September 2026 Jobs Summary – Fandom Grows Its Executive Team

Keeping up with the constant flow of hires, promotions and departures across the video‑game sector can be a daunting task. That’s why we regularly gather the most noteworthy personnel moves into a single, easy‑to‑read roundup. If you know of a transition that belongs in this list—whether it’s a new appointment, a promotion, or an exit—please forward the name, new title, company, and previous role to newhires@gamesindustry.biz.

In this edition we highlight a series of significant changes, beginning with Fandom’s expansion of its top‑level leadership and the promotion of a long‑time veteran, followed by a host of moves at other prominent studios and publishers. ### Fandom’s New Executives **Anita Butler – Senior Vice President, Design & User Research** Butler joins Fandom after a distinguished career shaping user‑centric products at major tech firms.

She most recently served as Executive Vice President of Design and Research at Nextdoor, where she oversaw cross‑functional design teams responsible for community‑building tools. Prior to that, she held senior design positions at Twitter (VP of Consumer Design) and Strava (Chief Design Officer), giving her deep experience in building engaging experiences for large, passionate user bases.

**Damon Sicore – Chief Technology Officer & Head of Fandom Labs** Sicore arrives from the open‑source world, having spent years in senior engineering roles at both Wikipedia and Mozilla. At Mozilla he led the teams that built the core web technologies behind Firefox, including the HTML, JavaScript and CSS engines, and helped steer the broader engineering strategy for the browser. His expertise in scaling platforms and fostering innovative lab environments is expected to accelerate Fandom’s technical roadmap.

**Peter Scanlon – Chief Marketing Officer** Scanlon brings a wealth of brand‑building experience from his stints at Google, Mozilla and the gaming studio Monks. He has a track record of launching global campaigns, growing community engagement, and aligning product messaging with audience expectations—skills that align closely with Fandom’s goal of deepening fan interaction across its properties. **Daniel Grunwell – Senior Vice President of Engineering (Promotion)** A fifteen‑year veteran of Fandom, Grunwell has been promoted to oversee the company’s engineering and infrastructure divisions.

In his new role he will be responsible for ensuring the reliability, scalability and performance of the platforms that host millions of fan‑generated wikis and discussion forums. His long tenure gives him a nuanced understanding of the technical foundations that support Fandom’s community‑driven ecosystem. > "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 deep roots at Fandom, combined with the fresh perspectives of Damon, Peter and Anita, give us the right team to create the next generation of fan experiences." ### Other Notable Appointments - **Jonathan Knight – Chief Games Officer, The New York Times** – Knight previously served as Senior Vice President and head of games at the Times, where he led the acquisition and integration of the viral puzzle phenomenon Wordle. - **Chase Shi – Vice President, Head of Game Product, Scopely** – Shi returns to Scopely after roles at Jam City and Blizzard Entertainment, where he directed product management for titles such as Diablo.

- **Jonathan Marcelino – Director of Product, Scopely** – Former founder and CEO of the hybrid‑casual studio Ritmo Games, Marcelino now steers product strategy for Scopely’s portfolio. - **Berkay Özer – Head of Studio, Fomo Games** – Özer, who joined Fomo in 2022 and later moved to Loom Games, now leads the studio’s creative direction. - **Peter Sydow – Head of Production, Arrowhead Game Studios** – With senior producer experience at Massive Entertainment and PlayerUnknown Productions, Sydow takes charge of production pipelines at Arrowhead.

- **Ryan Ngoon – Game Designer, Blizzard Entertainment** – Rising from an internship as a quest designer in 2023 to associate game designer in 2024, Ngoon now contributes to Blizzard’s flagship titles. - **Sarah Johnson – Art Producer, Epic Games** – Johnson’s résumé includes producer roles at Bungie, Secret Dimension, Hangar 13 and Telltale Games, bringing a rich background in art production to Epic. - **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 emphasizes community‑centric leadership. - **Wille Miljas – Director of Product Marketing, Rovio** – Previously central marketing director at Rovio, Miljas also led marketing teams at Good Shepherd Entertainment, Redhill Games and Next Games.

