Game Scout

Remote CET (± 2 hours)

Forklift publishes deep, smart, endlessly replayable games. In three years the team has signed 10 games and sold 500K+ copies across PC and consoles, with a track record of spotting hits early, often before the wishlists show it.

This is a hands-on publisher. The team works side by side with developers on demos, playtests, visual direction, and trailers, and turns promising projects into games players find and stick with. They judge a game by its design and potential, so they're comfortable signing projects early, while wishlists are still modest, whenever they believe in what they see.

The role

You'll be the person who finds the next game this team signs. You'll scout new games and studios, assess how well each could be received by players and its commercial potential, and act as the main point of contact for developers during evaluation.

Once a game is signed, a producer takes the lead, but you stay close to the team. You built the relationship, so you're often the first to notice when a team is struggling, and the person they trust to talk it through.

What you'll do

• Scout new games and dev teams for the publishing pipeline.

• Manage the internal database of pitches and keep conversations with developers moving.

• Build and maintain analytics tools that make the pitch pipeline smarter.

• Represent the company at events like Gamescom, IGN Fan Fest, BitSummit, IndieDevDay, etc.

• Optionally, grow into business development: key distribution platforms and vendors at first, and over time, bigger platform partnerships if that excites you.

What we're looking for

• A real feel for today's indie market: you can tell fresh from derivative and say out loud why something will or won't sell, beyond "it looks cool".

• Experience on the business side of games, such as publishing, marketing, production, BD or scouting. Founding or running your own studio counts too, whatever the outcome.

• Hands-on use of market data like SteamDB and wishlists to back up your opinions.

• A passionate indie gamer who plays new releases every week and genuinely enjoys it.

• Reliability: you follow up, close loops, and keep your word.

• You're easy to talk to: developers enjoy working with you and trust you.

• You can stand behind your recommendations and explain the reasoning, even when you're championing a game with modest commercial potential but real creative value.

• Working English and a time zone within CET ± 2 hours.

Don't tick every box, but know a genre niche inside out? Apply anyway!

Nice to have

• Previous scouting experience at a publisher.

• Your own network of indie developers.

• A soft spot for strategy, simulation, and other systemic genres.

• Having lived through at least one big launch success and one painful flop.

• Interest in BD and contacts with platforms, key distributors or vendors.

• Experience representing a company at conferences and shows.

• Wide curiosity: you read, watch and play all sorts of things.

What's in it for you

• Remote, on your hours. Flexible hours and fully remote work.

• Conferences on us. Paid trips to gaming conferences and events, plus occasional team get-togethers.

• Your calls count. High ownership and direct impact on what gets signed.

• Room to grow. Grow into owning scouting end-to-end, or into a scout/BD hybrid with major partnerships.

• No guessing games. Transparent communication and decision-making.

• Experiments welcome. A results-oriented culture where experiments are encouraged and mistakes are part of progress.