User Experience (UX) Researcher

At [REDACTED], we believe great games are built by deeply understanding the people who play them. We are looking for a curious, analytical, and player-focused Player Insights & User Experience (UX) Researcher to help shape exceptional game experiences through meaningful player research and play testing.

In this role, you will own our player research program from planning and recruiting through testing, analysis, and reporting. You will work closely with Product, Design, Analytics, Engineering, Art, and Production teams to understand how players think, feel, and behave while interacting with our games.

Your mission is to uncover actionable insights that help teams make better product decisions, reduce development risk, and create more engaging experiences for players. Rather than simply identifying issues, you'll help explain why players struggle, what motivates them, and how we can improve their experience.

We're looking for someone who loves games, enjoys solving complex problems through observation and research, and is passionate about advocating for players throughout the development process.

Responsibilities

• Own the studio's player research and playtesting program, including planning, scheduling, participant recruiting, moderation, reporting, and maintaining the playtest calendar.
• Design and execute a variety of research studies, including moderated and unmoderated playtests, usability studies, interviews, surveys, focus groups, and first-time user experience (FTUE) evaluations.
• Observe players interacting with games to identify moments of confusion, delight, frustration, and disengagement.
• Evaluate gameplay, onboarding, progression, controls, UI, accessibility, monetization flows, and overall player experience throughout development.
• Recruit and maintain relationships with diverse player communities through schools, after-school programs, libraries, community organizations, families, and other player groups.

Player Insights

• Translate player observations into clear, evidence-based insights and actionable recommendations for development teams.
• Identify usability issues, gameplay friction, comprehension problems, balance concerns, and opportunities to improve player engagement.
• Distinguish between individual player preferences and broader behavioral patterns supported by research.
• Partner with Product and Analytics teams to combine qualitative player research with quantitative behavioral data, helping explain why players behave the way they do.
• Help validate new features, mechanics, tutorials, progression systems, live events, and design concepts before release.

Reporting & Communication

• Produce concise, well-organized research reports that summarize findings, identify trends, and prioritize opportunities for improvement.
• Create highlight videos, presentations, player journey maps, and executive summaries to communicate insights across the organization.
• Maintain a centralized repository of research findings, historical learnings, player personas, and best practices to build institutional knowledge.
• Present research findings to leadership and cross-functional teams in a way that supports informed product decisions.
• Advocate for the player while balancing business goals, technical constraints, and development priorities.
• Contribute to improving studio-wide research practices, testing methodologies, and player-centered development processes.

Qualifications

• Exceptional observational and analytical skills with strong attention to detail.
• Excellent written, verbal, and presentation communication skills.
• Ability to identify patterns and synthesize research into actionable insights.
• Strong organizational skills and experience managing multiple research initiatives simultaneously.
• Ability to think critically about player behavior while remaining objective and evidence driven.
• Passion for mobile games and creating outstanding player experiences.
• Experience facilitating discussions and communicating with players especially kids
• Experience conducting UX research, player research, usability testing, playtesting, product research, or consumer research.
• Experience working on mobile or free-to-play games.
• Familiarity with research platforms such as PlaytestCloud, UserTesting, Lookback, Maze, or similar tools.
• Experience with analytics platforms such Tableau
• Experience working with project management tools such as Asana.
• Experience with children's games, educational products, family entertainment, or subscription based mobile games.
• Background in psychology, human-computer interaction (HCI), education, child development, cognitive science, behavioral science, or related fields.

This role is ideal for someone who loves understanding people as much as they love games. Whether your background is in UX research, game user research, psychology, education, product management, behavioral science, market research, QA, or game development, you are energized by discovering how players experience games and helping teams build better products through evidence-based insights.

Originally posted on [REDACTED]