Our aim is to be an attractive employer: Evolution’s long-term plans for Armenia

Evolution, leading international B2B developer and provider of products for the online gaming industry, had recently announced the opening of a broadcasting studio in Yerevan. In our interview with Jacob Claesson, Head of Operations, Evolution Georgia and Armenia, we discovered the history of Evolution as well as the plans they have for Armenia.

Tell us about the history of Evolution. How did it start and what are the key corporate milestones?

Evolution is a Swedish company founded in 2006 on the notion to bring the experience from a land-based casino to an online environment. Evolution operates solely as a supplier to the online casino operators, the company does not sell anything directly to customers/players, all monetary transactions goes via the operators.

This year, we celebrate 15 years of operation, recognizing our track record of ground-breaking news and industry leadership, including the establishment of a brand new product category with the Game Shows in 2012 and multiple examples of successful introduction of new combinations of game technology.  

During its 1,5 decade of operation, Evolution has become leading international B2B developer and provider of products for the online gaming industry with over 10,000 employees across 20+ locations working in the fields of product innovation, software development, game presenters and host as well as a range of support functions. Since 2010 Evolution has won the Best Live Casino Supplier of the Year at the EGR B2B Awards on an annual basis, which means Evolution has won that award EVERY year since it was initiated.  

What makes Evolution stand out among its competitors? What makes Evolution special as an employer?

We are recognized for providing an unparallel player experience through our advanced product innovation and technical solutions. We are a software company with A-Z product development in-house, including design, software and technical development. Evolution is also an equipment company: most of our games are innovated by us. It means that the physical equipment required to bring them to life often does not exist. So, we invent and build them ourselves. But first and foremost, EVO is a people company.

Our people drive our innovation. Today we operate in more than 20 locations, with 10,000+ employers of about 80 nationalities. Our corporate culture with its strong and rooted values is what defines us as an employer.

-    Evolution is an embodiment of ALIVE, an active, young organization, which is always looking for new opportunities and hungry for new things. We always go for 1st place.
-    We opt to do RIGHT – we aim to lead the way in fair gaming and contribute to the communities that we operate from.
-    We work TOGETHER - our business model is based on teamwork, every part of the chain counts as our product is 50% IT and 50% human. We reward EVOlutioneers who step up for fellow colleagues and we strive to apply the human angle and support our people to grow and take on challenges.
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What benefits do you offer to your employees?

Most importantly, we offer an opportunity to take the first career step without any specific work experience. We offer an international and people-oriented atmosphere, an attractive and modern workplace and the opportunity to develop skills both within our Academy and further while working in Evolution, which are relevant for a future career, within Evolution or elsewhere. These include presentation technique trainings, English classes, as well as usage of internationally used tools and programs.

Our employee becomes a member of our worldwide team and has the real opportunity to make career both in frames of local studio and across our other studios. Many in current management positions with us started in an entry-level job at Evolution. Becoming an EVOlutioneer means being alive, supportive and open to new opportunities. From our part we do strive to be an attractive, admirable and fair employer.

Why Armenia?

We chose Yerevan mainly for its availability of our desired workforce and the on-going development of the city. Like with our other sites, we want to become an attractive employer which can offer the Armenian youth the opportunity to take their first career step in an international company. As we train our teams in-house, we don’t require specific work experience, just a professional attitude to work and good level of English, since Yerevan’s studio will serve its operators all over the world with English speaking live dealer tables. We very much look forward to welcome our first group of motivated Armenian team members to their first training in our Evolution Academy.

What are your plans for Armenia?

Our plans for Armenia are longterm. With our increasing global demand for our services, we are expecting our Yerevan studio to be part of ensuring we meet the increasing interest in our services. By entering the Armenian market, Evolution will create 100s of entry-level job opportunities for local youth in Yerevan and its surroundings. Our aim is to be an attractive employer through offering our corporate culture, dynamic work atmosphere and benefits and by continue to grow the number of job opportunities that we offer the local market.

Open vacancies are found on Armenian career platforms, Evolution Armenia’s Facebook page, as well as Evolution’s career page.