Jobs Roundup: January 2026 | Virtuos appoints Karl Stricker as CRO

It can be difficult keeping track of the various comings and goings in the games industry, which is why we compile them in semi-regular round-ups.

If you have new appointments or transitions in your company that belong here, please send the names of appointees, new role and company, and prior role and company to newhires@gamesindustry.biz.

Karl Stricker | CRO, Virtuos

Virtuos has appointed Karl Stricker as chief revenue officer.

Stricker will report directly to Virtuos CEO Gilles Langourieux as part of its executive leadership team, and will be based in Redmond, Washington.

Stricker was previously senior vice president of business development at Xsolla, and has over two decades of experience in the games and technology industries.

This includes leadership roles at Microsoft as part of Xbox publishing. He was also a founding member of Amazon Luna, and led business development for games on the Amazon appstore.

“What drew me to Virtuos is the way teams work closely with partners to solve real problems and deliver consistently high-quality results,” said Stricker.

“I’m excited to work alongside passionate teams across the company by operating as One Team, to create more value for our clients and ultimately help bring better games to players.”

Valentine Piedelievre-Eman | CCO, Ubisoft

Valentine Piedelievre-Eman has been named CCO at Ubisoft, starting on February 2, 2026.

Piedelievre-Eman will “lead development and implementation of [its] global communications and corporate brand strategy.”

She will report to Cécile Russeil, Ubisoft’s executive vice president of communications, corporate affairs, DIA, human resources, and legal.

“I’m delighted to welcome Valentine to Ubisoft. She brings both a strategic vision and a pragmatic approach to communications,” said Russeil.

“Her extensive experience across entertainment and technology in international organisations will be a strong asset as Ubisoft accelerates its comprehensive transformation, and her appointment reflects our ambition to elevate communications as a strategic function that fully defines and owns our narrative and supports our people, our players, our business objectives, and Ubisoft’s future.”

Piedelievre-Eman previously served as vice president of corporate communications at Warner Bros. Discovery for Western Europe and Africa. She led communications across France, the Benelux, Germany, and Africa, covering the group’s portfolio business.

She has also held senior communications roles at Expleo, SAP, and the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Dan Prigg | EVP and head of games, Paramount

Dan Prigg has been appointed EVP and head of games at Paramount.

In this role, Prigg will be responsible for executing “the long-term interactive entertainment strategy for Paramount and Skydance.”

This includes “overseeing internal development, external publishing, and worldwide licensing to expand franchise reach and grow [its] game portfolio.”

Prigg was previously executive vice president and head of studio at Skydance Interactive for four years. He also worked at Scopely as an executive producer, was studio director at GameHouse, and head of studios at Spil Games.

Cinzia Musio | Programme manager, UKIE

UKIE has appointed Cinzia Musio as its programme manager, leading its equity, diversity, and inclusion strategy.

Musio will lead UKIE’s Raise the Game programme, and support the firm with “bringing in and delivering new funded programmes and building key partnerships.

Prior to joining UKIE, Musio was non-executive director at Code Coven. They also held roles including interim CEO, co-CEO, and diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant.

Musio’s first role in the games industry was at Splash Damage in 2017, starting as an associate tech ops manager. They moved up the ladder to become operations project manager, then its diversity and inclusion advisor.

“Alongside UKIE, I genuinely believe I can make a great difference in making our industry a safer place where everyone gets to thrive, and I am ready to get things into motion,” said Musio.

“I’ve always had the value that we are stronger together, and my work will very much focus on bringing people across the industry together, and combine our efforts to bring about real, long-term change.”

Joshua Lamb | UK Communications manager, Ubisoft

Joshua Lamb has joined Ubisoft’s UK comms team as communications manager.

Lamb worked in journalism for four and a half years. He began his career at The Times as a community engagement journalist, before establishing its gaming section and becoming the publication’s first games critic.

“Ubisoft is a publisher whose games I’ve admired since I was a kid playing Rayman and Driver on the PlayStation 1, so the chance to be involved in everything it has coming up in the future is a dream,” said Lamb.

New hires at Secret Mode

Dan Robinson and Ade Lawton have joined Secret Mode as VP of marketing and publishing director.

Robinson will lead the publisher’s “full marketing team across product marketing, communications, and creative/brand.” He will oversee all these disciplines across Secret Mode’s portfolio.

Prior to joining Secret Mode, Robinson was group commercial director at Rebellion, having joined as head of games marketing.

He also held executive roles at Motorsport Games, Codemasters, and Eutechnyx.

Ade Lawton will lead “publishing efforts for multiple major titles” in his role as publishing director.

He will “act as a central point for these projects, overseeing the full product lifecycle across internal teams and collaborating closely with partners, platform holders, and developers.”

Lawton previously worked at Kwalee, Team 17, and Codemasters.

Terri Chudzik joins Microsoft’s game content & studios COO team

Terri Chudzik has been promoted to strategic governance partner on Microsoft’s game content and studios COO team.

Chudzik has been at Microsoft for almost three decades, having joined in 1997 as senior program manager.

Prior to joining the COO team, Chudzik was GM and product manager for the Xbox platform.

“My time in Xbox Platform Product Management taught me how much clarity and alignment matter when you’re trying to scale impact, and I’m excited to apply those lessons in a new way, creating the scaffolding that helps our studios thrive,” said Chudzik.

Chris Leggett | Xbox senior communications manager, Microsoft

Microsoft has appointed Chris Leggett as Xbox senior communications manager.

Leggett previously supported Xbox communications for four years at Assembly Media, working on the launches of Xbox Cloud Gaming and Xbox Series X|S.

Between his positions at Assembly and Microsoft, Leggett was PR manager at Amazon Game Studios.

Leggett also worked with Microsoft while holding senior management positions at WE Communications, working on Windows Mixed Reality and Microsoft HoloLens.

