September 2026 Jobs Summary – Fandom Grows Its Executive Team

Keeping up with the constant flow of hires, promotions and departures in the video‑game sector can be a daunting task. That’s why we gather the most noteworthy moves into periodic round‑ups, giving readers a single place to spot the latest talent shifts across studios and publishers. If you know of a noteworthy appointment or transition that belongs in this list, please forward the name, new title, company, and previous role to newhires@gamesindustry.biz. --- ### Fandom Strengthens Its C‑Suite Fandom announced three senior additions to its executive leadership roster and also elevated a long‑time veteran to a higher engineering role.

* **Anita Butler – Senior Vice President, Design & User Research** Butler arrives with a résumé that spans several high‑profile consumer‑facing platforms. She most recently served as EVP of Design and Research at Nextdoor, where she oversaw the creation of community‑centric experiences. Prior to that, she was Vice President of Consumer Design at Twitter and held the title of Chief Design Officer at Strava, guiding the visual and experiential language of those services. At Fandom, she will steer the design and research teams, ensuring that the company’s massive fan‑generated knowledge bases are both intuitive to navigate and delightful to use.

* **Damon Sicore – Chief Technology Officer & Head of Fandom Labs** Sicore brings deep open‑source and web‑technology expertise, having spent significant time at both Wikipedia and Mozilla. While at Mozilla he led the engineering groups responsible for core web standards such as HTML, JavaScript and CSS, as well as the Firefox browser itself. In his new role, he will set the technical direction for Fandom’s platform and head the experimental Fandom Labs division, which focuses on next‑generation tools for fan communities. * **Peter Scanlon – Chief Marketing Officer** Scanlon’s career includes senior marketing positions at Google, Mozilla and the agency Monks.

His experience spans brand strategy, user acquisition and community engagement, all of which are critical for a company whose business model revolves around fan interaction. As CMO, he will craft the narrative that positions Fandom as the premier hub for enthusiasts across movies, games, TV and more.

* **Daniel Grunwell – Senior Vice President of Engineering** A fifteen‑year Fandom veteran, Grunwell has been promoted to oversee the engineering and infrastructure organization. His deep institutional knowledge, combined with a proven track record of scaling backend services, makes him a logical choice to keep the platform reliable as its user base continues to expand. > "Fandom has an incredible foundation – millions of fans who have spent years building knowledge and communities around the things they love," said CEO Jay Sullivan. "Our opportunity is to build on that and give fans even more ways to connect, discover and participate.

Daniel's long tenure at Fandom brings a deep understanding of our roots and what makes our communities special, while Damon, Pete and Anita bring new perspectives and deep consumer and platform expertise. Together, we have the right team to build the next generation of Fandom." --- ### Other Notable Moves Across the Industry * **Jonathan Knight – Chief Games Officer, The New York Times** Knight, who previously served as Senior Vice President and head of games at the Times and led the acquisition and integration of the viral puzzle *Wordle*, now takes charge of the newspaper’s gaming portfolio. * **Chase Shi – Vice President, Head of Game Product, Scopely** After a stint away from Scopely—including product leadership roles at Jam City and Blizzard Entertainment (where he worked on *Diablo*)—Shi returns to lead Scopely’s product strategy.

* **Jonathan Marcelino – Director of Product, Scopely** Marcelino, the founder and former CEO of hybrid‑casual studio Ritmo Games, joins Scopely to drive product vision for its mobile titles. * **Berkay Özer – Head of Studio, Fomo Games** Özer, who moved from a product specialist role at Fomo (2022‑2025) to a product‑manager position at Loom Games, now returns to lead the studio’s overall direction. * **Peter Sydow – Head of Production, Arrowhead Game Studios** Sydow, formerly a senior producer at Massive Entertainment and PlayerUnknown Productions, takes the helm of production at the Swedish developer known for *Helldivers*. * **Ryan Ngoon – Game Designer, Blizzard Entertainment** Starting as a quest‑design intern in 2023 and advancing to associate game designer in 2024, Ngoon has been promoted to a full‑time designer role, contributing to Blizzard’s upcoming titles.

* **Sarah Johnson – Art Producer, Epic Games** Johnson brings experience from Bungie, Secret Dimension, Hangar 13 and Telltale Games, where she held various production positions, now supporting Epic’s art pipelines. * **Brian Trunk – Senior Vice President, Route to Market – Americas, Asmodee** After a decade as a partner at Asmodee and 17 years at Wizards of the Coast (including VP of Commercial, Digital Games Revenue and the Wizards Play Network), Trunk steps into a senior commercial role overseeing market strategy across North America. * **Wille Miljas – Director of Product Marketing, Rovio** Miljas, who joined Rovio in 2024 as marketing lead, previously headed marketing at Good Shepherd Entertainment and Redhill Games, and served as senior marketing manager for planning and strategy at Next Games. * **Jameson Durall – Senior Design Director, *Blight: Survival*, Behaviour Interactive** Durall’s background includes an advanced senior game designer role on *Marvel’s Spider‑Man 2* at Insomniac Games, now applying his expertise to Behaviour’s survival‑horror project.

