Social First Strengthens Leadership in Tech and Design with Three Key Hires

Author: Social First

Finnish game studio Social First, founded in late 2021 by games industry veterans Kim Soares and Mikko Kähärä continues to grow quickly, with the recent hire of a Chief Technology Officer, Marco Sandrini, Head of Design, Aki Raula and Senior Devs Ops Manager, Jari Ravantti.
 

Marco Sandrini, Chief Technology Officer
Marco, originally from the Italian Alps, has lived in Finland for 24 years, and joins the team with significant experience in the software and hardware industry, starting his career at Nokia Research Center and moving into the mobile games industry, working at studios such as Kuuhubb, a publicly listed (Toronto) games company. After a decade of focusing on mobile games, Marco says “the chance of building something cross-platform with such an experienced team is really really exciting”. Marco will be overseeing and managing the technical direction of the business with focus on new technologies such as blockchain gaming.
 

Aki Raula, Head of Design
Aki is a true design veteran of the global games industry. With decades of working in and leading game design at studios such as EA, Ubisoft, Remedy and Housemarque, Aki will be leading the design side of game productions at Social First. He will build the wider design team and will be working alongside game leads and company management to actualise Social First’s vision. Aki says, “I’m really excited about joining the veteran team at Social First to create something new from the ground up.”.
 

Jari Ravantti, Senior Devs Ops Manager
Jari is joining the team with varied experience in both the gaming and financial sectors, with a focus on financial sector transaction validation protocols, dev ops and QA over the last few years. His “rare combo of fintech and game dev background is a perfect mix for future web3 gaming environments” says President Mikko Kähärä. Jari will be working with the development and operations team to lead toolchains and processes.
 

“Welcoming Marco, Aki and Jari to the team is an exciting step in Social First’s journey as we continue to grow the team and bring a great blend of top-notch expertise and knowledge to the business from a varied backgrounds” says President Mikko Kähärä.
 

The Social First team will be attending GDC on 21st-25th March 2022 in San Francisco. If you are interested in arranging a meeting or would like to find out more about their recruitment process, you can get in touch with  the team at [email protected] or via their website.
 

About Social First
Social First is a  team of accomplished game developers who have formed an independent studio based in Helsinki, Finland. CEO Kim Soares and President Mikko Kähärä founded Social First in 2021 with the mission to create games that are social experiences, span decades and extend beyond gaming; giving players platforms to create meaningful relationships with people all across the world. The team is backed by Play Ventures and a syndicate led by Joakim Achrén. For more information on Social First and their work, please contact Sophie Riordan, PR & Communications, at [email protected]. For their press kit, click here.