At Values Value, we conducted a thorough search for a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) for a midcore mobile game studio. The company was strengthening its marketing function and preparing for a global launch of their flagship project. They needed a strategic leader capable of scaling marketing operations, managing large budgets, and driving user acquisition in Tier-1 markets.
After 2.5 months (59 working days), we successfully found and hired the right candidate for the role.
Project: Midcore, F2P, iOS/Android
Desired Candidate Profile
We were looking for a specialist with at least five years of experience as a CMO in similar gaming projects. Our ideal candidate needed to have a proven track record of building and leading marketing teams, as well as expertise in large-scale user acquisition with substantial budgets. Experience in influencer marketing was considered a plus.
Our client wanted a responsible and independent professional with strong analytical skills, excellent negotiation abilities, and the capability to take full ownership of the company’s marketing strategy.
Challenges
Communication with the client was well-established, but their team lacked marketing expertise and didn’t have a specialized professional who could assess a candidate’s skills for a managerial role. We were concerned that they might hire the wrong person or, conversely, overlook the right candidate.
We recommended consulting industry experts who could properly evaluate the candidates’ skills. In the end, the hiring managers discussed the matter with investors, who suggested a specialist to assess the candidates’ hard skills.
The second challenge was attracting specialists to a startup without established marketing processes. Initially, the new CMO would have to handle a lot of hands-on work, which not all candidates were willing to take on.
What Helped to Fill the Position
On the 59th working day, the right candidate accepted the offer. Their expertise in mobile gaming marketing, team leadership, and performance-based UA strategies made them the perfect fit for the company’s growth goals.
The candidate was actually drawn to the challenge of joining a startup! The project is ambitious, has strong metrics, decisions are made quickly, and there was a great match in both soft skills and the overall vision for its development. They described it as a breath of fresh air after working in a large bureaucratic structure.
This success was the result of collaboration between the hiring team and Values Value, ensuring the right leader joined the company at the right time. On the Values Value side, the process was managed by Dariia Tokar, our Recruitment Consultant, and Sasha Kononenko, our Recruitment Lead. Great job!
