international expansion

stakeholder managment

We are hiring a senior, hands-on General Manager to improve product and delivery predictability, support international growth and make our company less dependent on individual executives for routine decisions and operational problem-solving.

You will formally report to company's CEO and work closely with both co-owners, including the current COO. This is a high-autonomy senior management role, not a C-level appointment from day one.

The long-term mandate spans people leadership, product, production and company-wide day-to-day operations. The handover will be staged. From day one, you will own company’s cross-functional operating cadence (the shared view of priorities, risks, dependencies and decisions) and an initial management scope agreed with you before the offer.

You will help shape the rest of the transition. Based on evidence from the business, you will identify what should transfer next, why it matters, what conditions are required and how to take it over without destabilising the team or product. In areas not yet transferred, you diagnose and recommend; you are not accountable for outcomes outside your authority.

What you will own

● Strategy into execution. Within your scope, translate company goals into a coherent product roadmap, initiative portfolio, quarterly priorities and clear functional commitments. Make trade-offs visible and stop, defer or reshape work when demand exceeds capacity.

● Product and production. Progressively own roadmap prioritisation, success measures, capacity and scope trade-offs, cross-functional delivery, milestone confidence, quality gates, release readiness and LiveOps decisions.

● People leadership. Manage and develop the functional leaders transferred to you; set clear outcomes and decision rights; run effective feedback and performance rhythms; address persistent performance or role-fit issues fairly and decisively.

● The operating model. Build a lightweight leadership cadence and a trusted view of priorities, owners, product hypotheses, decisions, risks, dependencies, capacity and forecast versus actual performance.

● Resources and business performance. Connect staffing, vendors, budgets and operating costs to product priorities and expected value. As the mandate expands, take responsibility for integrated planning, budget allocation and agreed financial outcomes.

● International readiness. Coordinate the relevant functional owners across localisation, regional analytics, releases, payments, legal and privacy, player support and market operations.

● The handover. Map decision bottlenecks and executive load; build an evidence-based case for each proposed transfer; define the outcome, authority, people, resources, risks and success measures required.

● Owner visibility. Give both owners a concise, candid view of product, people, delivery, finances and risk, with options and a recommendation when a decision is needed.

How the mandate will expand

● Your initial responsibilities, direct reports and decision rights will be named in writing before the offer.

● During the first six months, the mandate will be reviewed regularly with both owners against business need, demonstrated readiness and agreed outcomes.

● Each transfer will include the authority, information, reporting lines and resources needed to own the result. Once a decision has transferred, there should be one accountable owner and no duplicate routine approval path.

● Your objectives will cover only the scope for which you have the necessary authority.

● Scope and title may be reviewed as the real mandate changes. A COO title would require genuine company-wide operating, leadership and financial accountability; it is not an automatic promotion based on tenure.

What success looks like

First 30 days ● Build trust with both owners, functional leaders and the wider team. ● Map the product roadmap, organisation, recurring decisions, budgets, workflows, dependencies, material risks and current executive load. ● Establish useful baselines and propose the handover sequence, the next meaningful scope to transfer and safeguards required.

By day 90 ● Run one reliable leadership cadence covering priorities, milestones, capacity, risks and decisions. ● Demonstrate independent and effective ownership of the initial agreed management and decision scope, with clear outcomes and no duplicate manager or routine approval path. ● Improve an agreed indicator such as decision speed, delivery confidence or management clarity, and agree the next transition step.

By month 6 ● Own an integrated planning and execution loop across the areas transferred to you. ● Manage the functional leaders in your scope and make agreed product, staffing and delivery trade-offs within explicit limits. ● Show measurable improvement in agreed product, business or operating indicators and maintain a credible roadmap for the remaining handover. The longer-term outcome is a leader capable of running company's day-to-day operations and a 12-month operating plan aligned with international growth and core-market stability.

What you bring

We care more about evidence and scope than about a particular previous title.

● Senior leadership experience in game development or a comparably complex, cross-functional live digital-product environment.

● Evidence of owning outcomes across people, product and delivery, not only project plans or process facilitation.

● Experience managing managers or functional leads, including hiring, feedback, performance improvement and team development.

● A track record of operating a live product through meaningful roadmap, release, quality and business trade-offs.

● Strong portfolio, product and financial judgement: prioritisation, capacity, budgets, forecasts, resource allocation and product-level financial insight.

● Evidence of leading material organisational change in an ambiguous, founder-led or scaling environment.

● The credibility and stakeholder judgement to build alignment between owners and senior leaders without relying on title or hierarchy alone.

● Executive-level candour: you surface difficult facts early and bring options with a recommendation.

● A player-coach mindset: able to operate at company level and still enter the detail needed to understand a blocked release, unclear brief or failing handoff.

Language requirements

● Russian: C2-level full professional fluency, spoken and written. This is essential for nuanced leadership, product discussions, performance feedback and conflict resolution with a predominantly Russian-speaking team.

● English: professional working proficiency (B2+), spoken and written. You should be comfortable leading meetings, working with international partners and producing clear business documentation in English.

Especially relevant, but not required: leadership in a studio of 20 to 100 people; taking responsibility over from a founder or incumbent executive; LiveOps, free-to-play or social/multiplayer products; international expansion; and distributed teams.

What we offer

● A substantial operating mandate that expands together with explicit authority and measurable results.

● A mature live product with meaningful history and the opportunity to shape our operating model and international chapter.

● High autonomy, direct access to both owners and visible company-wide impact.

● Remote work or a hybrid format from our St Petersburg office. The role requires substantial overlap with the team's working day in Moscow time.

● Full-time engagement. International applicants are welcome wherever we can establish a compliant employment or contractor arrangement.

● Performance compensation: a KPI-based bonus assessed and paid every six months, up to 100% of the fixed compensation earned during the same six-month period.

● The KPI framework will be agreed in writing at the start of each cycle and will cover only outcomes for which you have the necessary authority. If the mandate changes materially during a cycle, the relevant KPIs and baselines will be reviewed rather than applied retrospectively.

● The offer will specify payment currency, tax treatment, KPI definitions and payout mechanics, together with how compensation, scope and title are reviewed as the role assumes broader accountability.

● For eligible employees: private medical insurance after probation, English-language learning support and access to our office benefits.