GetJar Hires Xbox Guru Joe Molnar to Head Engineering

GetJar, which is attempting to create an app store independent of the carriers and handset makers, has appointed Joe Molnar as SVP of engineering.

Molnar joins GetJar from Microsoft, where he served as a partner architect in the Interactive Entertainment Business division, working on Xbox Live and Kinect. According to his LinkedIn page, Molnar said he worked at Microsoft for nearly two and a half years, leading forward-looking products for Xbox Live and future platforms.

He also said he improved the design of the Xbox marketplace. That’s probably what caught the attention of GetJar, which has generated 1.5 billion free downloads to date. In his new position, Molnar will be in charge of providing long-term technical direction.

GetJar COO Chris Dury said Molnar’s appointment is part of a serious ramp up of engineering talent at the company. “Over the next few months we’ll be doubling our engineering team as we focus our resources on growing the largest free app store and increasing profitability for Android publishers.”

Before Microsoft, Molnar served as VP of engineering at mobile start-up scanR, building a platform for image and text processing.