Director, Product Development — Hybrid Leader

Mattel; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 186,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

Mattel in El Segundo seeks a Director, Product Development to lead the Development workstream for a complex portfolio and new brand, aligning technical direction, requirements, manufacturing readiness, cost, quality, safety, and schedule from concept through commercialization.

The role partners with Design, Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Sourcing, Finance, Marketing, and external partners to resolve risks, establish governance, and drive scalable, end-to-end product delivery in a

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related field; advanced degree preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in product development and program management.
• Strong technical judgment for trade-offs across specs, tooling, manufacturing readiness, quality, cost, and schedule.
• Deep understanding of product development lifecycles and portfolio financial drivers.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams through ambiguity and influencing senior stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Development workstream across an assigned product portfolio and new brand, setting priorities, governance, decision rights, and operating rhythm to drive disciplined execution.
• Serve as the senior development decision‑maker for complex technical trade‑offs, including feasibility, product specifications, materials, tooling strategy, manufacturing process, quality, safety, cost, and schedule implications.
• Drive production‑readiness alignment across cross‑functional teams, ensuring development plans, technical requirements, BOMs, tooling plans, quality expectations, and manufacturing assumptions are integrated before key launch and production milestones.
• Establish clear readiness gates, escalation routines, milestone reviews, and executive‑level reporting to surface risks early and support timely business decisions.
• Lead resolution of high‑complexity product development issues, including requirement conflicts, technical risks, manufacturing constraints, cost challenges, supplier capability gaps, and schedule pressures.
• Partner with Design, Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Safety, Sourcing, Finance, Marketing, Plant teams, and external partners to balance consumer experience, product performance, manufacturability, quality, cost, and speed to market.
• Oversee development planning and execution for the assigned brand, related categories, licensed properties, and new product initiatives, ensuring plans are integrated from concept through commercialization.
• Accountable for assigned portfolio development performance, including on‑time commit, time to market, production readiness, quality metrics, cost targets, value engineering, risk mitigation, and execution discipline.
• Drive strategic initiatives that improve how teams plan, develop, validate, and launch products, including process simplification, value stream mapping, scalable ways of working, and technical decision frameworks.
• Build, coach, and develop a high‑performing Development Program Management team, strengthening leadership capability, technical judgment, accountability, and cross‑functional partnership.
• Lead through global and cross‑functional complexity, partnering with regional teams, manufacturing sites, suppliers, licensors, and business stakeholders to deliver against portfolio commitments.
• Represent Development in senior leadership and executive‑level discussions, providing clear recommendations, risk assessment, decision options, and trade‑off analysis to support assigned portfolio and business priorities.

Skills

Leadership

Cross-functional leadership

Technical judgment

Product development

Portfolio governance

Executive reporting

Ambiguity handling

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering

Advanced degree preferred

Job description

Mattel in El Segundo seeks a Director, Product Development to lead the Development workstream for a complex portfolio and new brand, aligning technical direction, requirements, manufacturing readiness, cost, quality, safety, and schedule from concept through commercialization.

The role partners with Design, Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Sourcing, Finance, Marketing, and external partners to resolve risks, establish governance, and drive scalable, end-to-end product delivery in a