Four senior women at platform provider GR8_TECH have shared their perspectives on what it truly takes to close the gender gap in the iGaming industry.
The natural reaction to statistics showing a worsening gender balance in tech might be anger or despondency, but leaders at GR8_TECH are pushing past that instinct.
Kate Pozdnysheva, Chief Client Officer at GR8_TECH, built her career across product and technology roles before rising through the ranks to reach the C-Suite.
Pozdnysheva argues that when building her teams, she deliberately avoids letting gender factor into her decisions at all, favouring a meritocratic approach instead.
“There is work, there are tasks, and there is what inspires you or what you are simply capable of doing,” she noted, encapsulating a philosophy shared across GR8_TECH’s leadership.
Sondra Bagata, Senior Project Manager at GR8_TECH, frames gender imbalance as a knowledge problem rather than simply a diversity one, and is candid about why certain efforts backfire.
“Companies may feel pressure to have a certain percentage of women in management, but often women are placed in less decision-making roles, while the decision-makers are still men,” she said.
Bagata’s preferred solution is to remove gender from the equation entirely, noting that “when gender is removed from the information, people tend to choose women and men more equally.”
Olena Ostapenko, GR8_TECH’s Head of Platform, recalled earlier in her career attempting to mirror the assertive, competitive behaviour she observed in predominantly male environments.
“I tried to copy the assertive, competitive behaviour I saw around me,” she said, “but I quickly realised it didn’t feel natural to me, and that I had my own strengths like building relationships, creating trust, finding mentors and working through partnership rather than aggression.”
That approach proved transformative, carrying Ostapenko from a QA engineer role all the way to leading a department of more than 250 engineers.
She now describes her leadership style as adaptable, explaining, “I can speak from a position of authority when needed, but I also know how to negotiate, listen, and use soft power to reach the right outcome.”
Ostapenko also reflected on broader cultural shifts within the industry over the past 15 years, observing that “men have become less eager to divide people by gender, and women have become more confident and resilient.”
Olga Dobzhynska, Employer Brand Team Lead at GR8_TECH, identified two key areas where women frequently lose ground: the pathway into leadership and the visibility needed to be considered for it.
She explained that both challenges can be tackled deliberately through structured programmes rather than leaving advancement to chance or informal networks.
“GR8 Managers is our managerial development program covering every level, from first-time managers through to executives, so the path into leadership is structured rather than left to chance,” Dobzhynska said.
GR8_TECH also runs a GR8 Speakers programme focused on public speaking and presentation skills, with the employer brand team actively sourcing speaking opportunities for participants across the business.
Dobzhynska emphasised that stage visibility is precisely where women in tech are most frequently overlooked, making that investment particularly meaningful for closing representation gaps.
The programmes are open to everyone but, as Dobzhynska noted, are “disproportionately useful for women, who industry-wide get less access to sponsorship and fewer opportunities.”
GR8_TECH also supports the Women in Tech Summit and sends its own mentors to the event, reinforcing its commitment to building visible, structured pathways for women across the iGaming sector.
