Sr Director, Head of AI

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: 

The Sr. Director, Office of AI is a senior leadership role within Mattel's Global Technology Organization (GTO), reporting directly to the VP of Technology. This role is the company's primary driver for AI adoption strategy, value creation and governance, translating the fast-moving AI landscape into meaningful, responsible, and scalable outcomes for the business.

The Sr. Director leads a small team of AI practitioners and engineers and operates at the intersection of strategy, engineering, and cross-functional partnership. They are expected to be both a visionary and an executor, capable of prototyping solutions, managing business relationships, and navigating legal, security, and privacy frameworks, while maintaining a clear lens on enterprise value.

What Your Impact Will Be: 

AI Strategy & Governance

• Define and evolve Mattel's enterprise AI adoption strategy in alignment with GTO and business priorities.
• Establish and operate the Office of AI governance model including AI use case intake, prioritization, risk review, and portfolio tracking.
• Work with the appropriate teams and develop and communicate AI policies, standards, and guardrails in partnership with Legal, Security, Privacy, and Compliance.
• Lead responsible AI frameworks covering ethics, bias mitigation, explainability, and regulatory compliance.

Business Enablement & Value Creation

• Identify AI enablement opportunities across Mattel's business domains, including DTC, marketing, supply chain, product development, and enterprise functions.
• Build and maintain relationships with business stakeholders to understand pain points and translate them into high-value AI use cases.
• Define and track value realization metrics, ensuring AI investments deliver measurable business outcomes.
• Act as an internal AI thought leader: educating business partners, debunking hype, and driving informed decision-making.

Engineering Prototyping & Execution Handoff

• Lead or directly contribute to engineering prototypes and proof-of-concept builds that validate AI approaches and establish ROI before committing to production investment.
• Partner with Engineering and Platform teams to ensure smooth transition from PoC to production, with clear documentation, architecture alignment, and success criteria.
• Evaluate and recommend AI tooling, platforms, and frameworks in alignment with enterprise architecture standards.
• Leverage agentic AI, LLMs, and emerging automation paradigms to accelerate solution velocity.

Partner & Vendor Management

• Manage strategic AI vendor and partner relationships including co-development engagements, platform assessments, and contract reviews.
• Coordinate with Legal, Security, and Privacy teams to establish compliance frameworks for AI tools and third-party solutions entering the enterprise.
• Evaluate AI partner capabilities against Mattel's technology standards and risk tolerance.

Team & Stakeholder Leadership

• Lead and develop a team of AI practitioners, engineers, and program managers both in the US as well as in our India offices.
• Report and present AI portfolio progress, governance posture, and strategic recommendations to senior leadership.
• Foster a culture of responsible experimentation, rapid learning, and cross-functional collaboration

Qualifications

What We’re Looking For:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, AI, Data Science, Information Systems, or a related field.
• 15+ years of progressive experience spanning AI/ML strategy, enterprise technology, and business enablement.
• Proven track record of driving enterprise AI adoption from opportunity identification through governance, prototyping, and production handoff.
• Strong command of the AI landscape including generative AI, LLMs, agentic systems, ML platforms, and emerging frameworks and the ability to quickly contextualize them within a consumer products enterprise.
• Experience partnering with Legal, Se