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King

Mobile games developer

1001+ employees
  • B2C
  • Gaming
  • Entertainment
  • Mobile
178 Wardour St, Soho, W1F 8FY, UK

Company mission

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.

Top investors

Some candidates hear
back within 2 weeks

15% employee growth in 12 months

Otta's take

Xav Kearney headshot

Xav Kearney

CTO of Otta

Gaming is one of the world’s fastest-growing industries, but many still view gaming as inconvenient, inaccessible, or niche. King solves that problem by designing mobile games with broad market appeal.

Since its launch, King has released more than 200 titles in 14 languages, including Candy Crush, Farm Heroes, Bubble Witch, Pet Rescue, and more. The company pioneered in-game spending, which allows it to monetize user interactions without charging them to buy the game. Titles such as Candy Crush are designed to be highly accessible to demographics that wouldn’t usually define themselves as “gamers”, including older users. King now boasts more than 200 million monthly active users, making it a clear market leader.

In 2016, King was bought by gaming giant Activision Blizzard, which has since been purchased by Microsoft. While the company still operates with a high degree of independence, it has greatly profited from the financial and marketing support of its parent corporation. This support has been instrumental in enabling King to maintain its competitiveness in the constantly evolving mobile gaming industry.

Benefits

  • 📚 Dedicated learning & development resources including LEAP and other leadership coaching
  • 📚 Voluntary benefits including tuition reimbursement, group discounts for legal services, ID protection, home and rental insurance, and others
  • 🏅 Community Day, charity donation matching, free and discounted Activision Blizzard games, and our Royal Recognition Awards rewarding commitment of long-serving Kingsters
  • 🏳️‍🌈 Four employee-led diversity-focused networks and other community groups that raise awareness
  • 🏥 401(k) Plan with company match, medical, dental, and vision coverage options, and more
  • ❤️ Reimbursements for both physical and mental health-related activities
  • ⌚ A Team First, Hybrid Working approach allows working patterns to be based on the needs of the team
  • 🌴 Generous paid holidays and vacation time, paid sick time, and compassionate, bereavement and parental leaves

Company values

  • Fun & Friendly 🧡 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
  • Care & Craft 🤗 We put our heart and soul into everything we do - and we do it for our players. It takes all Kingsters, contributing in different ways, to craft and operate brilliant mass-appeal games
  • Humble & Open 📖 We treat each other as equals. We seek and give feedback, we listen, we learn, and we're honest with ourselves and others
  • Fast & Fluid ⏩ We are responsive and embrace change. We take smart risks, are always ready to dust ourselves off, learn fast, and try again
  • Creative Champions 🏅 We are curious about our players and we drive innovation in big and small ways to delight them every day. We boldly seek new ways of thinking to unleash creativity
  • Passion & Performance 📈 Our passion guides us to set ambitious goals for ourselves and each other. We hold each other accountable, see things through, and contribute to our sustainable growth

Funding (2 rounds)

Sep 2005

$43m

SERIES A

Jun 2005

$41m

EARLY VC

$84m

Total funding

This company has top investors

Founders

Tjodolf Sommestad

(President )

President from February 2022. Previously served as King’s Chief Development Officer.

People progressing

Leading a data science team responsible for supporting performance marketing to make informed decisions with data

Joined as Senior Developer. Promoted to Engineering Manager after 2 years and is now leading two engineering teams in the Telemetry & Streaming domain.

Diversity & Inclusion at King

Vikki Leach headshot

Vikki Leach (Senior Director, DE&I)

  • A great saga needs all sorts of heroes. 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
  • Our Employee Networks help us to stay connected as individuals and as a company; Kaleidoscope (ethnic, cultural, and national diversity), Royal Unicorns (LGBTQIA+), Women@King (crushing bias and equal opportunities) and CAN (collective abilities).

Endorsements

All

Focus on employee wellbeing (4)

Opportunities to learn (3)

Autonomy (2)

Flexible working (2)

Nice people (1)

Great work is recognised (1)

People of all backgrounds are welcomed (1)

Data-driven decisions (1)

King is the perfect combination of being challenged, learning new stuff and having that worklife balance that everyone strives for. I have been at the company for 8 months now and I am learning so much new things in every project I am on, but without feeling overwhelmed and stressed.

