New Hires in Social Gaming: 6waves LOLapps, Breaktime Studios, Gamzee, & More

It has been a busy week in the social games hiring space as 11 highlighted developers bring on new individuals according to LinkedIn and other sources. Moreover, many typically quiet developers showed new activity with Zynga hosting a massive hiring streak all its own. Two leadership hires were also reported this week, including Michael Scholz, who joins Gamzee as its new Chief Technology Officer, and Phil Frazier, who joins Zynga as an executive producer (although he appears to have been in that role since June). As always, if your company is hiring new people or making a notable promotion, please let us know. Email editor (at) insidesocialgames (dot) com, and we’ll get it into this or next week’s post. Also, please note that the information about most new hires, below, comes directly from company updates from LinkedIn, and is only as current as each person’s profile. Looking for new opportunities? The Inside Network Job Board presents a survey of current openings at leading companies in the industry. Here’s this week’s full list: 6waves LOLapps Jonathan Akhavan, "People Team" -- The LOLapps side of the newly merged 6waves LOLapps notes the hiring of Akhavan this week. Akhavan was most recently a recruiter for Ask.com. Breaktime Studios Heidi Anspaugh, Community Manager -- Anspaugh joins Breaktime Studios this week. Before this, she was a Home community manager at SCEA, PlayStation Network at Sony Computer Entertainment America. David Leistiko, Software Engineer -- Leistiko was previously a software engineer at Sony Online Entertainment. Gamzee Michael Scholz, Chief Technology Officer -- As noted prior, Gamzee hires on Michael Scholz as its new CTO. Scholz boasts experience from several studios, including Sierra Online, WildTangent, THQ, and SkillJam. Kixeye Nicole Tanner, Game Writer -- Kixeye brings on Tanner this week. She was previously an editor for IGN Entertainment. Mindjolt Bhaskar Upadhyay, Software Engineer -- Mindjolt shows its first activity in a while, hiring Upadhyay. Prior to this, he was an ASP.NET programmer intern at Civic Resource Group. NaturalMotion Frank Kitson, Art Director -- NaturalMotion hires on four new team members this week, starting with Kitson, a former senior art director at Crytek. Straun Robertson, Product Director -- Also joining NaturalMotion is Robetson. He was most recently a student at The University of Edinburgh. Andy Johns, Senior Technical Artist -- Johns was previously a senior technical artist at UTV Iginition Entertainment. Patrik McCormack, Producer -- McCormack was formerly a producer at Activision. Nordeus Tamara Stojanović, HR Assistant -- Nordeus also shows hiring activity this week, starting with Stojanović. She was previously a student at the Univerzitet u Beogradu. Nemanja Posrkača, Online Marketing Manager -- Also joining Nordeus is Posrkača, a former project manager at AIESEC Serbia. Marija Mitrovic, Software Development Engineer -- In an internal change at Nordeus, Mitrovic moves up from an internship role. Zarko Petrovic, Software Development Engineer -- Petrovic is noted to hold prior experience with PSTech. Playdom Juny Chen, Art Intern -- Now at Playdom, Chen was previously a student at the Academy of Art University. PopCap Games Stephen Byrne, Artist -- In a single hire for PopCap Games, Byrne joins the team this week. He is currently a freelance illustrator for RTE and storyboard artist for H2 Films, and he was previously a storyboard artist for Irish International. Wooga Esko Javanainen, Product Manager -- Javaninen joins wooga this week. He was formerly a gameplay designer for Remedy Entertainment. Zynga Fransiskus Xaverius, Software Engineer -- Xaverius kicks off a heavy week of new Zynga hires. He was previously a software engineering intern at Google. Keith Brown, Desktop Support Technician Vendor -- Also joining Zynga, Brown is also a student at Year Up, and was previously a student at City College of San Francisco. Wei Hai, Software Engineer -- Hai was formerly a programmer for Uniplay Design. Channing Corn, Software Engineer -- Prior to Zynga, Corn was a senior software developer at Multimedia Games. Neil Chheda, Product Manager -- Chheda was a business analyst at McKinsey & Company. Keki Burjorjee, Software Engineer -- Joining Zynga this week is Burjorjee, a former software development engineer for Amazon. Amy Luu, Lead Analyst -- In an internal shift at Zynga, Luu changes roles from a fraud/risk analyst. Gyan Upadhyay, Software Engineer -- Upadhyay was previously a White Box QA engineer at BetaSoft Inc. Phil Frazier, Executive Producer -- Phil Frazier is noted to have become a new executive producer for Zynga. Prior to this he was an executive producer for EA Tiburon. That said, he has been in the role since June and this is merely a late update. Todd Freedman, Senior Accounting Manager -- In another internal Zynga change, Freedman moves up from his prior role as an accounting manager. Adarsh VN, Talent Acquisitions -- Adarsh VN was previously a senior recruitment specialist at the Yahoo Software Development Center. Sunil Kata, Software Engineer -- Kata was previously a product engineer at Rediff.com. Ramkrish Raja, Software Engineer -- Raja was most recently an IT manager and web developer at the University of Pennsylvania - Weiss Tech House. Lei Zhang, Art Producer -- Zhang was formerly a project manager and art lead for Funcom. Kalyan Chakravarthy, Software Engineer -- Chakravarthy was previously a software engineer at ESPN Cricinfo.

Social Pro Daily

New Hires in Social Gaming: 6waves LOLapps, Breaktime Studios, Gamzee, & More

Christopher Mack

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Christopher Mack