Christine Parkhill: From Engineer to CCO. A Career Built on Learning

In this edition of Career Conversations, Christine Parkhill (Chief Commercial Officer at Just Slots) shares an honest, practical look at what it takes to build great slot games (and great teams) in a crowded iGaming market.

Christine’s route into gaming wasn’t planned. She started in engineering and sustainability, then moved into iGaming after a chance introduction led her to Push Gaming in its early Malta days. That shift shaped a career built on curiosity, continuous learning, and a strong focus on company culture values she still prioritises today.

She also breaks down how a slot is made end-to-end: ideas start with a theme or mechanic, producers and mathematicians shape the core model, and then art, animation, sound, development, QA, certification, and commercial planning all come together to create a coherent player experience. Christine highlights that sound and animation aren’t “extras” they’re critical to communicating gameplay clearly.

On timelines, she notes that game builds can range from very fast (especially with new tools and AI support) to well over a year, depending on complexity, art detail, and feature layers. Importantly, she stresses that longer development doesn’t guarantee a hit, and commercial success can still be unpredictable.

From a performance perspective, Christine shares the KPIs she watches most closely especially bet amount as a top-level indicator supported by returning players and spin volume to reveal whether players are genuinely enjoying the game. She emphasises the need for strong BI reporting, realistic target-setting, and tight collaboration with operators, since visibility in casino lobbies can heavily impact results.

For career growth, her advice is consistent: be curious, learn how departments connect (product, maths, design, data), and build real product understanding especially for commercial roles. For new studios, she adds that network and distribution matter, but the product must deliver once players try it.

When it comes to hiring, Christine is clear that for many junior and mid-level roles, attitude beats prior gaming experience. She looks for people who are coachable, organised (especially in remote setups), and comfortable with data and tools. She also flags small signals that matter (like typos on a CV) as signs of care and attention to detail.

She discusses the day-to-day reality of running remote teams too: Excel is still a staple, shared documentation is essential, and many studios still struggle to find a “perfect” CRM/project management stack because tools don’t integrate cleanly. Automation helps, but gaps remain.

Christine also touches on modern distribution and marketing: streamers and influencers shape how games are perceived, and authentic reactions can drive excitement though brand safety and values alignment come first. On AI, she sees it increasingly as a copilot already useful for art and marketing speed-ups but not a replacement for relationship-driven commercial work, where judgment and human connection matter.

Looking ahead, she says Just Slots is investing in better internal tools and AI-driven efficiency, tightening processes, and pushing harder on distribution expansion. Her biggest leadership takeaways are simple and sharp: hire exceptional people, and embrace mistakes, because calculated risk-taking often leads to the best innovation.

To read more about the full interview go to gamblingindustryjobs.com

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