Director, Strategy & Operations – Consumer Products & Experiences

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 Opportunity: 

Mattel is seeking a strategic and collaborative leader to help drive alignment, execution, and operational excellence across the Consumer Products & Experiences organization.

Reporting directly to the Chief Consumer Products & Experiences Officer, this role partners closely with senior leadership across Mattel to turn priorities into action, strengthen cross-functional coordination, and help teams operate with greater clarity, focus, and efficiency. The Director will help shape the operating rhythms of the CPX organization—supporting strategic initiatives, enabling decision-making, and improving how teams work together across brands, categories, regions, and functions.

The ideal candidate is a strong operator and trusted thought partner who brings a balance of strategic thinking, operational rigor, and relationship-building skills. They are energized by solving complex business challenges, navigating ambiguity, and helping teams deliver results in a fast-paced, highly collaborative environment.

What Your Impact Will Be: 

Strategy & Organizational Leadership

• Lead strategic planning and execution processes across key initiatives within the Consumer Products & Experiences organization, ensuring alignment between priorities, timelines, business goals, and measurable outcomes.
• Maintain visibility across critical initiatives, including milestones, dependencies, risks, decisions, and performance indicators.
• Translate business priorities, market dynamics, consumer trends, and organizational goals into actionable recommendations and execution plans.
• Drive governance and prioritization processes that enable leadership to make timely trade-offs and resource allocation decisions.
• Partner with Finance and functional leaders on planning cycles, investment prioritization, budget alignment, and performance reporting.

Operational Excellence & Cross-Functional Execution

• Lead high-priority strategic initiatives end-to-end, from framing and planning through execution, stakeholder alignment, and delivery.
• Build and manage scalable operating cadences including leadership meetings, business reviews, quarterly planning sessions, executive forums, and cross-functional governance rituals.
• Establish lightweight but effective governance frameworks including decision logs, escalation paths, accountability structures, and execution tracking.
• Coordinate cross-functional approvals, dependencies, and workflows across Brand, Product Development, Licensing, Experiences, Commercial, Creative, Legal, and regional teams.
• Drive operational alignment across global and regional teams to improve communication, execution efficiency, and organizational transparency.
• Support organizational transformation and process improvement initiatives by identifying opportunities to streamline workflows, clarify ownership, and improve execution consistency.

Executive Enablement & Communications

• Partner closely with senior executives to translate complex strategic and operational work into clear executive-level narratives, presentations, and decision-ready materials.
• Lead development of executive presentations, business reviews, strategic updates, and organizational communications.
• Prepare leadership briefings, synthesize cross-functional inputs, and ensure rigorous follow-through on action items and strategic priorities.
• Facilitate executive forums and leadership meetings, ensuring clarity, alignment, accountability, and actionable outcomes.

Global Collaboration & Stakeholder Management

• Drive operating cadence and collaboration models across internal and external stakeholders.
• Ensure alignment across brands, regions, business units, and enterprise initiatives through structured communication and planning processes.
• Build strong relationships across matrixed teams and influence without direct authority to drive alignment and execution.
• Standardize reporting, operational insights, and execution frameworks to support enterprise decision-making and organizational visibility.

What We’re Looking For:

Experience

• 10–15+ years of experience in strategy, business operations, program management, consulting, or related fields.
• Experience operating in complex, matrixed global organizations.
• Proven track record leading cross-functional strategic initiatives with multiple senior stakeholders.
• Experience supporting executive leadership teams and driving enterprise-level operating rhythms.
• Experience in consumer products, entertainment, licensing, retail, media, or similarly fast-paced global organizations strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with global brand organizations and franchise-driven businesses strongly preferred.
• Experience managing external partners, agencies, vendors, or strategic alliances preferred.

Skills & Capabilities

• Exceptional strategic thinking and problem-solving skills with the ability to structure ambiguity into clear recommendations and action plans.
• Strong executive communication and storytelling abilities, including development of executive-ready presentations and narratives.
• Excellent operational leadership and program management capabilities with strong attention to detail and follow-through.
• Demonstrated ability to influence across functions and levels without direct authority.
• Strong financial and analytical fluency, including KPI management, planning processes, and business case development.
• High emotional intelligence, sound judgment, and discretion in handling sensitive matters.
• Ability to balance long-term strategic thinking with day-to-day operational rigor.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
• Curious, adaptable, and energized by continuous improvement and collaboration.

Why Mattel

Mattel is at its best when creativity, collaboration, and innovation come together to create meaningful products and experiences for fans and consumers around the world.

*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 offers competitive total pay programs, comprehensive benefits, and resources to help empower a culture where every employee can reach their full potential. 

Don’t meet every single requirement? At Mattel, we are dedicated to an inclusive workplace and a culture of belonging. If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we still encourage you to apply. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles. Join Mattel's Talent Community and start receiving exciting updates about our company, our employees, and our culture. Also, interested in signing up for job alerts? Do so here!

How We Work:
We are a purpose driven company aiming to empower generations to explore the wonder of childhood and reach their full potential. We live up to our purpose employing the following behaviors:

• We collaborate: Being a part of Mattel means being part of one team with shared values and common goals. Every person counts and working closely together always brings better results. Partnership is our process and our collective capabilities is our superpower.
• We innovate: At Mattel we always aim to find new and better ways to create innovative products and experiences. No matter where you work in the organization, you can always make a difference and have real impact. We welcome new ideas and value new initiatives that challenge conventional thinking.
• We execute: We are a performance-driven company. We strive for excellence and are focused on pursuing best-in-class outcomes. We believe in accountability and ownership and know that our people are at their best when they are empowered to create and deliver results.

Who We Are:
Mattel is a leading global toy and family entertainment company and owner of one of the most iconic brand portfolios in the world. We engage consumers and fans through our franchise brands, including Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price, American Girl, Thomas & Friends, UNO, Masters of the Universe, Matchbox, Monster High, MEGA and Polly Pocket, as well as other popular properties that we own or license in partnership with global entertainment companies. Our offerings include toys, content, consumer products, digital and live experiences. Our products are sold in collaboration with the world’s leading retail and ecommerce companies. Since its founding in 1945, Mattel is proud to be a trusted partner in empowering generations to explore the wonder of childhood and reach their full potential.

Mattel’s award-winning workplace culture has been recognized by Forbes, Fast Company, Newsweek, Great Place to Work, TIME, and more.

Visit us at https://jobs.mattel.com/ and www.instagram.com/MattelCareers.

Mattel is an Equal Opportunity Employer where we want you to bring your authentic self to work every day. We welcome all job seekers, and all applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, veteran and protected veteran status, disability status, and or any other basis protected by applicable federal, state or local law.

Pursuant to the Los Angeles Fair Chance Ordinance and the California Fair Chance Act, qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment.

Videos to watch:
The Culture at Mattel
Corporate Philanthropy