Ownership and Accountability: We work in small squads so each team owns its result end to end and has the freedom to get there. Go deep in your craft and wide enough to own the whole outcome. Escalate blockers early, admit mistakes, fix the damage and learn.
About the role
Our gaming business builds and scales a portfolio of casual, ad-monetized evergreen games (cards, words, puzzles, board games) from Barcelona. We’re rebuilding it as an AI-native team: instead of departments and management layers, we work in small squads, and each squad runs like a small studio that owns 1–3 games end to end: product, UA and monetization together. The reporting, coordination and analysis that used to need middle managers are handled by shared data and LTV models, AI agents and automation.
The model follows "From Hierarchy to Intelligence" by Jack Dorsey (Block) and Roelof Botha (Sequoia Capital), and uses a few simple roles:
Builder (IC): everyone builds.
DRI (Directly Responsible Individual): owns one result end to end, has real authority over the squad’s effort and picks the team. It’s a role, not a rank.
Player-coach: sets the standard of a discipline for all squads and makes their expertise easy to reach. A coach is accountable for the standard and for being available, not for other people’s numbers or growth.
Advisor: brings outside expertise without owning a result.
This seat is the player-coach for ad monetization, filled as an advisor. It’s an advisory engagement, not employment: part-time, fully remote, with scope and hours agreed together. You won’t own a squad, a team or a revenue number. The squad DRIs own their results, and you raise the monetization craft they work with.
Why this seat exists
Monetization is set up game by game, by people with very different backgrounds, and on the same users our titles still earn less than the best competitor in each genre. We want senior, market-calibrated monetization standards and a person every squad can consult and learn from.
Responsibilities
Set and keep the ad monetization standards every squad works to.
Review and challenge the squads’ roadmaps from a monetization angle against the best casual evergreen titles, and bring in mechanics we haven’t tested.
Make expertise easy to reach: regular office hours with squad DRIs and builders, config and experiment reviews, and written playbooks with real examples.
Where it helps, open doors to ad networks, DSPs and exchanges relevant to casual gaming.
Speak up when a standard isn’t followed.
What this role is not
Not a head of a monetization department and not a manager: no direct reports and no team to build.
Not accountable for squad or portfolio profit, and not asked to commit to it: each squad’s DRI owns their result. You’re accountable for the standards and for being available in the agreed hours.
Requirements
Proven, hands-on experience leading monetization for casual, ad-monetized mobile games (cards, words, board, puzzle or similar evergreen genres). General ad-tech, mediation sales or IAP/midcore monetization backgrounds on their own aren’t enough.
A track record of building a fast, rigorous experimentation culture (A/B tests, waterfall optimization, segment-level configs) with measurable business impact.
Deep ad-tech knowledge: mediation (MAX, AdMob, in-house), bidding, waterfalls, floors and ad quality.
Strong existing relationships with ad networks, DSPs and exchanges in casual gaming.
Comfortable working from shared data and LTV models, with AI agents and automation, rather than through an analytics team.
You can explain standards so that DRIs and builders from other disciplines can apply them.
Format
Advisory, part-time, fully remote, with no office visits.
Scope, hours and terms agreed together.
A good fit if you’re not looking for a full-time move but want to share what you know.
Why Join Us?
You’ll shape how a whole portfolio of games makes money, without a full-time commitment.
Your advice goes straight into live games, and you’ll see the results.
You’ll work with squads that want to learn and move fast.
With an outstanding product and a mission that excites and inspires, Appodeal offers a unique opportunity to make an impact while being part of an amazing team.
Join us and help shape the future of mobile app success!
