At King, we’re Making the World Playful. Heard of Candy Crush? We’re the creators behind it. But we aren’t just crushing it with candies, we’re also behind Farm Heroes, Bubble Witch, Pet Rescue and loads of other sweet games.
We’re on a mission to level up the little moments for our more than 200 million monthly active users and create unforgettable games that are loved around the world. We take the art and science of gaming to the next level through curiosity for the unexplored, passion for games, respect for each other, and love for our players.
King strives to be a place where everyone can be their most authentic self, building a diverse and inclusive Kingdom for our people, players, and community.
As a leading interactive entertainment company for the mobile world, King is part of Activision Blizzard, which was recently acquired by Microsoft.
Websites: https://www.king.com/
Careers: https://careers.king.com/
Business Sector: Entertainment Providers
HQ Location: London and Stockholm
Game Studios: London, Stockholm, Barcelona, Malmo and Berlin
Office Locations: Malta, New York, Dublin, San Francisco, Los Angeles.
Number of People: 2000+
President, King: Tjodolf Sommestad
CFO: Christian Wurzinger
General Manager, Candy Crush Franchise: Todd Green
Women in Leadership:
Senior People Director: Nazareth Tekeste
Senior People Director: Silvia Aparicio
VP People, Candy Crush: Sofia Bergqvist
Head of Legal: Suzanna Temple-Morris
Senior Director, DE&I: Vikki Leach
VP, Farm Heroes Saga: Sabrina Carmona
At King, we have a shared promise to each other. It’s what we expect of ourselves and how we treat each other. It is the reason we’re creating new experiences that raise the bar, delight millions of people, and redefine the world of games again and again.
It's a special blend of creativity, passion, and collaboration and as a result, it’s the sweet reward we get. We’ll know we’ve outdone ourselves when we’ve inspired the world to play.
Maria Paskevich, Senior Data Scientist, King; Berivan Uçan, Associate System Engineer, Riot Games; Katja Ulbrich, Director of Digital Product, Product Management & UX, OpenBet; and Jacki Vause, Founder and CEO of Dimoso PR, look into ways that the industry can encourage more women to work in the sector and reveal how women can get started on forging a career in gaming.
We know it’s important for employees to feel like they can be themselves at work. Read on to hear Devon’s take on it after three years in the Kingdom.
From Barcelona to Malmö and London to Stockholm, hundreds of our Kingsters celebrated Pride this year – let’s take a look at what we got up to!
Associate Producer in our Soda team, Karolina Jansson, tells us how curiosity, embracing failures, and patience allowed to her find her natural home in the Kingdom.
Say Hej to Anna, Head of Technology Strategy and Operations, and continuously crushin' it.
Meet the wonderful Iulia Magheru, a Senior Java Developer and a formidable female force in the world of innovation and development.
At King, we don’t think one day is enough to celebrate the women in our business, in our lives, and in the world around us. So we took the month of March and filled it with a range of activities, campaigns, workshops, events, panels and conversations.
Meet Laia Navarro, an inspiring Engineering Manager at the helm of a 16-person team in the Barcelona Kingdom. She supports all kinds of characters, from backend and frontend developers to QA specialists and UX designers.
Read all about Felicia, UI Design Intern in Candy Crush Soda Saga, and Samantha, User Research Intern in Candy Crush Soda Saga, about their intership with King.
Being a Kingster isn’t only what you do, it’s also how you do it. Our values are at the heart of everything we do, and they guide us every day in our work, in our decisions, and in our interactions with each other and our players. Collectively, they are the way we are Making the World Playful.
We create an inclusive environment where everyone can belong. We build trust, we’re supportive and demanding in everything we do and we’re not afraid to have fun along the way.
We treat each other as equals. We seek and give feedback, we listen, we learn and we’re honest with ourselves and others.
We are responsive and embrace change. We take smart risks, are always ready to dust ourselves off, learn fast and try again.
We are curious about our players and drive innovation in big and small ways to delight them every day. We boldly seek new ways of thinking to unleash creativity.