Data

Opportunities to learn

Sep 2023

The people at King is absolutely 10/10. Super friendly and but at the same time very competent. The culture is the best i have experienced, comparing with my previous job experience within tech.

Data

Nice people

Sep 2023

There is an amazing worklife balance that the company puts an emphasis on. On top of that there are amazing benefits to take part in, for example in the london office we have weekly mobility training in our office gym (!).

Data

Focus on employee wellbeing

Sep 2023

King gives you the autonomy to deliver results in the way you want to work whilst also providing clear strategic vision and guidance. Introducing new tools, ways of working and doing things is always encouraged.

Product

Autonomy

Aug 2023

King is always conscious of their employees and goes above and beyond to ensure a safe and friendly environment for all Kingsters. There are many support networks and communities that makes the company feel like a real family.

Product

Focus on employee wellbeing

Aug 2023

Data is one of Kings core superpowers that is leveraged to ensure we are bringing the most value to our players. This is demonstrated across all functions of the business and is a prominent part of the culture.

Product

Data-driven decisions

Aug 2023

Since joining King, I've genuinely appreciated the autonomy I've been granted. Whether it's the flexibility to choose my working hours or the trust placed in me to make pivotal decisions, this freedom has greatly enhanced my confidence, productivity and job satisfaction. It's a testament to the company's belief in empowering its employees to pave their own paths to success.

Other Engineering

Autonomy

Aug 2023

At King, I've consistently seen a genuine commitment to diversity. From King's representation at pride events to the effort made in cultivating an inclusive community, it's clear that this is a place where all backgrounds are both recognised and celebrated. King doesn't just talk the talk; they walk the walk when it comes to inclusivity and diversity. 💪🤝🌎

Other Engineering

People of all backgrounds are welcomed

Aug 2023

Working at King has many perks, but flexible working is my favourite one. I mean, getting to do my best work from Tenerife? Total win! It's not just about location freedom; it's the trust that we'll shine no matter where we're based, and an absolute game-changer for my wellbeing and job satisfaction. Seriously, big props to a company that gets it right!

Other Engineering

Flexible working

Aug 2023

King cares about physical and mental wellbeing. We each have a wellbeing day as a separate day off to get refreshed. Last year, I got my wellbeing day on my birthday and I went to forest to have silence time with lovely nature to relax. It was amazing to see all our colleagues and leadership support me on doing this. I could say that it's part of King's culture.

Data

Focus on employee wellbeing

Aug 2023

Before joining King, I had a banking/finance background and at King, I've had the chance to learn more and more about game industry. Our motto, Making World Playful, is the most beautiful part, inspiring us to learn more. In each team, there are experts in their fields and I'm glad to learn from their experiences while trying to add a value with my experience. In addition to that, opportunities never ends at King, we each have a separate fixed amount of learning budget to improve our soft/technical skills or even to get involved in a book club. In my every day at King, I'm delighted to find myself improving my skills with our leadership teams endless support.

Data

Opportunities to learn

Aug 2023

As well as our hard work and achievements at King, we know how to celebrate and recognise our great achievements that makes the world playful. Each of our team members efforts and achievements are valuable, appreciated and recognised. Apart from annual team activities, we have some regular domain meetings to celebrate our success altogether and give recognition to our colleagues. It's amazing to be a part of this wonderful culture.

Data

Great work is recognised

Aug 2023

There is a really open and collaborative culture in King, I've been able to attend numerous talks, sessions and events across different teams to learn more about how they work and its given me great insights into the world of gaming!

People, HR, Recruitment

Opportunities to learn

May 2023

King has a 'Team first hybrid working' model, which essentially means there's no company set minimum number of days that you must attend the office and each team decides how they want to work together, with a mix of in office and home working but in a super flexible way! King is also super family friendly and I am able to find an actual work life balance being a reality here!

People, HR, Recruitment

Flexible working

May 2023

King is a super playful place to work and we have so many events, network groups and support for employee wellbeing. From private medical/dental insurance, mental health programmes, wellbeing & counselling reimbursements - to our big all staff events in Barcelona called KingfoMarket (seriously look it up!) King staff are treated super well and are really well looked after.

People, HR, Recruitment

Focus on employee wellbeing

May 2023

Jobs (20)

All locations

Software Engineering

Finance, Legal & Compliance

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