Senior UX Researcher, YouTube Gaming

Minimum qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
• 6 years of experience in an applied research setting (e.g., product or academic), or similar.
• Experience with research methods (e.g., usability studies, contextual inquiries, 1:1 interviews, unmoderated research studies).
• Experience studying the video game ecosystem.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience in gaming (game development or gameplay), live streaming, real-time interactive media, game publishing, or creator-economy platforms.
• Experience investigating real-time interactivity, live chat, creator-consumer relationships, or web-based/playable game mechanics.
• Experience designing, executing, and analyzing mixed-methods research studies in an industry or academic environment.
• Experience managing relationships with cross-functional partners and stakeholders to drive project execution.
• Experience managing projects or initiatives from inception to completion.

About the job

As a User Experience Researcher, you will join a multi-disciplinary UX team and collaborate with Engineering and Product Management to gather insights and create industry-leading products.

You will help the team understand user needs and drive impact throughout product development, ensuring products are useful, usable, and helpful. You will explore user behaviors and motivations through primary research, including field studies, interviews, diary studies, ethnography, surveys, usability testing, and logs analysis.

As part of the YouTube Gaming team, you will work at the intersection of gaming culture, interactive video technology, and platform innovation. You will answer foundational and evaluative questions to provide a data framework for product decision-making, partnering with Product Management, Engineering, UX Design, and Content Partnerships to keep user needs central throughout the product development lifecycle.

Responsibilities

• Plan, scope, design, execute, analyze, and synthesize foundational and tactical research programs to shape YouTube Gaming product strategies.
• Employ qualitative and mixed-methods research to generate insights.
• Synthesize research data into frameworks and compelling presentations to drive product alignment with cross-functional leadership.
• Partner with Product Managers, Designers, and Engineers to translate insights into concepts, prototypes, and actionable product requirements.
• Manage ambiguous research streams by proactively identifying emerging research needs, product opportunities, and potential risks.