The London-based affiliate is also searching for seven more recruits to move previously outsourced tech to fully in house

• Expansion has been ambitious, with 32 new hires in the last 12 months

• Focus is on efficient yet sustainable growth

• The hiring boom has necessitated a move to larger headquarters in London

Power affiliate QiH Group has been making bold moves in the past year, with both expansion and diversification being  integral parts to an ambitious growth strategy.

In 2023, the iGaming company – which counts Flutter and Entain amongst its impressive client list – began building a C-level layer into the business, with new positions created and filled in operations, marketing and finance.

The latest of those hires is in technology, with QiH Group’s first-ever  CTO, Sachin Saxena, joining from digital health company Congenica in September of 2024.

Since then, Saxena has used his international B2B experience to build the company’s tech capabilities, working with the company’s senior leadership, stakeholders, and cross-functional teams to transition previously outsourced functions and platforms to in-house talent.

“It’s no simple feat overseeing the change management process that is necessary to move from fully outsourced to completely in-house tech capacity,” explains Saxena, “but the most important aspect of that is the people. We really needed to find the right people fit culturally and experientially and we needed to do it efficiently.

“So far, we’ve employed nine engineers, and are actually looking for a further seven tech team members at a minimum,” he says.

Talent shortage, still?

One of the biggest challenges Saxena says the tech industry has faced in recent years, whether in betting and gaming or other sectors, is the talent shortage that first appeared during the COVID-19 pandemic and hasn’t abated since.

“Recruiting into the iGaming industry has been really interesting, Saxena shares, “mainly because for a lot of people, betting and gaming just isn’t a sector we’d considered previously. Since joining six months ago, I’ve been fortunate enough to learn what a fascinating industry it is, and to convey that to potential new hires.”

A key USP that Saxena is hoping will make the rest of this recruiting round smoother is how seriously QiH Group takes its people-first ethos.

He says: “HR isn’t an afterthought for QiH, which is evident in policies, procedures, flexible working arrangements and from internal promotion – for example, our COO, Andrew Lee, started his career in iGaming 10 years ago with QiH and now he’s at C-level as a decision-maker. So the upward mobility that QiH provides is a big selling point.”

But the main thing that the CTO loves about working for an iGaming affiliate?

“It’s just really, really fun.”

On May 13th, the Eastern European Gaming Summit (EEGS) hosted a dedicated affiliate webinar exploring one of the most pressing challenges in iGaming today: how affiliates can stay commercially effective while adopting an increasingly responsible role in player protection. The session, titled “Balancing Compliance and Conversion: The Affiliate’s Role in Responsible Gaming” featured Gjorgje Ristikj, Founder of Gamblers Connect and Co-Founder & CEO of RankRadar, as keynote speaker.

The conversation unfolded against a backdrop of intensifying regulatory oversight and market saturation, highlighting the transformation of the affiliate segment into an essential part of the iGaming ecosystem. As emphasized during the discussion, affiliates are no longer peripheral actors but full-fledged digital media businesses, operating with considerable investment in content, compliance, analytics, and brand credibility.

Ristikj pointed out that modern affiliates are increasingly absorbing roles traditionally associated with internal marketing teams, from advanced SEO operations and audience segmentation to responsible gaming communications and transparency standards. These shifts are not merely cosmetic. As the speaker noted, operators now rely on affiliates not only to acquire traffic but to reinforce brand integrity, especially in competitive or newly regulated markets.

One of the core themes discussed was the growing expectation for affiliates to support safe gaming environments, both through the content they produce and the brands they choose to promote. In a concrete example, Ristikj introduced a Responsible Gambling Scoring Index, developed by Gamblers Connect. The tool evaluates operators on the presence of key responsible gaming features and publicly displays a score to inform and empower players. This kind of initiative reflects a broader industry movement to embed responsible gaming principles at every stage of the user journey.

Another major focus was the mounting operational pressure faced by affiliates. While operators remain accustomed to revenue-share partnerships, Ristikj argued that fixed listing fees are becoming necessary to sustain professional affiliate operations. Investment in content, platform development, video production, and tracking infrastructure has significantly raised the cost of doing business, especially as privacy regulations and attribution challenges reduce the reliability of traditional performance models.

The webinar also touched on the emergence of video-driven affiliate strategies and personal branding as a differentiator in a crowded landscape. As new players, many backed by agencies or former operator teams, enter the market with aggressive strategies, trust and transparency are becoming the critical assets for sustainable success.

The session concluded with a clear message: affiliates who want to remain relevant must adapt to a new standard of accountability. That means embedding responsible gaming principles not only as a compliance checkbox but as a core part of the brand experience, something players, regulators, and operators will increasingly expect.

The EEGS Affiliate Webinar is part of a broader initiative by EEGS to provide actionable insights and elevate the strategic role of affiliates in the global iGaming industry.

For those who missed the live session, the on-demand video is now available. You can watch the full session here: https://youtu.be/MJeYZfPI6Rs?si=BVp0yA0Vcpu9FDJx