Senior User Researcher

About Creative Assembly

Creative Assembly is one of Europe's leading games development studios, founded in 1987 and located in West Sussex, UK and in Sofia, Bulgaria. With a heritage of award-winning AAA titles, including the multi-million selling Total War™ series, Creative Assembly continues to build an impressive portfolio of games with an as-yet unannounced FPS-IP and world-renowned partnerships; with Games Workshop on Total War™: WARHAMMER®, Twentieth Century Fox on Alien: Isolation, plus 343 Industries and Microsoft on Halo Wars 2. Creative Assembly has, with their exceptionally talented team of over 700, amassed a wealth of awards including multiple Best Place to Work awards and accolades from BAFTA, Music+Sound and Develop’s Industry Excellence awards.

Position

This is an exciting opportunity for a Senior User Researcher to join our team at Creative Assembly. This role based at our studio in Horsham, based in the heart of Sussex, UK.

As a Senior User Researcher your primary purpose will be to work closely with one of our main Total War development teams, to plan and provide iterative testing to provide reliable and actionable feedback on all aspects of the development of a new Total War game, from start to finish.

The Creative Assembly User Research department plans, executes, and delivers research studies and playtests across both Creative Assembly and other SEGA studios, such as Amplitude, Relic, Searchlight, Sports Interactive, and Two Point Studios.

Key Responsibilities

As a Senior User Researcher, embedded into a main Total War development team, you would work very closely with Production, Design, QA, Marketing, and Analytics.

On a day-to-day basis, you will:

• Mentor and guide more junior user researchers to standardise and improve research practices
• Design and carry out a variety of user research studies, using a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods, presenting findings to the development team, and advocate for user- centred design throughout the life cycle of a main Total War title
• Contribute towards best practices and help to define the long-term User Research roadmap for the department

The types of studies we conduct include usability testing to discover problems with UI and systems interactions, experience research to gauge user's sentiment towards the games, expert analysis to review the presentation and interaction of game systems, as well as other methods like prototype testing, concept art surveys, etc.

Your qualification

• You will have significant experience in User Research in the video game industry, conducting various kinds of studies throughout the life cycle of a product
• A passionate interest in video games, as well as a good understanding of video games, genres, and key video game concepts
• Experience working with product teams’ leadership on strategic UX problems
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to manage time effectively, meet deadlines, and adapt to changing priorities

Will be a plus

• UX Design knowledge and best practices
• A degree in Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology, or a related subject area, or equivalent industry experience
• Familiarity with inferential statistics (regressions, correlations, factor analyses)

What we offer

Creative Assembly is about the right people making the best games. We are united through our values; Quality, Focus, Teamwork, Respect and Trust.

We house many talented people, from trainees to industry veterans who constantly challenge us and make sure we are striving for the best within our games and our studio life.

Winner of multiple Best Place to Work Awards, we have studio sites in Horsham UK and Sofia Bulgaria, including a number of bespoke state-of-the-art audio suites and a dedicated motion capture site.

Currently we are working fully remotely, and we continue to assess the COVID-19 situation with the safety of our staff our number one priority. We are still actively recruiting and onboarding new staff each week. Our expert IT and HR teams will set you up with everything you need to join remotely whether you will need to relocate to the UK (or within the UK) now, or at a later date.

We offer many benefits to support you and your family including:

• Bespoke relocation package for you and your dependents, with support throughout the process from our dedicated Relocation Specialists
• Enhanced maternity and paternity leave, private medical and dental insurance, life insurance, permanent health insurance, critical illness cover and free health care screening
• Generous holiday allowance plus full studio closure over the Christmas and New Year period, and all UK Bank holidays
• Annual discretionary studio bonus
• Join our award-winning education and social responsibility programme; the Legacy Project, as an industry ambassador to mentor and educate others
• Defined career development pathways and personalised training support including; SEGA Dev Day, internal masterclasses, prestigious creative workshops, on-site training with renowned specialists and global conference attendance
• Opportunity to join our Diversity and Inclusion Network – an employee-led group
• Season ticket travel loans and cycle to work scheme with free bike servicing and discounted car valet service on site
• Free games and merchandise plus access to our extensive games library
• Free breakfast every day - toast, bagels, pancakes, cereals, yoghurts, fresh fruit, smoothies, juices, milkshakes and more in our fully stocked kitchen*
• Wellbeing support with an employee assistance programme and onsite confidential sessions
• In-studio heavily subsidised massage therapy*
• Discounts for home technology, travel insurance, corporate gym membership, cinema tickets, holidays, trips out and Ikea vouchers, and many local businesses including estate agents
• Studio parties for you and your family; such as our Summer Festival, Christmas Party plus a separate Children’s Christmas Party. We also have Cinema days and wrap parties for game releases*
• Studio community activities such as free Japanese lessons, life drawing, creative writing, Pilates, Walking Challenges, Couch to 5k, basketball, game and movie evenings, board game club, 5-a-side football, CA Choir, Sword fighting (yes, sword fighting) and loads more*

*some of the above in-studio benefits are on hold while we work remotely during COVID-19.