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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.
Performance and product at Rovio and Blizzard Entertainment
Smith Dela Pena has joined Rovio as performance marketing lead for Angry Birds Dream Blast.
The puzzle game has been operational since before the pandemic and continues to introduce new content – the latest being its Chocolate Season. Dela Pena’s new duty is to turn growth into a scalable system, leading UA for the title, bringing experience from Gameloft.
At the same time, Dela Pena will lead budget ownership and cross-channel execution while connecting UA, product and monetisation.
“Super amped up to work with one of the leading IPs in mobile gaming and to be officially introduced to my new favourite character, Silver,” Dela Pena posted on LinkedIn.
After three years at Scopely, Yolanda Zhang has joined Blizzard Entertainment as senior product manager.
She’s been working in product management for over a decade, across NHN Entertainment, MobilityWare, Monarc Gaming Labs and Kongregate. Her latest role at Scopely was also as senior product manager, the title she now holds at Blizzard.
“I am extremely fortunate to have gone from one dream company to another, and although the past year was a challenge in itself, I am super grateful to everyone who supported, guided and rooted for me. I am one very lucky person,” Zhang posted on LinkedIn.
Managing products and helping with hires at Scopely
Building on a decade of experience in mobile games, Anastasia Kuprina has been hired by Scopely as its new associate director of product management.
Kuprina’s previous employers include Rovio and Seriously, with her prior titles spanning data analyst, lead product manager, team manager and more. She was part of the Angry Birds Dream Blast leadership team and mentored a team of product managers.
“I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as associate director of product management at Scopely,” she posted on LinkedIn.
Valeria Fonseca has been promoted to associate global mobility partner at Scopely after 2.5 years at the company. In that time, she rose from global talent mobility coordinator to associate global talent mobility specialist, responsible for managing end-to-end immigration and relocation processes for global Scopely hires and internal transfers.
Now she has been promoted again, building on her experience partnering with RMCs, immigration providers, tax advisors, external payroll partners and others to ensure successful onboarding of staff.
Prior to Scopely, Fonseca has worked at TDCX, LinkedIn, Peds Tomas Producciones and elsewhere.
“I just levelled up! Excited to share my growth into an Associate Global Mobility Partner role at Scopely,” she posted on LinkedIn.
Leading houses and designing games at Ubisoft and King
Ubisoft has named former Tencent Games Global head of development and portfolio support Julien Bares as GM for Creative Houses 3 and 5.
Under its new company structure, Ubisoft’s Creative House 3 is responsible for Blue Mammoth, Ivory Tower and Montreal. Creative House 5 is home to Ubisoft’s mobile operations, with studios including Barcelona Mobile, Abu Dhabi, Ketchapp, Kolibri Games, Paris, Ubisoft Mobile Games and Ubisoft Paris Mobile.
“I entered the games industry to create experiences that resonate with players. Leading Creative Houses 3 and 5 is an opportunity to partner with incredibly talented teams to build innovative games and deepen the connections we have with our communities,” Bares said.
Carlos Valenzuela has been promoted to principal game designer at King, shifting his focus from Candy Crush to Minecraft Blast.
The new game was playtested in Malaysia last November and promises quick gameplay sessions tailored to mobile. As its development continues, Valenzuela is now principal game and content designer.
He’s been working at King since 2020 and has prior game design experience at Triton Games, Play2Speak and Gamelearn.
“I’m also wrapping up a fantastic journey on Candy Crush Saga as I move on to a new adventure: working on Minecraft Blast, the new game from King and Mojang Studios. Excited to trade one iconic universe for another and help craft something fresh for players to explore,” he posted on LinkedIn.
Multiple shift-ups at Scopely, King and The Pokémon Company
After two years at 2K, Samuel Qang has been hired as associate product marketing manager at The Pokémon Company International. Beverly Kearney has converted from contractor to a permanent employee at the company, now serving as 3D brand service partner.
At Scopely, Mário Zanella has been promoted to senior producer and Gabriele Simonetti to senior manager of AI solutions within Scopely’s BizOps and Strategy group.
At the same time, Nadav Moshes has moved from Playtika to Scopely, where he’s now working as director of slate and portfolio strategy. Playtika veteran Kobi Pri-Cerem has also joined Scopely, now VP of business operations.
Meanwhile, Maria Férez Masegú has risen to manager, people operations (EMEA) after two years with the company.
King has promoted Mick Heijkens to principal game designer, working on Candy Crush Saga. Iris Shin has been promoted to senior product analyst, and Mark Redgrave has been hired as product marketing manager on the Candy Crush Soda Saga team.
New hires at Apple Ads, Zynga, Gameloft, and more
Lynn Li has joined Apple Ads as client partner, GCR Games – domestic.
Zynga has hired Onur Tunç as a mobile game engineer, as he moves on from Gram Games after three years.
After 13 years at ZeptoLab, Sergei Maslennikov has joined Voodoo as creative director.
Mobile-first Metasports has appointed Manoj Kadarla as head of marketing.
Shannon Maguire has moved from Audiomob to AdTonos, serving as global head of marketing.
Roxana Patrascu has joined Gameloft as a senior UI/UX designer.
India-based esports firm Nodwin Gaming has appointed Sidharth Kedia as chief strategy and investments officer, having previously served as CEO between 2019 and 2023.
Eneba has hired Gabriel Lewis as VP of partnerships, set to help grow rewarded app Snakzy.
Former Raptor account executive Clara Vazquez has moved over to The 10 Group, now a senior account executive.
Games investor Transcend Fund has hired Karyn Gibson as head of IR and capital formation.
Promotions at Tilting Point, Playtika, Miniclip, and more
Marc Galdo Ojeda has been promoted to associate producer at Tilting Point. Claudio Bonaddio has been promoted to lead, VIP product strategy.
Chen Leshez has been promoted at Playtika, now serving as the company’s SVP.
Snap Inc’s Nassim Abbassi has been promoted from account manager – gaming and RMG to the role of client partner.
Miniclip has promoted Dina Rashdan to lead product manager.
Ruth Ifode has been promoted to office manager at LEGO Digital Play.
