Principal Researcher

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, you’ll join the Insights discipline – the group of researchers, analysts, data scientists, and strategists responsible for solving problems and executing analyses that enable Rioters to make difficult decisions with confidence. You’ll be part of an interdisciplinary team and work closely with Rioters from other disciplines (designers, artists, producers, etc.) to conduct studies and analyses that will inform the features, systems, and experiences of our products. Your applied or experimental 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.

As a Principal Researcher reporting to the Senior Manager, Insights on VALORANT, you will be working with product leadership and the broader insights team to tackle complex problem spaces facing the game. On VALORANT, you’ll be tasked with identifying strategic opportunities and leveraging your expertise in Research to help guide and inform decision making across VALORANT. This role will also be integral in setting the bar for Research within VALORANT and Riot overall as well as mentoring and leveling up junior Researchers on the team.

Responsibilities:

• Own highly complex insights workstreams to help illuminate key opportunity areas for VALORANT
• Lead multi-modal projects across analytics and research to help answer critical product questions
• Construct, organize, and execute studies and surveys across a variety of methods designed to answer business and product strategy questions
• Engage with senior leadership to highlight player needs and drive product change through your work
• Partner with product leaders to prioritize their efforts - accounting for delivery timelines, revenue impacts, and opportunity costs
• Be the research craft expert on VALORANT to help educate and mentor other researchers on the team
• Communicate strategic recommendations and product outcomes to business leaders and decision makers
• Work collaboratively with a cross functional team of designers, product managers, and engineers
• Be an effective advocate for players and provide strategic guidance about their wants, needs, and behaviors.
• Provide strategic insights to test teams’ assumptions and inform their actions
• Share your results with other Rioters in clear, illustrative presentations

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, Anthropology, Human-Computer Interaction, or a related discipline plus at least 8 years of relevant research 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, and online community studies, as well as performing survey research with deep expertise in at least one of these areas
• 3+ years doing research specifically 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.

Desired Qualifications:

• 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

For this role, you’ll find success through craft expertise, a collaborative spirit, and decision-making that prioritizes the delight of players. We will be looking at your past studies, experience, and your personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about players’ experiences, this could be your role!

Our Perks:

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. Check out our benefits pages for more information.

Riot Games fosters a player and workplace experience that values teamwork embodied by the Summoner’s Code and Community Code. Our culture embraces differences as a strength, and our values are the guiding principles for how we approach work. We are committed to putting diversity and inclusion (D&I) at the center of everything we do, and promoting a fair and collaborative culture where Rioters treat one another with dignity and respect. We encourage you to read more about our value of thriving together and our ongoing work to build the most inclusive company in Gaming.

It’s our policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and members of Riot Games, Inc. Riot Games makes reasonable accommodations for handicapped and disabled Rioters and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, handicap, veteran status, marital status, criminal history, or any other category protected by applicable federal and state law. We consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, including the California Fair Chance Act, the City of Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, and the Washington Fair Chance Act.

Per the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, the following core duties may create a basis for disqualifying candidates with relevant criminal histories:

• Safeguarding confidential and sensitive Company data
• Communication with others, including Rioters and third parties such as vendors, and/or players, including minors
• Accessing Company assets, secure digital systems, and networks
• Ensuring a safe interactive environment for players and other Rioters

These duties are directly related to essential operations, safety, trust, and compliance obligations within our organization. Please note that job duties may evolve based on business needs and additional responsibilities may be assigned as necessary to maintain operational efficiency and security.