 

• Proactively and strategically enhance the research team's processes and techniques to improve research quality. 
• Lead by example in embodying team values 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. 
• Thoughtful research and communication strategist, able to establish strong relationships with development teams, deeply understand developer needs and timelines, and formulate tailored programs of rigorous, highly impactful research. 
• Expert research methodologist, skilled with a broad variety of user research methods, including but not limited to expert review, usability testing, playtesting, survey design, text & verbal analysis, observational fieldwork, telemetry, and statistical analysis. 
• Adept communicator, able to communicate clearly with partners regardless of organizational level or technical ability. 
• Strong negotiator, able to use both data and relationships to influence the design of player experiences. 
• Deep understanding of the game development process and the contributions of cross-functional teams. 
• Passionate interest in video games across a wide variety of genres with a curiosity for understanding player motivations and behaviors. 

Required experience / education 

• Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, Cognitive Science, Human-Computer Interaction, Human Factors Engineering, or related field. 
• 5 years of practical experience developing study designs, testing, analyzing, reporting, and communicating findings in video games or an equivalent field. 

Preferred experience / education 

• Postgraduate degree in Psychology, Cognitive Science, Human-Computer Interaction, Human Factors Engineering, or related field. 

• 7 years of practical experience developing study designs, testing, analyzing, reporting, and communicating findings in video games or an equivalent field. 

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Equal Opportunity Statement:

Sony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender (including gender identity, gender expression and gender reassignment), race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, disability, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy or maternity, trade union membership 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.

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