Associate Manager, Toy Marketing – Licensee Team

Company Description

CREATIVITY IS OUR SUPERPOWER. It’s our heritage and it’s also our future. Because we don’t just make toys. We create innovative products and experiences that inspire fans, entertain audiences and develop children through play. Mattel is at its best when every member of our team feels respected, included, and heard—when everyone can show up as themselves and do their best work every day.

We value and share an infinite range of ideas and voices that evolve and broaden our perspectives with a reach that extends into all our brands, partners, and suppliers.

The Associate Manager will partner on a major licensed franchise brand within the toy marketing team, bringing engaging and innovative toys to kids and families around the world. In this role, you will partner closely with the licensor and cross‑functional Mattel teams to drive product strategy, oversee the development pipeline, and support global business performance for a key toy property.

• Support the development and alignment of global toy strategies across internal teams and with the licensor, ensuring buy‑in and execution across key markets.
• Partner with leadership to build 3–5 year product roadmaps, balancing innovation and refresh cycles.
• Define toy strategy by segment (core, premium, collector, preschool, etc.).
• Manage toy pricing architecture and competitive positioning.
• Own business performance including revenue, margin, and SKU productivity.
• Monitor category trends, competitive activity, retailer dynamics, and global market performance.

• Collaborate with Product Design, Packaging, and Development teams to bring compelling toys from concept to shelf, on time and on budget.
• Manage complex product development timelines and ensure alignment with consumer insights, play patterns, and brand priorities.
• Maintain the merchandising outline and oversee cadence for product flow to retail.

• Partner with regional commercial and marketing teams to ensure strategy alignment and address channel‑specific or retailer‑specific needs.
• Provide input to Brand Marketing on packaging direction, messaging, and feature storytelling for global campaigns.
• Work with other Mattel Global Brand teams to share plans, insights, and best practices.
• Cultivate strong working relationships with the licensor as part of the licensee business team.

• Present strategies, roadmaps, and business updates confidently to senior leadership and cross‑functional partners.
• Synthesize insights and data to influence decision‑making across creative, engineering, manufacturing, and commercial teams.

• 5 years (3 years with MBA) experience in brand marketing (on brand or agency side), franchise management/marketing, content marketing, or purpose‑driven strategy/marketing.
• Project management:
  Managing complex product development timelines.
• Roles in category management, product marketing, or product development.
• Experience partnering with design and manufacturing.
• Background in CPG or toy companies, ideally with exposure to retail buyer dynamics.
• Strong quantitative/financial skills (forecasting, pricing, SKU productivity analysis).
• Product strategy & roadmap:
  Ability to define toy segments, pricing ladders, and innovation cycles.
• Collaboration with design/R&D:
  Comfort working with creative, engineering, and manufacturing teams.
• Retail/channel knowledge:
  Ability to leverage insights to build mass, specialty, and e‑commerce distribution strategies.
• Business & financial management:
  Strong grasp of SKU productivity, margin targets, and overall toy category P&L.
• Financial acumen:
  Experience with P&L at the brand or category level.
• Communication skills:
  Excellent at storytelling, presentations, and influencing senior leadership. Strong PowerPoint creation and presentation skills, proficiency in Outlook, Word and Excel.

* The pay range is indicative of projected hiring range, however base pay will be determined based on a candidate’s work location, skills and experience. Mattel…