Major gaming tech firm sought Senior Director to grow their business in APAC

One of the largest video game development and publishing companies in the world. They required a Senior Director to drive retail sales and business development partnerships across the region.

The client had been looking for 6 months but hadn’t been able to find a good match. The ideal candidate was expected to have superior business development and sales experience along with CxO level connections within retail distributors.

The company culture was highly domestic and needed to be changed, so the client desired someone dynamic with a fresh perspective on a traditional market. The industry was small and interconnected, and numerous prospects had already been approached so there was widespread knowledge of the vacancy and a lack of interest in it largely due to the company culture.

We took a slightly unconventional approach to this search, advising the client to consider focusing on candidates not currently in industry but possessing the requisite retail and e-com distributor connections and sales & business development experience. This would ensure we could deliver a viable pool of candidates with a fresh perspective and interest in the client role.

To the candidates we emphasized the success of the company globally, the autonomy of the role, and the future career benefits of working this role successfully.

In the end, the client selected a dynamic candidate with past experience in gaming but who had most recently been working in a different industry. The candidate was also driving business transformation within his own company at the time we approached him. One year into his new role the client is enthusiastic about the new hires’s performance and has asked our assistance on 2 other critical hires.