Senior Manager, Global Sample Ops & Projects

Jakks Pacific Inc; Santa Monica (CA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 115,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health and Wellness

401K matching

Competitive compensation

Job summary

JAKKS Pacific, Inc. is seeking a Senior Manager of Sample Operations & Project Management to lead global sample requests at its Santa Monica, CA headquarters.

You will own the sample pipeline, manage staffing and production planning, and coordinate with Marketing, Sales, PR, Design, Packaging, and Executives to ensure timely, accurate sample delivery. The role requires strong project/operations management, ability to juggle multiple priorities, and a focus on seasonality and process

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in project management, operations, product development, or related field.
• Experience managing high-volume projects or requests with multiple stakeholders and deadlines.
• Experience managing managers, supervisors, project teams, or operational functions.
• Strong project management, prioritization, resource planning, and organizational skills.
• Demonstrated ability to manage cross-functional dependencies and drive issues to resolution.
• Strong communication and stakeholder-management skills, including experience with senior leadership.
• Ability to anticipate workload and adjust priorities as business needs change.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to identify incomplete or inaccurate requirements.
• Experience in toy or consumer products, retail, or packaging industries (preferred).
• Experience with seasonal product development and retail calendars (preferred).
• Experience with ERP, PLM, or product information systems (preferred).

Responsibilities

• Own and prioritize the global pipeline of product sample requests from submission through completion.
• Lead and partner on workload, capacity, staffing, and production planning with the Sample Shop Manager.
• Serve as liaison between Sample Shop and Marketing, Sales, PR, Design, Packaging, Operations, and Executive Management.
• Coordinate requests from Marketing, Sales, PR, Design, Packaging, Operations, and Executives.
• Establish priorities based on business needs, deadlines, launches, and capacity.
• Plan resources for peak periods by understanding seasonal sample demand.
• Create and manage a Ready for Sample process to ensure complete/accurate requests before work begins.
• Ensure correct product/item sampling in collaboration with Marketing, Packaging, and Design.
• Verify accurate product dimensions, specs, packaging, artwork, and assets prior to production.
• Identify incomplete or conflicting requests and drive cross-functional resolution.
• Maintain visibility into request status, priorities, deadlines, dependencies, backlog, and risks.
• Escalate conflicts and align cross-functional priorities as needed.
• Communicate timelines, risks, and changes to stakeholders.
• Monitor sample volume, turnaround time, on-time completion, backlog, capacity, and rework.

Skills

Project management

Operations

Resource planning

Stakeholder management

Communication

Prioritization

Leadership of managers

Tools

ERP

PLM

PIM

Job description

JAKKS Pacific, Inc. is seeking a Senior Manager of Sample Operations & Project Management to lead global sample requests at its Santa Monica, CA headquarters.

You will own the sample pipeline, manage staffing and production planning, and coordinate with Marketing, Sales, PR, Design, Packaging, and Executives to ensure timely, accurate sample delivery. The role requires strong project/operations management, ability to juggle multiple priorities, and a focus on seasonality and process