- **Jameson Durall – Senior Design Director, Behaviour Interactive (Blight: Survival)** – Durall’s prior work includes senior game design on Marvel’s Spider‑Man 2 at Insomniac Games. - **Matt Dobill – Director of Applied AI, Epic Games** – In addition to leading AI initiatives, Dobill serves as senior counsel on technology and tools.

- **Joe Gabriel – Senior Technical Production Manager, AndroidXR, Unity** – Gabriel previously headed customer and developer success at Niantic Spatial and managed developer relations at Niantic. - **Erik Meurk – Senior Software Engineer, King** – Promoted after joining as a Unity intern in 2023 and advancing to associate software engineer in early 2024. - **Stéfanie Grandchamp‑Dubé – Lead UX Designer, Epic Games** – Grandchamp‑Dubé moved to Epic in 2023 after serving as senior UX designer at Behaviour Interactive.

- **Jack Anderson – VFX Artist, Rebellion** – Anderson’s prior VFX experience includes work at nDreams and Interior/Night. - **David Scarborough – Senior Manager, EMEA Communications, Blizzard Entertainment** – Scarborough brings senior account and communications experience from Brands2Life, Inflexion Games, Improbable and Koch Media/Deep Silver. - **Esther Lopez – Principal VFX Artist, King** – Lopez, a veteran King artist who spent time at Meta developing real‑time VR‑AR effects, returns to her roots to enrich King’s visual style. - **Magda Marcinkowska – Production Manager, Marketing, CD Projekt Red** – Previously acting publishing operations director at Techland.

- **Linh Lai – Accounting Assistant, Newzoo** – After a six‑month internship, Lai now supports accounting processes and seeks to improve efficiency across the finance team. - **Tommi Virolainen – Senior Game Programmer, Kokoon Games** – Former tech programmer at Metacore and senior programmer at Lightneer. - **Christopher Holtorf – Senior Quest Designer, CD Projekt Red** – Previously senior narrative designer at Intrepid Studios.

- **Amir Satvat – General Partner, 1Up Ventures** – Former business development director at Tencent Games and founder of the community‑focused ASGC job‑resource platform. - **Lasse Seppänen – Departing Supercell** – After seven years, including leadership of game production services and GM of Supercell London, Seppänen plans to launch a new studio in the UK in 2027. - **Giles Derrington – Director of Global Affairs, UK, Take‑Two Interactive** – Previously head of public affairs for TikTok UK.

- **Jess Pearce – Senior People Partner, Kepler Interactive** – Joined Kepler as a people advisor in 2022, promoted to senior partner in 2024. - **Shreya Godha – Producer, PlaySimple Games** – Advanced from associate producer to producer.

- **Kelly Ekins – Director of Communications, Epic Games** – Former senior director of global PR for Unity’s Games and Made with Unity program; earlier marketing lead at Warner Brothers Games Montreal. - **Ilari Kuittinen – Stepping Down as Managing Director, Housemarque** – Co‑founder who led the studio for 31 years; transition to Sami “Haxu” Hakala ensures continuity as Housemarque integrates further with PlayStation Studios. - **Tamara Feiman – CEO, Lion Studios (Tripledot Studios)** – Rose through Lion Studios from EMEA business development lead in 2020 to publishing general manager, now steering the overall company. - **Heather Sangria – Community Manager, Sega of America** – Previously contract social strategist at One More Game and digital strategy manager at Undead Labs.

- **Emily Rose Chen – Senior Product Manager, Call of Duty, Activision Blizzard** – Joined as a financial analyst in 2020, moved into product management, now leads senior product initiatives. - **Scot McCarron – Senior Director of Product Management, Call of Duty, Activision Blizzard** – Progressed from product marketing manager (2018) to director of product management, now overseeing senior product strategy. These appointments reflect a broader industry trend of blending seasoned insiders with fresh external talent to drive innovation, expand community engagement, and strengthen technical foundations. As platforms evolve and fan expectations rise, companies are increasingly looking for leaders who can marry deep domain knowledge with a forward‑looking vision for interactive entertainment.

The influx of new executives at Fandom, alongside the numerous moves at other studios, underscores the dynamic nature of the games ecosystem in September 2026 and hints at the strategic directions these organizations are poised to pursue in the coming year.