Director, Brand Strategy & Operations

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.

Job Description

The Opportunity: 

We are looking for a dynamic and experienced Director, Brand Strategy & Operations to drive the strategic vision and execution for Mattel’s Global Brand Teams. This leader will play a key role in evolving, developing, and implementing consistent processes across all Global Brand Teams (GBT), including product approvals, assortment management, and new product development. By creating templates and tools to improve communication and reporting you will act as a bridge between senior leadership and internal teams, ensuring seamless execution of brand strategies and operational alignment.

This role reports direct into, and serves as a trusted advisor to the EVP & Chief Brand Officer, providing strategic guidance on key initiatives and ensuring alignment across all brand categories and GBT functions. Working within GBT (which includes Design, Packaging, GCI, Product Marketing, and Brand Marketing) and with cross-functional partners like Product Development, People & Culture, and Commercial leads, you will ensure our teams are empowered to deliver their best work—strategically empowered, and with clarity.

What Your Impact Will Be: 

Operational Leadership

• Shape and prioritize key GBT initiatives, ensuring alignment with the company’s strategic goals and vision. Track and report progress ensuring goals are met and results are communicated across leadership.
• Drive end-to-end operational excellence by supporting strategic planning, resource allocation, workflow optimization, and execution. 
• Build and maintain an operational infrastructure that scales with business complexity—balancing creative freedom with enterprise accountability including onboarding, training, technology tools, and more.
• Champion the evolution of processes, toolsets, and governance that elevate the GBT as an innovation engine, positioning the company for future growth.

Strategic Program Management

• Partner with GBT Leadership to define priorities, shape integrated roadmaps, and manage capacity against critical business initiatives.  Facilitate executive sessions and work with leadership to synthesize results.
• Manage cross-functional teams and stakeholders to drive progress on strategic initiatives (i.e., Functional Academies, AI for Design, Grand & Nash).
• Develop and implement tools, systems, and best practices for project intake, planning, status reporting, and cross-functional collaboration.

Cultural Impact

• Regularly partner with senior executive stakeholders, translating needs into operational strategy and advising on tradeoffs that directly impact time-to-market, innovation impact, and financial performance.
• Identify and remove operational bottlenecks that hinder innovation or speed to market.
• Champion an inclusive, high-performing, and resilient creative culture—reducing friction and amplifying team impact while fostering collaboration and shared understanding between creative and business teams.

Qualifications

What We’re Looking For:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, or related field (MBA preferred).
• Minimum 10+ years of leadership experience in brand strategy, marketing, or business operations, with a proven track record of success in executive roles.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with experience using data-driven insights to make high-impact decisions and resolve complex organizational challenges.
• Expertise in managing large-scale projects, ensuring successful execution on time and within budget, while effectively allocating resources across teams.
• Strong strategic thinking, communication, and influencing skills across disciplines and leadership levels.
• Ability to inspire innovation and lead organizational change while aligning with company values and fostering a high-performance, inclusive culture.

• Demonstrated a growth mindset by staying curious and continuously learning, embracing challenges, and improving themselves.

The annual base salary range for this position is between $172,000 and $210,000