Associate UX Research Director Candy Crush Saga

**Craft**:
UX & UI

How would you like to envision & build a high performing UX Research team that champions the player and advocates for the craft? Does developing teams and inspiring key stakeholders from various parts of the business to make better user informed decisions excite you? We're looking for an Associate UX Research Director for the Candy Crush Saga team to join our UX Craft and leverage their leadership experience and UX research knowledge to direct, inspire and coach our UX Research team. If you feel this is you, then we'd love for you to apply

**Your role within our Kingdom**:
If you are passionate about growing and supervising teams that deliver user focused insights for a game that delights millions of players, then this is the ideal role for you.

**Your responsibilities would include**:

- Recruiting, managing and mentoring the UX research team in tools, best practices, processes, techniques, methodologies and ensuring the craft maturity keeps developing.
- Driving the UX Research strategy and developing the short, mid and long term vision for UX Research to influence and inform business strategy and game decisions at all stages of development.
- Driving qualitative and quantitative research, ensuring insights and strategic recommendations are delivered to key stakeholders.
- Translate development goals and strategies into research opportunities.
- Driving a holistic vision of the player from different customer touch points.
- Driving a Design Thinking process in collaboration with the other crafts, such as UX Design.
- Developing and building relationships across teams and crafts, including; UX design, Product Managers, Game Designers, Area leads and Directors to create a cohesive product.
- Identifying areas of growth in team members through coaching and mentorship, working with senior staff and directors to improve UX Research competencies.
- Create and supervise the development of research roadmaps and prioritize research needs according to the product strategy.
- Managing a growing team of UX Researchers and conducting regular 1:1s with your direct reports, assisting them with their career growth and problem solving any issues that might arise.
- Helping us build and retain diverse healthy teams within the UX Craft.
- Working with UX stakeholders to identify training opportunities and improving collaboration and knowledge sharing between specialized UX craft members.

**Requirements**:

- Deep UX Research craft experience with a skill for communicating with leaders from every craft and the ability to drive UX Research vision in a highly strategic and tactical way.
- Extensive knowledge of research methods (both qualitative and quantitative) in a business environment, and a proven ability to translate findings into actionable product recommendations.
- A strong influencer who can push forward player insights to key stakeholders and execute the vision and strategy of the research team.
- Prior experience of coaching and managing teams.
- Extensive knowledge in Human
- Computer Interaction, Psychology, or related fields, from industry experience or an academic background.

**Candy Crush Saga UX Organisation**

We pride ourselves on the fact that our UX organisation is one of the largest in the game industry. Our organisation has strong diverse representation and we are constantly striving to make our teams as inclusive as possible. We work from 4 different locations (London, Stockholm, Barcelona and Berlin) and adopt a hybrid working model embracing online and in person styles of working. Our main locations are equipped with research facilities.

Our UX organisation consists of 4 major crafts - UX Research, UX Writing, UX Design and Player Initiatives, which allows for close collaboration across the UX disciplines.

**About King**

King is the game developer behind the world
- famous Candy Crush franchise, as well as mobile game hits including Farm Heroes, Bubble Witch and Pet Rescue. Candy Crush is the top
- grossing franchise in US app stores, a position it has held for the last two years, and King’s games are being played by 245 million monthly active users as of Q3 2021. King, which is part of the Activision Blizzard group since its acquisition in 2016, employs nearly 2,000 people in game studios in Stockholm, Malmö, London, Barcelona and Berlin, and offices in San Francisco, New York, and Malta.

**A Great Saga Needs All Sorts of Heroes**

Making games is fun. Especially when you do it with people who share the same idea of what makes a good workplace great. We design games for everyone, no matter where they are or who they are, and we employ all sorts of people from all kinds of backgrounds to bring them to life. Truth is, we simply cannot expect diversity in our players and originality in our games without first nurturing it in our people. A great saga needs all sorts of heroes.

**Making the World Playful**

Making the World Playful is what inspires us to create new experi