November 2025’s Movers and Shakers: Supercell hires and departures, Hutch’s new CEO, Rovio promotions, and more
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To keep you up to date with the latest movers and shakers in the mobile games industry, we’ve put together a regular roundup of the latest hires, promotions and, in some cases, exits.
If you’ve recently joined a company or bagged a big promotion, or you’re an employer that’s just made a hire, drop us an email at news@pocketgamer.biz.
Supercell departures and hires
Tuomo Kälviäinen has joined Supercell as creative producer for Clash Royale, bringing experience from fellow Finnish games studios Rovio, Small Giant Games and Seriously Digital Entertainment.
This latest Supercell hire has come after months of growth for Clash Royale, having something of its own “Brawl Stars moment” as surging monthly spend has made the game its most lucrative since 2017.
“This feels like a mid-season transfer I did not see coming, but was lightning fast to embrace. It’s a privilege to get to work with such a talented team on the best game on mobile,” Kälviäinen posted on LinkedIn.
Stijn Tops, meanwhile, has departed Supercell after five years with the company – and has joined Scopely as GM for Stumble Guys.
Tops brings experience like marketing Clash of Clans, portfolio-wide live ops at Supercell, and UA strategy at Google. The move to Scopely has seen Tops relocate from Helsinki to Barcelona.
“The next chapter is already in full swing, and I’m excited to have joined Scopely as GM for Stumble Guys in Barcelona, Spain. I’ve spent the first four weeks getting to know our teams in Barcelona and Dundee and have just been blown away by the ambition level and hunger for success. Super motivated to create a path forward with the team,” he posted on LinkedIn.
Experts in portfolios, player experiences and user acquisition
Heini Kaihu has been promoted to SVP of portfolio and player excellence at Rovio as she enters her 14th year at the company.
After spending the last four of those years as chief sustainability officer, Kaihu’s new role will see her encourage a player-first outlook whilst aligning creative vision, data-informed strategies and business growth.
“I’m very excited to start as SVP, portfolio and player excellence at Rovio Entertainment, responsible for growing and optimising Rovio’s game portfolio and championing a player-first mindset across the company,” she posted on LinkedIn.
Tripledot has hired Olena Tymoshenko as associate growth director, after three years as Awem’s head of UA.
Tymoshenko also brings seven years’ experience from Murka, where she worked in user acquisition, established relationships with overseas partners, led multiple teams and more.
“I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as an associate growth director,” she shared via LinkedIn.
New chapters and continuing sagas
Hutch has promoted Andrew Watson to CEO after more than 12 years with the company. He has spent the past eight as COO, and called the transition more of a “gentle shuffle” than a bold new move.
Earlier in his career, Watson held various technical and QA positions across studios, and built a foundation in engineering and game development that went on to shape his executive approach. He’s also an investor and freelance coach.
“Hutch means a lot to me. It is smart, unpredictable and full of people who are both talented, more often than not too tall, and much cooler than I will ever be. Leading it is exciting and slightly terrifying, which feels about right for this industry,” he posted on LinkedIn.
Yarden Shmerling is starting her next games industry chapter at SciPlay.
After six years at Plarium – where she’s served as product manager since 2023 – Shmerling’s move sees her remain in Israel and keep the product manager job title, but this time at SciPlay,
“I’m truly grateful for everything I’ve learned and experienced- and excited to start this next chapter at SciPlay,” she posted on LinkedIn.
Plenty of promotions
Rovio’s Katharina Schmidt has been promoted from business development manager to senior business development manager, set to continue broadening the Angry Birds IP.
Miha Obal has been promoted to SVP of technology and business operations at Outfit7.
Hutch has promoted Arturo Bonetti to producer, following over two years in an associate producer role.
Aonic has promoted Christopher Scahill to senior producer.
Josh Goldie has joined Raptor PR as senior account manager.
Netflix has promoted Peter Eykemans to lead live game producer.
Eduardo G has joined The Walt Disney Company as director of partnerships and commercialisation.
Christian Bergmann has been promoted to deputy publishing director at Wargaming.
Yael Paz has been appointed as senior growth manager at Odeeo.
Matt Hyder has been promoted to director of product marketing at Singular.
Playtika has promoted Omri Tabor to product group manager.
Hires and job shifts
Everyday has made multiple new hires. Maxime Pham-Van has joined as founding ops after nearly five years at Homa, Maksim Priakhin has joined as head of engineering from PeopleFun, and Alex Nodet has left King to take on the role of founding engineer AI/ML.
Eric Seufert has joined Unity’s AI council as its third member alongside Jia Li and Julian Togelius.
Metacore has hired Anastasiia Blokhina as producer.
Stan Rudoi has returned to Xsolla as chief credit officer, leading development of credit programmes.
