Senior Design Lead [Contract]

Spin Master; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 118,000 - 157,000; Full time

Job summary

Spin Master is seeking a Design Director to lead the Early Learning toy portfolio, including Ms. Rachel, translating milestones and parenting insights into innovative, age-appropriate products. You will mentor a team of design experts and drive project strategy under the Design Director.

Based in New York with hybrid work options, this 6-month full-time contract requires strong leadership, sketching, and executive presentation skills to shape the brand’s direction and licensing outcomes.

Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree (BFA) in Toy Design, Industrial Design, or related field.
• Professional design leadership experience managing product portfolios and mentoring teams.
• Deep expertise in infant, toddler, and early childhood milestones, play patterns, and safety standards.

Responsibilities

• Provide daily creative direction and design mentorship for the early learning team.
• Establish visual aesthetics, design standards, and play-experience principles for the brand portfolio.
• Translate insights into market-viable concepts and product roadmaps.
• Collaborate with Marketing, Engineering, Packaging, and Insights to meet cost, timeline, and compliance metrics.

Skills

Design leadership

Creative direction

Infant/toddler play development

Sketching/2D rendering

Executive presenting

Project management

Education

BFA in Toy/Industrial Design

Job description

Please Note: If you are a current Spin Master employee with access to Workday, apply to this job via the Workday application. Are you a kid at heart looking to build a career with a leading global children's toy, entertainment and digital gaming company? At Spin Master, our unwavering commitment to open mindedness, integrity and innovation is a great part of what has made us an industry leader. How do we stay ahead of the pack? By hiring the best and brightest minds—and that’s why we want you!

What will you work on?

Under the guidance of the Design Director, you will drive the creative direction, design strategy, and product development for our Early Learning toy portfolio, including our existing Ms. Rachel brand and emerging opportunities. You will lead a team of design experts to translate early childhood milestones and modern parenting insights into innovative, age-appropriate, and developmental toy experiences. This is a 6 month full-time fixed term contract position.

How will you create impact?

Provide daily creative direction, design mentorship, and tactical decision-making support across the early learning design team Establish overarching visual aesthetics, design standards, and play-experience principles for the brand portfolio Monitor global shifts in kids' media, educational models, and parenting trends to identify category whitespace and build pipeline strategy Translate consumer and educational insights into market-viable product concepts, slot strategies, and consumer stories Create and deliver compelling design pitches and visual presentations to secure executive and licensor alignment Partner with Marketing, Engineering, Packaging, and Insights teams to ensure products meet cost, timeline, and compliance metrics Collaborate with the internal inventor relations team to source, evaluate, and integrate external toy innovations

What are your skills and experience?

• Undergraduate degree (BFA) in Toy Design, Industrial Design, or a related creative field
• Professional design leadership experience managing product portfolios and mentoring creative teams
• Deep expertise in infant, toddler, and early childhood developmental milestones, play patterns, and pediatric safety standards
• Exceptional sketching, 2D rendering, and storytelling skills to quickly convey brand strategy and physical concepts
• Proven capacity to coordinate resource allocation, delegate tasks, and drive multiple complex projects under tight deadlines
• Experience presenting design vision and product roadmaps to senior executives and major external entertainment partners
• #LI-Hybrid #LI-HM1

The anticipated pay range for candidates who will work in New York is $117,800 to $157,000 Per Annum. The offered pay to a successful candidate will be dependent on several factors that may include but are not limited to years of experience within the job, years of experience within the required industry, education, etc. Spin Master Inc. is a multi-state employer, and this salary range may not reflect positions that work only in other states. This job posting is tied to an open vacancy.

What you can expect from us:

Our mission is to Make Life More Fun with a vision to push the boundaries of innovation, creativity, and fun. Growth and Career Opportunities Flexible Work Hours Innovation, Collaboration and Fun Comprehensive Benefits Other fun Perks!

What’s it like to work here?

Spin Master is a fast-paced, hands-on organization that provides many great opportunities for impactful decision-making; though our challenging start-up atmosphere isn’t for everyone, we have a proven record of opportunities for future advancement and internal transfers for our passionate and results driven team. Everyone is welcome in our sandbox and we are committed to an accessible and inclusive hiring process that provides reasonable accommodation to all applicants. Spin Master strives to create an accessible and inclusive application and selection process and is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodation to job applicants who may require provisions to participate in the recruitment, selection and/or assessment processes. Should you require an accommodation, please contact our Talent Acquisition team, by email at [e-mail] or by phone at 416 364-6002 and we will work with you to meet your accessibility needs. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter @SpinMaster to stay up to date on Spin Master career opportunities. We do appreciate all interest; however only those selected for interview will be contacted.

Our Mission and our Vision is to make life more fun by pushing the boundaries of innovation, creativity, and fun! A part of our company from the very start, our values are embodied in everyone from top leadership through to new and veteran team members alike, who –like you– were attracted to Spin Master due to our shared mind set, moral code, and way of being. Basically speaking, we enjoy a casual culture here, having fun while we are creating fun!