Principal Researcher - League of Legends

Riot Games • Los Angeles, CA

7h • Hybrid

About The Position

The Insights discipline helps empower Rioters' decision-making to be more data-informed. We're an interdisciplinary group of scientists, consultants, and strategists from all sorts of backgrounds who join together to represent and advocate for gamers around the world. We believe that illuminating the globally diverse experiences, behaviors, and needs of gamers is critical to Riot living up to our player-focused mission. We're a group united by our love of games, science, and helping others succeed.
As a Principal Researcher on the League of Legends development team, you’ll be responsible for helping Riot conduct high complexity research that helps us understand League’s current and emerging audiences and inform/assess what we build for those audiences. You'll conduct a wide range of studies and analyses including (but not limited to) qualitative interviews, global market surveys, segmentation, playtests, usability, and focus groups. You’ll be part of an interdisciplinary Insights team working closely with a diverse group of devs to turn the findings of your research into recommendations and action. Your research background coupled with your deep understanding of data will ensure that you’re an effective advocate for players and can provide strategic guidance about their wants, needs, and behaviors. This role will report to the Senior Manager of Insights (Research) for League of Legends. This hybrid position blends onsite work in Santa Monica, CA with remote flexibility.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Psychology, Anthropology, Human-Computer Interaction, or a related discipline plus at least 9 years of relevant experience (an advanced degree can account for 1 to 2 years of experience depending on Master’s or PhD)
• Broad experience in quantitative and qualitative research methods including conducting interviews, focus groups, online community studies, playtests, usability, and survey research with deep expertise in at least one of these areas
• 3+ years research in the games industry
• Experience conducting research to answer product or portfolio strategy questions
• Experience synthesizing & socializing research results and distilling results into impactful recommendations for product leadership
• Trusted to operate independently regardless of structure and to have owned larger problems/projects/workstreams
• Adept at communicating effectively at all levels: from devs implementing your work to executives defining strategy

Nice To Haves

• 3+ years of experience working directly with senior executives (includes clients)
• Familiarity with basic statistical methods for data analysis (regressions, correlations, factor analyses)
• Experience working with game teams through the entire lifecycle of the product (development, launch, and live operations)
• Vendor management experience
• Experience leading complex efforts with multiple collaborators

Responsibilities

• Design and execute end-to-end studies using a wide range of qualitative and quantitative methods to uncover player motivations, pain points, and emerging opportunity areas.
• Effectively lead vendor engagements supporting global playtesting, focus groups, and survey work. This included negotiating project requirements with stakeholders, submitting RFPs, reviewing proposals, negotiating pricing, and holding vendors accountable to their commitments.
• Conduct playtests and usability testing to help dev teams quickly iterate on product designs.
• Partner with analysts, researchers, and designers to generate insights and frameworks that will inform the strategic direction of League of Legends.
• Collaborate with a cross-functional development team to define and optimize the League of Legends Player Lifecycle, including new player experience, progression, and matchmaking.
• Communicate research findings through compelling narratives that align stakeholders and drive executive decision-making.
• Champion the player perspective by delivering evidence-based guidance on player needs, motivations, and behaviors, both current players and prospective League players.
• Collaborate closely with game teams, additional researchers, and Insights partners to develop and socialize research-driven frameworks that shape League’s product strategy and help to level up research capabilities at Riot.
• Be an effective advocate for players and provide strategic guidance about their wants, needs, and behaviors.
• Continuously exploring new approaches to research methods and technological advancements like AI to improve the quality and speed of Riot's research.
• Mentor other researchers, helping them learn from your own experiences, and contribute to Riot’s research craft standard

Benefits

• Riot focuses on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy and other perks such as flexible work schedules.
• We offer medical, dental, and life insurance, parental leave for you, your spouse/domestic partner, and children, and a 401k with company match.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal
• Number of Employees: 1-10 employees