Senior User Experience Researcher

insomniac; United States; Hybrid; USD 91,000 - 129,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

Dental benefits

Vision benefits

Job summary

Insomniac Games is seeking a Senior User Experience Researcher to lead the research process for a AAA title. The role requires established industry methodologies to enhance usability and player experience, with reports that inform creative decisions.

The ideal candidate is self-directed, proactive, and capable of building trust with development leads and external partners. This 6-month contract involves hybrid work and travel to Insomniac's Burbank and PlayStation San Mateo labs for playtests

Qualifications

• Experience leading UX research for AAA games.
• Ability to synthesize qualitative and quantitative data into reports.
• Experience in remote-first studio environments.
• Background in psychology, HCI, or related field.

Responsibilities

• Oversee UX research on a large-sized project.
• Collaborate with research and development teams and provide status updates.
• Define session formats, goals, success criteria, surveys and test plans with teams.
• Lead advanced methods such as RITE, A/B testing, and narrative testing.
• Conduct and moderate studies (one-on-one, focus groups, playtests).
• Present findings to project teams and leadership through reports and debriefs.
• Develop analytics dashboards and visualizations with analysts.
• Identify factors behind key issues like game system dynamics and player behavior.
• Advocate for inclusive design through testing of accessibility features.
• Coordinate with recruitment agencies to source external participants.
• Mentor junior team members.

Skills

AAA Games UX

Strong communication

Mentoring

Remote-first adaptation

Education

HCI background

Tools

Qualtrics

Looker

Tableau

Power BI

Excel

Job description

This position is for temporary engagement through our staffing partner, Yoh Enterprise Solutions. This is a 6-month contract.

Insomniac Games is looking for a Senior User Experience Researcher. In this role, the Senior User Experience Researcher is responsible for leading the research process for a AAA title. This role involves established industry methodologies to enhance the usability and player experience of game content. The researcher collaborates with the team to develop comprehensive reports that summarize both qualitative and quantitative feedback for the development team, informing creative decisions.

The ideal candidate is self-directed, communicates proactively without prompting, and can build trust quickly with development leads and external research partners.

This position is hybrid with the requirement to travel to Burbank and San Mateo UX Labs for playtest studies that occur roughly every 2 months. This contract is for a 6-month period to oversee research on a project in mid-production.

AAA Games UX Research experience is required.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities

Key Duties

• Oversee user experience research on a large-sized project.
• Strong communication skills to collaborate with research and development teams, keeping everyone updated on research status and processes.
• Proactively surface study status, build updates, and project changes to the research team and key stakeholders through shared channels
• Define session format, research goals, success criteria, survey designs, and comprehensive test plans in collaboration with development and external research teams.
• Lead advanced research methodologies, including Rapid Iterative Testing and Evaluation (RITE), A/B testing, and narrative testing.
• Conduct and moderate studies, including one-on-one sessions, focus groups, and multi-participant playtests.
• Present qualitative and quantitative findings to project teams and studio leadership through written reports and debrief presentations.
• Deliver presentations on project findings that impact research and project development.
• Collaborate with analysts to utilize analytics tools and develop dashboards and visualizations.
• Identify and articulate contributing factors to key issues, such as game system dynamics and player behaviors.
• Advocate for inclusive design through targeted testing of accessibility features and authentic character portrayals.
• Collaborate with recruitment agencies to find external participants that meet criteria for the player demographic.
• Guide and mentor junior members of the team.
• Other duties may be assigned.

Supervisory Duties

This position has no supervisory responsibilities.

Qualifications

Skills and Abilities

• Prior experience working in a game development or publisher studio environment is a strong plus. Candidates must be able to adapt quickly to studio-specific communication norms and workflows in a remote-first setting.
• Proficient in reading, analyzing, and interpreting scientific and technical journals.
• Ability to effectively present information to top management and key stakeholders.
• Capable of solving practical problems and dealing with a variety of concrete variables in situations with limited standardization.
• Emphasis in psychology, human-computer interaction, human factors, or a related field is ideal.

Computer Skills

• Mastery of Microsoft Office Suite, and survey software such as Qualtrics.
• Familiarity with analytics tools like Looker, Omni, Tableau, Excel, and Power BI.

Other Skills

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong organizational and analytical skills.
• A passion for user research and video games.

Travel Requirements

Researchers are expected to visit the research labs at the Insomniac Burbank or PlayStation San Mateo offices every 1-2 months. Outside of that, the job is primarily remote.

Base Pay

At SIE, working with our partners, we consider several factors when setting each role's base pay range, including the competitive benchmarking data for the market and geographic location. Please note that the individual base pay range may vary based on job-related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location.

This is a flexible role that can be remote, with varying pay ranges based on geographic location. For example, if you are based out of Seattle, the estimated base pay range for this role is listed below, this is an hourly rate. $80 - $80 USD

Benefits

In addition, this role is eligible for benefit offerings that include medical, dental, and vision.

Background Checks

Please note, Sony Interactive Entertainment conducts background checks at the offer stage for all new employees (which may include criminal background checks for some roles) and will need to process personal information to support these checks.