With so many online casino software companies out there these days, there has never been greater demand for highly skilled professionals to make those companies a success.
What’s more, with so many different types of software companies focussing on different areas of the industry, and the ever-changing gambling rules and regulations from one country to a next, the range of jobs available has never been broader.
A small start up might be able to operate with a skeleton staff of a few coders, a few designers, a very small marketing team and someone to manage them, outsourcing most other business needs; but a huge company like Playtech who offer B2C as well as B2B services would do a lot more in house and need an army of employees, and most likely a department to manage them all too.
For anyone wanting to get into the gaming industry then there has never been a better time, even for those not directly involved in making the games.
If you have ever wondered what type of job roles exist at the companies that make the games you love to play, this article is for you.
Different Departments at Casino Game Companies
It might be easiest to handle this one department at a time so that you can see who is likely to work with who, and how a software business might be structured in terms of its staff.
Obviously, each business is its own entity so they will all have their individual ways of doing things, which means that the following won’t be 100% the case for every developer out there, but it’s a good example of a general framework.
We have a whole article on how casino games are developed which covers some of this in more detail too, as well as looking at it from a different angle.
We should also reemphasize that not all companies will need all of these departments – a small start up won’t need an HR team for example, and they might hire an external accountancy firm rather than employ their own in house finance team.
The one department every single casino game and software developer will definitely need though, is a design team to create the games in the first place, so let’s start there.
Design Team
These are the guys and gals that plan the game from the user’s perspective; from the theme and what it looks and sounds like, to the story telling aspects, engagement, and objectives.
They don’t handle the nuts and bolts of actually making the game work, that’s the technical team’s responsibility, but they will liaise with them so that both teams are working towards the same goal.
A lot more goes into the design than purely drawing funny pictures though, and a lot of work goes into analysing what different player types want from their games and how to best deliver that to them both in terms of visual and audible stimulation as well as taking psychology into account.
Job roles might include:
- Lead Designer – Effectively the top of the food chain in the design team. They might also be called a project lead or a product owner, but they must come up with proof of concept presentations, design summaries and schematics, and ultimately drive each games development.
- Graphic Artist – One of the really fun jobs is actually drawing the artwork for the game, so coming up with the characters, designing the backdrop, what the symbols will look like etc.
- Math Lead – Every slot is based on mathematical algorithms that are calculated and balanced in such a way to give the game it’s advertised RTP while also taking into account all of the game’s features and its volatility. The maths behind a game is an incredibly important aspect of its design.
- Audio Producer – Every sound you hear from the game you are playing has been chosen and/or created by the people working on the audio. They might hire voice actors, use samples, or create sounds themselves to bring the game to life.
- UI Designer – This stands for user interface, and UI designers in slot games are responsible for deciding what goes where and exactly how each game is put together to be most attractive to players.
- UX Designer – This stands for user experience, so the focus for UX designers is more on how the player will feel at each point in the game. They think about what they want the player to experience from their first moment playing the game to the last. They use a lot of research, data analysis, testing and feedback in their work.
IT and Technical
The really complicated stuff is handled by the tech team, and there are many different job roles in this area with lots of crossover as well as roles designed to focus on very specific areas.
It’s an incredibly complex area to understand for those not already involved, but essentially the tech team make sure that everything works as it should both onscreen and off.
A deep understanding of coding is important for all roles in this department, as is being able to work with a number of different coding languages such as Python, HTML, C++, SQL, JavaScript, etc.
Equally important as being able to create and maintain the systems and infrastructure required to make the games work, is being able to identify issues when they arise and fix them quickly, so a keen eye for detail is essential.
- Platform Developer – Someone working on the platform will know the specifics of operating systems and hardware down to the finest detail, and be able to optimise the platforms functions to ensure a robust infrastructure.
- Back End Developer – Tasked with managing everything that goes on in the background that the player never sees, backend developers are generally responsible for building and maintaining the web server, application, and database so that the front end runs smoothly.
- Front End Developer – Specifically hired to deal with what the player will see, they essentially convert data into graphical information using computer languages like HTML and JavaScript, turning that data into something the user can see and interact with.
- Full Stack Developer – These folk can handle pretty much everything. From the front end, back end, mobile apps, servers, databases, clients and systems engineering. They can work in numerous different frameworks and computer languages and are experts in their field.