Nick Poole has taken up the mantle of chair at the Creative UK council.
Alyssa Padia Walles has joined Good Games Group as general manager.
Jukka Hilvonen has been appointed to the role of marketing director at Metamoki.
Sarper Baykalöz has joined Fomo Games as game team lead.
Alex Xu is a new advisor for Tencent, bringing his experience as MultiMetaVerse CEO.
Denis Morozov has joined Xsolla as head of corporate development.
PUBLSH has hired Christopher Anjos as director of product and strategy.
Unity veteran Kristin Cox has joined Discord in ad operations and analytics.
Nazara Technologies has hired Pooja Raj as senior UA manager.
Andrea Yang has joined thatgamecompany as senior manager.
Iikko Kuusela is working as an AI game designer at Supercell.
Simon Hade has joined Duolingo in a “new subjects” role.
Amy Choi has joined PeopleFun as director of product.
Promotions, departures, and new opportunities
Rovio’s Matthieu Burleraux has been promoted to vice president, game evolution. This follows his five-year stint as senior director of live operations, during which Burleraux worked to drive Rovio’s games business together with parts of the organisation like finance and central tech.
Now, his new role will see Burleraux focus mainly on Angry Birds Friends, with the goal of driving and maintaining year-over-year growth. He will also help to grow Ruby Games and look for new opportunities in Rovio’s portfolio.
“I’ll be focusing primarily on Angry Birds Friends, working with a highly talented team, while also supporting Volkan Erinc in growing Ruby Games and collaborating with our colleagues in Barcelona,” Burleraux posted on LinkedIn.
Apple veteran Rob Saunders has left the tech giant after 14.5 years, joining Rockstar as senior director, territory communications.
The shift-up comes after more than a decade in public relations at Apple. Saunders also brings more than seven years of experience at Nintendo to the role, having worked as head of communications in the Japanese giant’s UK branch.
Saunders specialises in PR and communications.
Key hire at Mega Rewards and rising the ranks at Roblox
Mega Rewards has made its first key hire in advertiser sales in Arikka Greene, who has joined as director of advertiser partnerships.
The Barcelona-based ads service has hired Greene for her many years of experience in the advertising space, including almost 14 years as founder, strategic talent acquisition at 3 Little Birds. More recently, Greene worked as a senior AI content and business development consultant.
Celebrating the hire on LinkedIn, Mega Rewards founder and CEO highlighted Greene’s “depth of experience, professionalism and leadership”. These qualities are expected to be a major boon to Mega Rewards’ sales efforts.
Entering his fifth year at Roblox, Jim Greer has been promoted to senior director of game solutions.
In the role, he will run his own team, lead products focused on genre expansion, and partner with IP holders to bring more games to the platform.
“Given the explosive growth of the platform and the increasing power and sophistication of our engine, I believe that it’s an amazing moment to make this happen,” Greer posted on LinkedIn.
Public relations and partnerships at Qualcomm and Wildlife Studios
Bringing more than 12 years of B2B experience to her new role, Linda Chung has joined Qualcomm as public relations manager.
The position will see Chung work on-site in San Diego, California.
Her previous experience includes a three-year span at Zynga in external PR for game launches. Chung later founded Rock the Story, where she supported media campaigns for tech companies.
Luiz Piccini has been promoted to director of studio partnerships and publishing at Wildlife Studios, set to focus on identifying global mobile game makers looking for a publishing partner.
The transition follows a period of focus on growing Wildlife’s internal games.
“Wildlife has developed world-class UA and live-ops capabilities over the years, which helped us launch and grow amazing games. At this new role, I’ll be leveraging these capabilities to help more games scale globally,” Piccini posted on LinkedIn.
Hires, promotions, and job shifts
After three years away, Harley Homewood has returned to Team17 with the new title of general manager. He already has nearly 12 years of experience at the company.
Epic Games has hired Activision Blizzard veteran Leo Parrill as growth marketing copywriter, set to create copy for global campaigns.
Enrico D’Angelo has been promoted to chief business officer, head of economy products at Roblox, as he approaches his eighth year with the company.
Michael Benedosso has returned to his role as chief of staff at Google after over five years as global leader of its Veterans Network.
Mega Rewards has also hired Alejandro Ramírez, bringing two decades’ experience to his new role as CTO.
Unity’s latest layoffs impacted Ben Cloward, a veteran developer with over 25 years in the industry. He supported Unity’s Shader Graph team during his time at the company.
Laurent Pawlowski has joined Xsolla as director of platform and store relations, bringing experience from Samsung, Unity, One Store and more.
John Heinecke is stepping down from his role as Square Enix’s chief publishing officer this month, after joining the team in 2022.
Sensor Tower’s Aidan Sutherland has been promoted to senior account director, following his promotion to account director in March 2024.