* **Matt Dobill – Director of Applied AI, Epic Games (also Senior Counsel, Technology & Tools)** Dobill leads Epic’s applied‑AI initiatives, bridging technical innovation with legal and policy considerations. * **Joe Gabriel – Senior Technical Production Manager, AndroidXR, Unity** Previously head of customer and developer success at Niantic Spatial and senior developer‑relations manager at Niantic, Gabriel now focuses on Unity’s Android XR platform.

* **Erik Meurk – Senior Software Engineer, King** Starting as a Unity intern in 2023, Meurk progressed to associate software engineer in early 2024 and now holds a senior engineering position within King’s development teams. * **Stéfanie Grandchamp‑Dubé – Lead UX Designer, Epic Games** Grandchamp‑Dubé joined Epic in 2023 after a senior UX role at Behaviour Interactive, and now leads user‑experience design across Epic’s portfolio.

* **Jack Anderson – VFX Artist, Rebellion** Anderson moves from VFX positions at nDreams and Interior/Night to contribute to Rebellion’s cinematic and in‑game visual effects. * **David Scarborough – Senior Manager, EMEA Communications, Blizzard Entertainment** Scarborough’s background includes senior account direction at Brands2Life and communications leadership at Inflexion Games, Improbable and Koch Media/Deep Silver. * **Esther Lopez – Principal VFX Artist, King** Lopez began at King in 2014, rose to associate principal VFX artist in 2020, spent two years at Meta developing immersive VR‑AR experiences, and now returns to King in a senior creative role. * **Magda Marcinkowska – Production Manager, Marketing, CD Projekt Red** Previously acting publishing operations director at Techland, Marcinkowska now oversees marketing production for CD Projekt Red’s flagship titles.

* **Linh Lai – Accounting Assistant, Newzoo** After completing a six‑month internship, Lai transitions to a full‑time accounting assistant role, emphasizing the importance of linking detailed accounting processes to broader business objectives. * **Tommi Virolainen – Senior Game Programmer, Kokoon Games** Virolainen, formerly a tech programmer at Metacore and senior programming lead at Lightneer, now brings his expertise to the audio‑focused studio Kokoon.

* **Christopher Holtorf – Senior Quest Designer, CD Projekt Red** Holtorf moves from a senior narrative designer role at Intrepid Studios to shaping quests for CD Projekt Red’s open‑world experiences. * **Amir Satvat – General Partner, 1Up Ventures** Satvat, previously business‑development director at Tencent Games and founder of the community‑focused ASGC job‑resource network, joins 1Up to support smaller studios and foster a community‑first investment approach. * **Lasse Seppänen – Departing Supercell** After seven years—including roles as producer, head of game production services and general manager of Supercell London—Seppänen leaves to pursue new IP creation, with plans to launch his own studio in the UK by 2027. * **Giles Derrington – Director of Global Affairs, UK, Take‑Two Interactive** Derrington, formerly head of public affairs for TikTok UK, now leads Take‑Two’s UK government and regulatory engagement.

* **Jess Pearce – Senior People Partner, Kepler Interactive** Pearce, who joined Kepler as a people advisor in 2022 and became a people partner in 2024, now holds a senior partnership role supporting talent strategy. * **Shreya Godha – Producer, PlaySimple Games** Godha, previously an associate producer, has been promoted to full producer, overseeing game development pipelines.

* **Kelly Ekins – Director of Communications, Epic Games** Ekins comes from Unity, where she served as senior director of global PR for the Games and Made with Unity program, and previously held marketing leadership at Warner Brothers Games Montreal. * **Ilari Kuittinen – Co‑founder & Managing Director, Housemarque (stepping down)** After 31 years—including co‑founding the studio in 1995 and guiding it through an independent era before joining PlayStation Studios—Kuittinen steps aside, handing the reins to Sami “Haxu” Hakala while remaining an advisor. * **Tamara Feiman – CEO, Lion Studios (Tripledot Studios)** Feiman, who started at Lion Studios in 2020 as EMEA business‑development lead and later became publishing general manager, now leads the studio as CEO, emphasizing partnership‑driven growth. * **Heather Sangria – Community Manager, Sega of America** Sangria, formerly a contract social strategist at One More Game and digital‑strategy lead at Undead Labs, now oversees community engagement for Sega’s North‑American titles.

* **Emily Rose Chen – Senior Product Manager, Call of Duty, Activision Blizzard** Chen began at Activision as a financial analyst in 2020, moved into product management, and now leads senior product initiatives for the flagship franchise. * **Scot McCarron – Senior Director of Product Management, Call of Duty, Activision Blizzard** McCarron, who joined Activision in 2018 as a product marketing manager for emerging franchises, has risen to senior director, shaping the overall product roadmap for *Call of Duty*. These appointments, promotions and departures illustrate the fluid nature of talent within the gaming ecosystem, where seasoned veterans and fresh perspectives continually intersect to drive innovation and growth across the industry.