- QA and Testing – QA stands for quality assurance, so anyone working in roles like this needs to identify any issues or bugs with the games and either fix them or pass them on to someone else who can. They will work across teams and report their findings using a lot of analysis.
Marketing and Sales
Whether working for a big or small software company, all igaming businesses have a product that they need to sell, and it is the marketing and sales department that are responsible for closing those deals.
On the marketing side of things this can start a long time before the game is released, publicising headline titles using key early art work or game snippets and features to grab players attention. They will know where to market their product to get it the right sort of exposure and will have a marketing budget to work with as well.
The sales team on the other hand might have deals in place with casinos and platform providers so that the games are instantly released to the market as part of a pre-arranged package, but they might also negotiate deals with individual casinos for a select number of games.
They would also handle any B2B sales the company might be involved with, such as selling platform solutions and the like, but the extent of this depends on the company in question.
- Marketing Manager – The manager is responsible for the overall campaign, managing the team and keeping them on track, as well as managing the budget and deciding where it goes. They will have marketing assistants working under themto carry out many of the tasks involved.
- Data Analyst – These people will scour data to get an idea of how best to appeal to a specific target market or demographic. They use statistical data to understand why certain people enjoy the things that they do, and the marketing team can then use that knowledge to push their products in the right places.
- SEO – Search engine optimisation professionals know exactly how to create content that will ‘rank’ on search engines, meaning it will be found more often in searches and thus get more hits.
- Affiliate Marketing Manager – More likely to work for a company that also runs their own casinos, the affiliate marketing manager will work with external online marketing companies who promote their brands on a commission basis.
Finance and Admin
These are the sorts of jobs that any company with more than a handful of staff would need, as they handle the day to day running of the office, staff wages, tax, and perhaps legal issues too.
This means that people with these qualifications could work at an igaming company with no specific industry experience, because their jobs don’t directly relate to the products.
In the same way that a cleaner could work at a big investment bank or at a local restaurant, people in finance and admin can use their skills almost anywhere.
Without these people, the employees creating the products and the people running the company wouldn’t be able to concentrate on their jobs, so although not directly invovled with the creation of the games and services, finance and admin staff are invaluable as a software company grows.
Jobs might include:
- Office Manager – Ensuring the office runs efficiently and economically.
- General Admin – Administrative support such as handling word documents, spread sheets, and presentations. Varied role that could include all manner of tasks, such as fielding phone calls, preparing meeting rooms, filing, data entry, visitor management, etc.
- Secretary/PA – Often the first face or voice people come into contact with when they contact the business. Might work on the front desk or for one or two specific members of management staff.
- Accountant – Handling payroll, day to day accounts, bookkeeping, data analysis, tracking invoices and chasing payments, managing the businesses tax situation and any debt.
- Human Resources – A very broad role that covers the employee life cycle from recruitment to retirement. This includes disciplinary actions, training, benefits, health and safety aspects and employee complaints, and can even include challenging the leadership in certain situations.
- Learning and Development – The L&D team are tasked with improving the skills of the work force and encouraging professional development. They may device training courses and handle inductions for new employees too.
Casino software companies have a reputation as being comparatively fun and laid back places to work, so there is plenty of incentive for these sorts of people to want to work at them. If it was a choice between the company that has monthly staff team building events, relaxed dress codes, and a pool table in the office, or a stuffy accountancy firm that won’t even pay for staff tea and coffee, there’s a clear benefit to working in igaming.
Upper Management
Last but not least, the people at the top of the pyramid.
Although most of the people in management will have backgrounds in some area of game production or software development, on a day to day basis they are more likely to be managing the business than working on code etc.
It will be their vision that guides the ship and decides the overall strategy for the business though, and they will keep a close eye on how things are going by regularly meeting with managers from all other departments to check progress.
The management team might only be a handful of people in smaller companies, and will include the founder/s if they are still around and haven’t sold the company yet. They will hold regular meetings with potential business partners, investors, etc, and be constantly on the lookout for ways to expand and grow the business.
It’s not really worth creating a list of management team roles as all companies handle this differently. Someone will definitely be the CEO (Chief Executive Officer), and that is usually the founder in younger businesses, there might also be a CFO (Chief Financial Officer). The rest of the team is usually made up of heads of department, so there will be someone with marketing expertise, another person with a technical background, etc.
Essentially though, the CEO is the big boss, and takes advice from the other ‘officers’ in his or her management team before making decisions.