Senior Product Designer - Games

Mattel; El Segundo (CA); Hybrid; USD 95,000 - 119,000; Full time

Job summary

Mattel in El Segundo, CA is seeking a Senior Product Designer to shape the next generation of iconic games such as UNO, Pictionary, Scrabble, and more. This hands-on role blends concept, prototyping, and production across multiple teams.

You'll transform ideas into intuitive, beautifully crafted physical products, balancing creativity with manufacturing feasibility, cost, and sustainability. You will collaborate with Engineering, Packaging, Licensing, Marketing, and Insights to push the

Qualifications

• 4+ years of experience in game design, toy design, industrial design, consumer product design, or a closely related field, with demonstrated experience developing physical products.
• Experience designing tabletop, card, party, strategy, family, or adjacent play experiences, with a strong understanding of what creates engaging gameplay.
• Demonstrated experience with ideation, prototyping, playtesting, iteration, and product development from concept through production.
• Strong industrial design fundamentals, including sketching, form development, prototyping, visualization, and 3D design tools.
• Understanding of consumer product development, materials, manufacturing processes, tooling, and production constraints.
• Ability to translate complex ideas into clear, compelling concepts and presentations.
• Strong collaboration, communication, organization, and problem-solving skills.
• Curiosity about how and why people play, with a passion for creating products that bring people together.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop new gameplay experiences across Mattel's portfolio of family, party, strategy, and card games.
• Take projects from early concept exploration through prototyping, playtesting, refinement, and final product execution.
• Apply game design principles, player psychology, consumer insights, and a strong understanding of player behavior to create experiences that are simple to learn, rewarding to play, and built for repeat engagement.
• Build and test prototypes quickly, using playtesting and consumer feedback to improve mechanics, pacing, accessibility, and overall player experience.
• Explore opportunities to evolve established brands while contributing original ideas for entirely new ways to play.
• Translate gameplay into intuitive, beautifully crafted physical products, components, and interactions.
• Develop clear design solutions through sketching, model making, CAD, rendering, prototyping, and other appropriate visualization tools.
• Partner closely with Engineering and Packaging to balance creativity with manufacturing feasibility, quality, cost, and sustainability.
• Make thoughtful decisions around materials, component design, ergonomics, visual hierarchy, tactile interaction, and overall product experience.
• Review prototypes and production samples to help preserve design intent and gameplay integrity through manufacturing.
• Partner effectively across Product Design, Graphic Design, Narrative Design, Marketing, Consumer Insights, Engineering, Licensing, and external development partners.
• Present concepts and design rationale clearly, using strong visual storytelling to build alignment and move work forward.
• Participate actively in design critiques, contributing constructive feedback while incorporating input from others to strengthen the work.
• Share knowledge, techniques, and perspective with junior designers, helping raise the quality of thinking and execution across the team.
• Manage multiple projects and priorities across different stages of development while maintaining a high standard of creative execution.
• Identify design challenges early, develop practical solutions, and make informed tradeoffs throughout development.
• Contribute to evolving design tools, workflows, and best practices that support faster iteration and stronger collaboration across the Games organization.

Skills

Game design experience

Industrial design fundamentals

Prototyping & playtesting

Sketching & 3D design

Collaboration & communication

Curiosity about how people play

Tools

CAD

Rendering

3D design tools

Job 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:

Mattel is looking for an imaginative and highly skilled Senior Product Designer to help create the next generation of play experiences across one of the world's most iconic games portfolios. From UNO, Pictionary, Scrabble, Phase 10, Skip‑Bo, Blokus, KerPlunk!, and beyond, you'll design products that bring people together through play.

This is a hands‑on design role for someone who understands that great games are built through strong ideas, thoughtful mechanics, rapid prototyping, meaningful playtesting, and relentless refinement. You'll transform concepts into physical products that are intuitive, engaging, and unmistakably Mattel.

Working across Design, Marketing, Engineering, Consumer Insights, Packaging, Licensing, and Operations, you'll help bring new gameplay experiences from early concept through commercialization.

What Your Impact Will Be:

• Design and develop new gameplay experiences across Mattel's portfolio of family, party, strategy, and card games.
• Take projects from early concept exploration through prototyping, playtesting, refinement, and final product execution.
• Apply game design principles, player psychology, consumer insights, and a strong understanding of player behavior to create experiences that are simple to learn, rewarding to play, and built for repeat engagement.
• Build and test prototypes quickly, using playtesting and consumer feedback to improve mechanics, pacing, accessibility, and overall player experience.
• Explore opportunities to evolve established brands while contributing original ideas for entirely new ways to play.
• Translate gameplay into intuitive, beautifully crafted physical products, components, and interactions.
• Develop clear design solutions through sketching, model making, CAD, rendering, prototyping, and other appropriate visualization tools.
• Partner closely with Engineering and Packaging to balance creativity with manufacturing feasibility, quality, cost, and sustainability.
• Make thoughtful decisions around materials, component design, ergonomics, visual hierarchy, tactile interaction, and overall product experience.
• Review prototypes and production samples to help preserve design intent and gameplay integrity through manufacturing.
• Partner effectively across Product Design, Graphic Design, Narrative Design, Marketing, Consumer Insights, Engineering, Licensing, and external development partners.
• Present concepts and design rationale clearly, using strong visual storytelling to build alignment and move work forward.
• Participate actively in design critiques, contributing constructive feedback while incorporating input from others to strengthen the work.
• Share knowledge, techniques, and perspective with junior designers, helping raise the quality of thinking and execution across the team.
• Manage multiple projects and priorities across different stages of development while maintaining a high standard of creative execution.
• Identify design challenges early, develop practical solutions, and make informed tradeoffs throughout development.
• Contribute to evolving design tools, workflows, and best practices that support faster iteration and stronger collaboration across the Games organization.

Qualifications

What We’re Looking For:

• 4+ years of experience in game design, toy design, industrial design, consumer product design, or a closely related field, with demonstrated experience developing physical products.
• Experience designing tabletop, card, party, strategy, family, or adjacent play experiences, with a strong understanding of what creates engaging gameplay.
• Demonstrated experience with ideation, prototyping, playtesting, iteration, and product development from concept through production.
• Strong industrial design fundamentals, including sketching, form development, prototyping, visualization, and 3D design tools.
• Understanding of consumer product development, materials, manufacturing processes, tooling, and production constraints.
• Ability to translate complex ideas into clear, compelling concepts and presentations.
• Strong collaboration, communication, organization, and problem‑solving skills.
• Curiosity about how and why people play, with a passion for creating products that bring people together.

Bonus Points If You Have

• Experience shipping commercially successful tabletop, card, or family games.
• Experience facilitating structured playtesting or working with consumer research.
• Experience working across licensed entertainment brands or global product development organizations.
• Familiarity with modern tabletop gaming trends, mechanics, and player communities.
• A genuine love of games and play, whether that's inventing mechanics, hosting game nights, collecting modern board games, or simply obsessing over why a great game works.

Additional Information

Don't meet every single requirement?At Mattel, we are dedicated to an inclusive workplace and a culture of belonging. If you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we still encourage you to apply. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

How We Work

• We collaborate:Being a part of Mattel means being part of one team with shared values and common goals. Every person counts and working closely together always brings better results. Partnership is our process and our collective capabilities is our superpower.
• We innovate:At Mattel we always aim to find new and better ways to create innovative products and experiences. No matter where you work in the organization, you can always make a difference and have real impact. We welcome new ideas and value new initiatives that challenge conventional thinking.
• We execute:We are a performance‑driven company. We strive for excellence and are focused on pursuing best‑in‑class outcomes. We believe in accountability and ownership and know that our people are at their best when they are empowered to create and deliver results.

Our Approach to Flexible Work: This role is an in‑office role Monday‑Thursday, and work from home on Fridays. We embrace a flexible work model designed to empower a culture of growth, optimism, and wellbeing, where every employee can reach their full potential. Combining purposeful in‑person collaboration with flexibility, our focus is to optimize performance and drive connection for moments that matter.

Who We Are: Mattel is a leading global toy and family entertainment company and owner of one of the most iconic brand portfolios in the world. We engage consumers and fans through our franchise brands, including Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher‑Price, American Girl, Thomas & Friends, UNO, Masters of the Universe, Matchbox, Monster High, MEGA and Polly Pocket, as well as other popular properties that we own or license in partnership with global entertainment companies. Our offerings include toys, content, consumer products, digital and live experiences. Our products are sold in collaboration with the world's leading retail and ecommerce companies. Since its founding in 1945, Mattel is proud to be a trusted partner in empowering generations to explore the wonder of childhood and reach their full potential.

Mattel's award‑winning workplace culture has been recognized by Forbes, Fast Company, Newsweek, Great Place to Work, TIME, and more.

Mattel is an Equal Opportunity Employer where we want you to bring your authentic self to work every day. We welcome all job seekers, and all applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, veteran and protected veteran status, disability status, and or any other basis protected by applicable federal, state or local law.

Pursuant to the Los Angeles Fair Chance Ordinance and the California Fair Chance Act, qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment.

The pay range for this position is between $95,000 and $119,000 annual. The pay range is indicative of projected hiring range, however base pay will be determined based on a candidate’s work location, skills and experience. Mattel offers competitive total pay programs, comprehensive benefits, and resources to help empower a culture where every employee can reach their full potential.

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