Sr Manager, Creative - Mattel Masterbrand

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: 

The Mattel Brand Creative team is seeking a Senior Manager, Creative to help shape how Mattel shows up in the world.

As Mattel continues to evolve as a global entertainment company, this role will help build, express, and scale the Mattel Masterbrand across a growing range of consumer, corporate, cultural, and experiential touchpoints.

This is a highly conceptual and hands-on creative leadership role for someone who can think at the brand level and bring ideas to life with exceptional craft. The ideal candidate is equally comfortable developing a big creative idea, building a visual system, directing an agency, designing alongside a team, and presenting work to senior stakeholders.

Working across Mattel’s portfolio of iconic brands, this person will help create a cohesive and recognizable Mattel brand presence while finding fresh, culturally relevant ways for the Masterbrand and our brands to come together.

What Your Impact Will Be: 

• Help define, evolve, and champion the creative expression of the Mattel Masterbrand across global touchpoints.
• Lead the development of breakthrough, idea-led creative that builds awareness, affinity, and recognition for Mattel and strengthens the connection between Mattel and its portfolio of iconic brands.
• Translate Mattel’s brand strategy and positioning into compelling creative ideas, visual storytelling, and brand experiences.
• Develop and scale Mattel’s visual identity system, establishing clear creative principles while continually finding new and unexpected ways for the brand to come to life.
• Lead creative across a wide range of work including integrated campaigns, social and digital, content, experiential, events, environments, corporate initiatives, partnerships, retail, packaging, and internal brand moments.
• Create work that can flex across audiences, from kids and families to adult fans, employees, partners, and the broader cultural community.
• Partner with Mattel’s individual brand teams to create moments where the Masterbrand and our portfolio of brands work together in a cohesive and meaningful way.
• Collaborate closely with Marketing, Communications, Consumer Products, Digital, Design, Content, Events, Workplace, and other cross-functional teams to build a consistent Mattel brand experience.
• Provide clear, inspiring creative direction to internal creative teams, agencies, freelancers, production partners, and vendors.
• Be hands on for both design, creative direction and on photoshoots. This role requires on-set production experience.
• Remain hands-on throughout the creative process, from concept development and design exploration through production and final execution.
• Identify opportunities to push the Mattel brand into new spaces, formats, partnerships, and cultural moments.
• Present and advocate for creative work with clarity and confidence to cross-functional partners and senior leadership.
• Manage multiple high-profile initiatives simultaneously, balancing creative ambition, business objectives, timelines, and budgets.
• Mentor and develop creative talent while helping foster a culture of curiosity, experimentation, collaboration, and high creative standards.

What We’re Looking For:

Skills Required

• Conceptual creative thinker: Able to translate strategy and consumer insight into simple, powerful creative ideas with the ability to scale across channels.
• Exceptional design sensibility: Strong command of typography, composition, visual systems, storytelling, art direction, and craft.
• Brand builder: Understands how to build a distinctive global brand while creating enough flexibility for it to remain fresh, surprising, and culturally relevant.
• Hands-on creative leader: Comfortable moving between creative direction and making, with the ability to develop ideas visually and guide them through execution.
• Integrated thinker: Sees the brand experience holistically and understands how an idea can move across campaigns, content, social, digital, environments, experiences, retail, packaging, and emerging touchpoints.
• Culture-forward: Curious about entertainment, design, fashion, gaming, art, technology, social behavior, and broader culture, with an instinct for how brands can participate authentically.
• Multi-brand storyteller: Able to work across a portfolio of iconic brands while understanding how each brand’s individual equity can connect back to the larger Mattel story.
• Collaborative leader: Thrives in a highly matrixed organization and builds strong relationships across creative, marketing, design, communications, and business teams.
• Agency-savvy: Experienced in briefing, directing, challenging, and partnering with agencies and external creative talent to deliver exceptional work.
• Compelling communicator: Able to articulate the thinking behind creative work, build alignment, and confidently present to senior leadership.
• Creative problem solver: Comfortable with ambiguity and energized by assignments where the creative opportunity or solution has not yet been defined.

Core Capabilities

• Masterbrand and corporate brand development
• Brand identity and visual systems
• Creative concepting and art direction
• Integrated campaign development
• Brand storytelling and narrative development
• Digital and social creative
• Experiential, events, and environmental design
• Content, video, motion, and animation
• Retail and packaging creative
• Multi-brand and portfolio storytelling
• Cultural and partnership activations
• Agency and production partner management
• Creative team leadership and mentorship
• Executive-level presentation and storytelling

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.
Beware of recruiting scams: Mattel will only contact you through official @mattel.com or @smartrecruiters.com email addresses and will never ask for payment or sensitive personal information during the hiring process.

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.

The pay range for this position is between $148,000 and $183,000 annual. 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. 

Videos to watch:
The Culture at Mattel
Corporate Philanthropy