Our passion guides us to set ambitious goals for ourselves and others. We hold each other accountable, see things through and contribute to our sustainable growth.
“As a female Director of Engineering at King, I feel safe and empowered, able to focus on delivering the best experience to players. It's the first time I've felt safe as a female professional and appreciated for who I am, regardless of my gender or wicked sense of humor. King invests in and takes care of its employees, surpassing other tech companies. I'm committed to staying at King and can't imagine leaving the greener side of the grass.”
- Noelia Almanza, Associate Director of Engineering
“I’m a working mum and have an energetic toddler at home that I get to be present for whilst still able to achieve my career goals. I am now lucky enough to be expecting our second child. Work is so important to me and where I’ve always found my purpose, and now being a mum, I love that joining King has enabled me to feel like I can be good at mum and work life.”
- Suzy Sheppard, Senior Director, Talent Acquisition
"As a Product Director for the Game Engine, which is powering King's biggest franchises, my journey from a designer to a leader has been empowering. King's culture champions diversity, inclusion, and career progression, providing vast learning opportunities. I've been blessed to work alongside many talented and kind-hearted individuals. As a woman in tech, I feel cherished and inspired here, and it's why I joined and stayed. I am thrilled about the future, driving innovation in gaming!"
- Barbara Polignano, Product Director
Making the World Playful is our mission – it’s the thread that connects our people, our players and our passion for our games. Let’s face it, who doesn’t love a bit of fun?
Kingsters are seriously playful: creative thinkers who balance art and science to bring moments of magic to millions daily. But our players aren’t the only ones that can level-up. We’re always looking for ways to champion each other and make what’s already great, even better.
So if this feels like a fun way to spend your days, and you share our passion, our values, and our hunger to shape the future, join us in Making the World Playful.
Making games is fun. Especially when you do it with people who share the same idea of what makes a good workplace, great. We design games for everyone, no matter where or who they are, and we employ all sorts of people from all kinds of backgrounds to bring them to life. Truth is, we simply can’t expect diversity in our players and originality in our games without first nurturing it in our people.
At King, we share a passion for making the world playful. To achieve this, it takes people with different skills, experiences, and world views to work together. There’s no such thing as a typical gamer. That’s why we embrace and celebrate what makes us different rather than what makes us the same.
We recognize that diversity, equity and inclusion is a vital and continuous conversation, and that change only happens when we all come together.We’re proud of our achievements so far. But there’s lots more to do.
That’s why our Kicking Glass programmes - for groups of Kingsters including women, LGBTQIA+, Collective Abilities and those from diverse racial, ethnic, national, or cultural backgrounds - as well as our Minus the Bias training, focused on the steps that we can take to reduce bias in our day-to-day roles and increase conscious inclusion, are blazing a trail in our industry, as we strive to create one as diverse as the players it serves.
Our Employee Networks help us to stay connected as individuals and as a company. Sometimes it’s sharing ideas and experiences, other times it’s sharing a meal. They host everything from movie nights, lunch and learns, open forums, and industry meet-ups, to workshops.
We want the Kingdom to reflect the ethnic, cultural, and national diversity of our Kingsters, our players, job markets, and communities around the world. Kaleidoscope is our employee network that focuses on this. They host diverse celebrations, shine a light on important cultural events and help to shape inclusion across the company.
King is a place where you can bring your whole self to work. The Royal Unicorns champion LGBTQIA+ inclusion and pride across all locations. They organise events, represent King at Pride, and play an important part in helping us raise our awareness.
We’re out to crush bias and Women@King are leading the way. We believe in equal opportunities and helping our Kingsters excel through career support, networking events, mentoring and recognition.
The Collective Abilities Network (CAN) is open to, and is a space to unite, Kingsters with apparent or hidden disabilities, neurodiversity, mental health issues, and their caregivers and allies.
We aim to make King as inclusive as possible by establishing accessible processes, improving existing ones, and acting as a mediator between Kingsters and King leadership.