“I’m stoked to work on Xbox once more and to reunite with several incredible colleagues across both the Xbox and Assembly teams,” said Leggett. “I’m excited to get to know many new faces as well.”

Frontier Developments appoints Jo Cooke as CEO

Jo Cooke has been appointed CEO at Frontier Developments.

Cooke was chief marketing officer at Frontier, having returned to the company in 2025 after originally joining in 2014 as director of marketing, ecommerce, and publishing.

Prior to rejoining Frontier, Cooke was group director at Bastion. She started her career at Ocean Software as marketing manager in 1990, then moving to Maxis/Electronic Arts as European general manager.

Cooke also held marketing leadership positions at Bossa Studios and Curve Games.

“I have been passed the CEO baton by the wonderful Jonny Watts, big shoes to fill but I am very much looking forward to continuing with the strategy he has set,” said Cooke.

“Delighting our players and delivering more amazing creative management sim games from Frontier in the coming years.”

Jori Pearsall | SVP of games, Niantic

Niantic has appointed Jori Pearsall as SVP of Games.

Pearsall will be responsible for leading the developer’s Tokyo Studio, and will “oversee cross-functional teams” while “forging and strengthening key partnerships with global IP holders and stakeholders.”

Prior to joining Niantic, spent more than six years at Scopely, starting as VP of product to SVP of product and studio general manager.

“I couldn’t be more happy to be working with such a talented and passionate group of people who care deeply about Niantic’s mission to inspire people to get outside and explore the world together,” said Pearsall.

“It’s the perfect full circle moment for me bringing together my personal interests and all of my professional experience to date.”

Katie Scott | Head of Minecraft Vanilla, Mojang Studios

Katie Scott has been named head of Minecraft Vanilla at Mojang Studios.

Scott joined Mojang after working at Ubisoft as vice president of its global creative game office.

She also worked at The Coalition Studio as game design director and lead game designer on multiplayer and metagame, in addition to working at Electronic Arts for over a decade in various senior game designer roles.

“Even with all that Minecraft has achieved, we still have so much more to offer and my goal will be to support the team as we capture that potential,” said Scott.

“I will be relocating to Stockholm to join this amazing team – so, on a personal level, this is a huge adventure.”

Leadership changes at Nitro Games

Finnish developer Nitro Games has promoted Antti Ruonala to COO and Milka Tarkiainen to CPO.

Ruonala was previously head of operations, having joined in 2014 as business development assistant. He held various leadership positions, including head of B2B, business development director, and head of business development.

Tarkiainen was director of PeopleOps before her promotion. She joined in 2017 as marketing coordinator, having worked in HR management roles.

“During my close to nine-year-long journey at Nitro Games, I’ve learned more than I ever thought possible,” said Tarkiainen.

“Thanks to the almost unwavering trust and freedom to explore from Jussi Tähtinen and Antti Villanen, I have had the opportunity and absolute pleasure to help build Nitro to what it is now from the HR perspective.”

She added: “We have tried, measured, failed, succeeded, lost, gained and learned a ton, and it has prepped me to be ready for this next chapter and responsibility within the company I love so dearly.”

Jay Kim | General Manager of Korea, Kuro Games

Jay Kim has joined Kuro Games as general manager of Korea.

Kim previously held general managerial roles for Korea at Infold and Scopely, both for over two years.

He was also head of business development at mobile game publisher Tilting Point for Korea and Japan.

Kim started his career in the games industry at Razer in 2010 as Korea country manager, then held the same position at Glu Mobile.

“I am thrilled to announce my new role as General Manager of Korea at Kuro Games,” said Kim. “I have always admired developers who prioritize player experience above all else. Kuro Games is a perfect example of this.

“I am honored to lead the Korean branch and look forward to building even stronger local communities and delivering world-class service to our fans in Korea.”

Johny Scaglione | Executive producer, Azra Games

Johny Scaglione has been promoted to executive producer at Azra Games.

Scaglione joined the developer in 2024 as senior director of production.

He previously worked at Scopely for five years, starting as senior producer before becoming lead producer in 2021, then production director in 2023.

Scaglione was also assistant producer at Electronic Arts for six years, and held producer roles at IUGO Mobile Entertainment and Offworld Industries.

Jeremy Griffith | Creative director, Theorycraft Games

Jeremy Griffith has been promoted to creative director of Theorycraft Games.

Griffith joined the developer in 2021 as principal VFX artist, going on to work as senior game designer.

Before Theorycraft, he was lead VFX artist at Cloud Chamber, and senior VFX artist at Riot Games. Also provided remote FX development work for multiple clients.

“2025 brought a lot of challenges, but I am excited to announce that I am taking on the role of Creative Director at Theorycraft Games,” said Griffith.

“I am very grateful for the opportunity to bring my whole skill-stack to bear on some cool problems and new fun.”

Chris Redgrave | Business development executive, Raptor PR

Raptor PR has hired Chris Redgrave in its first dedicated business development role.

As business development executive, Redgrave will “initially support social and PR delivery for client accounts in a hybrid capacity, before transitioning to a full time business development role.”

Redgrave built his games industry career with Aaardvark Swift Recruitment. He previously worked at Phokou Digital, and has experience across business development, social media, and commercial strategy.

He is also the founder of Game Scout Journal, a blog supporting games studio founders.

CJ Melendez | Vice president of public relations, UberStrategist

CJ Melendez has been promoted to vice president of public relations at UberStrategist.

Melendez has been at the video game PR and marketing agency for over a decade, joining in 2014 as senior account director of PR services.

“CJ has been a steady source of leadership and support for our team, helping us grow and succeed together,” said UberStrategist.

“His promotion recognises not just great work, but the care and clarity he brings to everyone around him.”