Lead Anti-Cheat Specialist - Player Trust

Jagex; Cambridge; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private Healthcare

Bonus (discretionary)

Pension contributions (min 6%)

Life Insurance

Enhanced family leave

Flexible working hours

25 days annual leave

Job summary

Jagex, based in Cambridge, is seeking a Lead Anti-Cheat Specialist to lead the Player Trust Anti-Cheat team. The role combines leadership, investigative judgment and data-driven ownership to protect millions of players across RuneScape’s ecosystem.

You will line-manage a small team, translate strategy into priorities, monitor trends, and coordinate complex investigations. Flexible/remote work is available with onsite attendance as required.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading or line managing a team.
• Significant anti-cheat, Trust and Safety, fraud prevention or similar experience.
• Strong data literacy; comfortable with operational data and anomalies.
• Solid Excel skills; SQL desirable.
• Sound judgement and decisive action when data is incomplete.
• Knowledge of online games/live service environments; MMO experience is a plus.
• Python familiarity is a bonus.

Responsibilities

• Lead, line manage and develop the Anti-Cheat team, setting objectives and providing coaching.
• Translate strategy into clear operational priorities with proper resourcing.
• Monitor KPIs and anomalies to drive improvement.
• Lead complex investigations into cheating and enforcing actions including bans and reviews.
• Collaborate with game, data and engineering teams to refine detection and enforcement processes.
• Coordinate shift scheduling and weekend rota when needed.

Skills

Team leadership

Anti-cheat experience

Data literacy

Excel

SQL

Decision making

Online games knowledge

Python

Zendesk

Tools

Zendesk

Job description

Location: Cambridge, UK – This position offers flexible working options, including predominantly remote work. Applicants should be based (or willing to relocate) within a comfortable commuting distance of our office to attend onsite as required.

Do you want to protect the fair-play experience of millions of RuneScape players and lead the team that makes it happen? As Lead Anti-Cheat Specialist in our Player Trust team, you’ll lead a team of specialists keeping our games fair for millions of players. You’ll be the person who goes looking when nothing obvious is happening, reads the data to find what’s hiding, and builds the processes that keep the team one step ahead. This role combines people leadership, investigative judgement and data-driven operational ownership. You’ll line manage a small team, set the direction, translate strategy into priorities, and make sure the right calls are made, even when the evidence is incomplete and the community is watching closely.

What you’ll be doing:

• Lead, line manage and develop the Anti-Cheat team, setting clear objectives, providing coaching and performance support, and creating an environment where specialists are trusted to use their expertise.
• Translate Player Trust and company strategy into clear operational priorities, ensuring work is appropriately resourced, sequenced and delivered to a high standard.
• Monitor KPIs, trends and anomalies, using data to identify emerging threats, inform investigation priorities, and drive continuous improvement across the function.
• Lead and coordinate complex investigations into cheating, exploits and unfair player behaviour, developing hypotheses, identifying patterns, and overseeing enforcement activity including bans, unbans and appeal reviews.
• Work closely with game, data and engineering teams to develop solutions, refine detection and enforcement processes, and represent the Anti-Cheat function clearly to stakeholders across the business.
• Coordinate shift scheduling and operational coverage, including participating in a weekend rota approximately once a month (with two weekdays off in lieu).

What we’re looking for:

• Proven experience leading or line managing a team, including setting objectives, delegating, providing feedback and supporting development.
• Significant experience in anti-cheat, Trust and Safety, fraud prevention, abuse detection, security investigations or a comparable operational environment.
• Strong data literacy - you’re comfortable reading operational data, spotting anomalies and chasing them down.
• Solid Excel skills are essential and SQL is strongly desirable.
• Sound judgement and the confidence to make decisions and initiate action when data is incomplete or inconclusive.
• Strong knowledge of online games and live service environments; experience with MMOs such as RuneScape, World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XIV or similar is a real advantage.
• Python and Zendesk familiarity are a plus.

What we offer:

When you join Jagex you can look forward to a generous Perks & Benefits package including:

• Private Healthcare, including Dental Plan.
• Discretionary annual performance bonus.
• Minimum 6% Pension contributions.
• Life Insurance.
• Enhanced family leave policies from day 1.
• Flexible working hours.
• 25 days annual leave + Bank holidays & the option to buy/sell holidays + so much more!

This role involves significant access to player data and internal systems. Any offer will be made subject to satisfactory background screening.

Right to Work Statement

This role is only open to applicants who have the permanent right to work in the UK. We are unable to provide or take over visa sponsorship for this position, either now or in the future. Applicants must therefore be able to demonstrate their ongoing eligibility to work in the UK without the need for employer sponsorship.

About Jagex

We are Jagex: The RuneScape Company. Home to one of gaming’s most enduring success stories. We create deep, community-powered games with worlds that evolve, inspire, and endure. Our flagship MMORPG franchise, RuneScape, has welcomed over 300 million player accounts, inspiring generations of players across PC and mobile for 25 years.

As we begin our 26th year, we are accelerating our strategy to expand RuneScape into a broader ecosystem of forever games and connected experiences, grounded in a renewed commitment to integrity and fair play. This includes the reduction of monetisation mechanics, as well as the launch of RuneScape: DragonWilds into Steam Early Access in 2025, representing a major step in building a multi-genre future for the RuneScape universe. We remain focused on building enduring worlds, empowering player-led innovation, and laying the foundations for the boldest era in RuneScape’s history. For more information, visit https://www.jagex.com/ .

Headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom, we are home to passionate creators, storytellers, engineers, and even a few dreamers, all united by a single mission to shape the future of online worlds and empower players to make them their own. We’re looking for people to join us who share our ambitions and values. We foster an inclusive workplace built on trust, autonomy, and a shared passion for creating experiences that inspire our communities.
Our values guide everything we do: We Embrace Fellowship by collaborating and sharing openly. We Hone our Craft by always learning and improving; We Honour our Vows by being honest and transparent; We are our Customers’ Heroes by striving to understand our team & player needs, and We Seize The Day by making the most of every opportunity.

Join us. The next era of RuneScape and the next chapter of Jagex: The RuneScape Company starts now.

Inclusion & Accessibility Statement

We are committed to providing equal opportunities and creating an environment where everyone can thrive. We welcome applications from all backgrounds, and we recruit, develop, and promote based on merit and ability.

If you require any reasonable adjustments to support you during the recruitment process, please let us know when you’re invited to interview.