August 2026's Movers and Shakers: Nazara, Netflix, AppMagic, Cypher Games, Kabam, Lil Snack and more

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.

Changes at Nazara and switching from Sensor Tower to AppMagic

Nazara Technologies CEO Nitish Mittersain is stepping down from the role in September, but will remain as managing director.

This change will see Mittersain continue one of his existing roles at the company, having originally become managing director in 2003. Over 26 years he has served as CEO twice.

Meanwhile, Raymond Albaladejo Stauffer is expected to take on the CEO role next, having worked closely with Mittersain over the past year.

"At Nazara, every level completed has opened the way to a more ambitious one. This chapter as CEO now concludes, but there is much more of the journey ahead. l look forward to continuing it as managing director and helping shape what comes next," said Mittersain.

Lauren Dignam has taken on a new role as VP of sales and customer success for AppMagic, following the mobile app market intelligence platform’s acquisition by Sensor Tower.

The move follows six years in multiple account management roles at Sensor Tower, where Dignam most recently served as SVP, account management, helping to build and scale the company’s operations.

"I am really looking forward to lead our global commercial engine focused on building a dedicated, highly scalable SMB offering for all businesses who need Mobile insights. While Sensor Tower traditionally serves medium to large enterprise clients, by leveraging AppMagic's unique and intuitive platform we are opening up world class mobile market intelligence to agile, growing developers and startups worldwide," she posted on LinkedIn.

"Having spent the past two months with my new team I am really impressed by their resilience and go-forward attitude."

Departing Epic and joining Cypher Games

After almost nine years at Epic Games, Ben Board is stepping down and focusing on music. Following a "summer of downtime" he plans to return to the games industry, now approaching 30 years of experience in the sector.

During his years with Epic, Board has served in five positions from developer support manager to business development director of Unreal Engine and Epic Games Store. He has also worked at Microsoft, Boss Alien, Lionhead Studios and Hutch.

"After eight and a half extraordinary years representing Epic to the games industry in the UK and Europe, I've decided it's time for something new. I depart soon and by choice, and with the Unreal Engine logo permanently printed on my soul," Board posted on LinkedIn.

Approaching one full decade in the games industry, Playtika veteran Paulina Arstein has joined Cypher Games as director of game analytics.

In the new role, she’ll be responsible for leading monetisation, game economy and analytics for an AI-native business, building on her experience as a senior director of AI for the past year at Playtika.

Earlier in her career with the Israeli organisation, Arstein served as BA, analytics and DS team leader, senior director of analytics and economy, and more. She also spent more than a year with Jelly Button, Playtika’s games accelerator.

"After an incredible nine-year journey in Playtika, including an unforgettable experience in Jelly Button, I'm excited to share that I'm joining Cypher Games as director of game analytics," Arstein posted on LinkedIn.

"What convinced me wasn't technology - it was the combination of sharp game design, relentless ambition, openness for change and founders with a bold vision for what's next. As simple as that."

Promotions and appointments at Kabam and Lil Snack

Ilaria Di Camillo has been promoted to development director after 2.5 years with Kabam Montreal. She started out as development manager in 2024 where she helped optimise Jira workflows to streamline production and reduce operational friction across teams.

A Women in Games ambassador, Camillo has also worked at Keywords Studios, Apple and Ludia.

"When I started working in the game industry, I could never have imagined that, less than ten years later, I would reach this milestone. This promotion means a great deal to me, both professionally and personally, and I'm deeply grateful to everyone who has trusted me, challenged me, mentored me and helped me grow throughout my journey," she posted on LinkedIn.

Lil Snack has appointed Bill Kang as its new chief operating officer.

A former Supercell and Scopely executive, Kang has joined as Lil Snack looks to accelerate the growth of its daily games business. The company operates more than 20 daily games across platforms like Netflix, Peacock and Reddit, and has claimed to see engagement growth of 500% year-over-year.

Kang previously worked alongside members of Lil Snack's founding team at Scopely.

“After resigning from Supercell, I spent a few months really chewing on what I wanted to do next. I knew I wanted a small, killer team with a strong culture at an early stage, something to actually build alongside founders I trust, not simply inherit," Kang posted on LinkedIn.

Job changes at Wizards of the Coast, Rovio and more

Jars AI co-founders Steffen Holm and Chris Kruger have joined Roblox’s Foundation AI team after helping ship the platform’s mobile-first AI game creation tool Build in New Zealand.

Wizards of the Coast president John Hight will also step down next month, according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Mobile veteran Joe Chard has joined Netflix as lead product manager on the Games Product Management team.

Ilona Parshukova is now a legal assistant at Rovio Entertainment.

Alisson Paschoal Hausmann has been promoted to staff mobile developer at Almedia.

New hires at King, Appodeal, Epic Games and more

King has hired Frida Johansson as associate director of engineering in the game economy area. Meanwhile, Malin Öhman has joined as a UX designer on Candy Crush Saga. Cecilia Z has come aboard as a senior game designer, joining the game system team behind Farm Heroes Super Saga.

Kristapor Giragosian has joined Appodeal as chief operating officer, based at the company’s Barcelona office.

Martin Keely has joined Epic Games as the VP and general manager of Epic Games Store and Epic Online Services.

Merve Gürbüz has moved from Agava Games to Rollic, starting a new position as a software engineer.

Product Madness has promoted Dave Bland to VP of product, building on eight years of experience with the company.

İrfan Söğüt has been hired by Joygame Publishing as a junior growth manager.

Carl Cavers has joined co-development studio Vertpaint as a non-executive director and shareholder.

Verve has hired Alessandro Giuliani as its new chief revenue officer.

Andrey Ivashentse has joined The Games Fund as partner, EMEA.

Chris Roberts has joined Chess.com as VP of media and content services.

Ahmet Batuhan Bozkus is now a senior software engineer at Loom Games.