Skill-based mobile gaming platform with live tournaments and live-ops
Papaya operates a skill-based gaming platform centered on competitive tournaments and live events, built on a polyglot stack (Node.js, Python, Unity, React Native) running on AWS + Kubernetes. The tech mix—OpenAI adoption, heavy focus on backend scaling and retention analytics (Tableau, Looker, Pandas), and active live-ops execution—reveals a company balancing real-time gameplay infrastructure with data-driven monetization. Engineering-led hiring (10 roles) paired with smaller data and product teams reflects the priority on infrastructure maturity and performance optimization.
Papaya develops skill-based gaming tournaments and events for mobile platforms (iOS, Android, React Native). Founded in 2016 and based in Tel Aviv, the company has built a live-ops engine that handles recurring events, seasonal challenges, co-branded activations, and creator partnerships. The platform integrates with major social channels (TikTok, Instagram, Discord) for discovery and community. Papaya employs 201–500 people and is currently hiring across engineering, data, marketing, and leadership roles in Israel and Poland, with active velocity in recruitment.
Papaya runs on AWS and Kubernetes, with Node.js and TypeScript for backend services, Python for analytics, React Native and Unity for client code, MySQL and Redis for data layers, and Tableau and Looker for analytics and monitoring.
Current projects focus on high-scale backend infrastructure, AI-driven tool integration, player retention and revenue optimization, live-ops events and promotions, and creator partnership programs. Work also includes A/B testing frameworks and architectural scalability.
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