Senior Manager Franchise Supply Chain Management – Licensing and Publishing

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.

The Team:

The Franchise Supply Chain Management team within Mattel’s Global Supply Chain organization is responsible for aligning supply chain processes and leading executional activities to the growing Franchise segment of Mattel.  This role, Senior Manager in Franchise Supply Chain Management Licensing and Publishing, presents a compelling opportunity to join this newly established segment at the ground level. This specialized division has been created to actively support Mattel's overarching strategic objective of Entertainment focused opportunities such as content, consumer products, digital initiatives, and live experiences. The primary focus is on accelerating profitable growth for our Intellectual Property (IP) Brands Portfolio and Franchise businesses for our Direct to Consumer (DTC) and Publishing businesses. The successful candidate will collaborate closely with business partners in Franchise, Supply Chain, and other support functions to ensure the clear identification, understanding, and execution of innovative and strategic portfolio and program goals. The position involves leading a team, with an estimated range of 2-6 direct reports, to be hired.

The Opportunity:

• Influence the creation of supply chain business processes to support Franchise growth objectives related to the Mattel DTC and Publishing business.
• Manages highly complex projects, products, and resources, while troubleshooting internal and external conflicts to support Mattel’s long-term goals.
• Is the supply chain lead for cross-functional teams in executing Franchise DTC and Publishing goals and objectives.
• Actively identifies and innovatively streamlines workflow efficiencies for internal and external teams.
• Receives work in the form of short and long-term projects/products that often require the application of independent judgment while performing unusually complex tasks for both Licensing and Publishing business models that requires different thinking and processes given their individualized business model approach.
• Expert knowledge of the integrated systems lifecycle development utilizing different – and sometimes – multiple frameworks.
• Sponsor/facilitate process improvement discussions across internal functions to implement changes that improve organizational performance.
• For new lines create new processes, procedures, methods, and standards to adhere to that aligns to the Mattel standards and where existing lines exist, drive adherence to project processes, procedures, methods, and standards for project delivery and leverage across the project.
• Direct the identification of supply chain risks which impact Franchise LOB (Licensing and Publishing) goals and recommend mitigation strategies when necessary.
• Develop key metrics and performance indicators that measure performance against targets / milestones and provide insights that help the organization make better decisions.

Key Responsibilities:

• Manage supply chain workflows partnering with Licensing stakeholders as well as Publishing stakeholders to enable profitable growth through revenue attainment and optimizing supply chain costs.
• Have a deep understanding of the Mattel Franchise model and continue to strive to improve on process enhancements.
• Have well connected relationships with Mattel Publishing Partners (internally and possible external) – and the matrixed complex working of the revenue model to enable advisory process improvements. 
• Work in the global organization as an agent of change identifying touch points with GSC and supporting the implementation of new processes and agreed upon metrics.
• Define and implement business processes between Licensing stakeholders as well as Publishing stakeholders including change management activities.
• Lead outcome sessions with business partners to implement operating agreements and track progress against agreements.
• Provide insightful analyses across the Licensing and Publishing lines of business and translate into actionable metrics.
• Lead and/or support strategic project initiatives related to Licensing and Publishing lines of business.
• Identify and/or understand risks, challenges and opportunities; communicate to impacted teams.
• Ensure non-cost goals (Sustainability, Supplier Development, Regulatory and Compliance) are met and supported by the Supply Chain strategy.
• Provide technical execution leadership to one or more project managers, demand and or order planners, and inventory planning resources and is required to deliver projects within the leader’s responsibility.
• Act as the executive alignment or escalation point on key commitments.
• Drive and implement processes to work on the development and maturity of internal implementation processes (staffing, delivery, escalations, prioritization, etc.)
• Prepare executive-level project status presentations and dashboards and creates data visualization elements to provide a graphic demonstration of project analytics and metrics for all Franchise LOB.
• Consistent demonstration of a growth mindset with the ability to scale and manage projects in different disciplines.
• Build strong relationships across the organization.
• Utilizes expert communication skills to facilitate project-related conversations with GBT/Commercial/Franchise senior leaders/managers/directors and service owners alike, and driving tasks and project dependencies to completion across multiple supporting teams; with accountability for mentoring other project and program managers

What Your Impact Will Be:

• Provide coordination across supply chain functions for critical items / items potentially already within lead time to minimize impact to 2024 billings.
• Develop and implement process standardization for product compliance, packaging compliance, vendor compliance, demand and supply planning, data management and other supply chain activities.
• Create reporting and metrics that support tracking GSC and Franchise targets with emphasis on metrics that guide toward further process improvements.

What We’re Looking For:

• 5-7+ years proven experience in providing project management and technical direction to project teams; demonstrated experience establishing, best practices and processes for a large-scale matrix cross-discipline technology organization.
• 5+ years of demonstrated experience in a people management/supervisory role in technology, including direct people management of individual contributors.
• 5 years’ experience in product development or supply chain, preferably in a consumer products industry
• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Business Administration, Supply Chain or related field
• Experience using data and metrics to determine and drive improvement.
• Experience owning program strategy, end to end delivery, and communicating results to senior leadership.
• Demonstrated ability to influence and motivate teams to adopt new processes and tools.
• Strong growth mindset and ownership mindset, cross-functional collaboration skills and a drive to deliver results.
• Highly enthusiastic and hands-on business approach
• Strong interpersonal, writing, and presentation skills
• Strong analytical, planning, and problem-solving skills with attention to detail.
• Ability to work effectively and negotiate with colleagues, build trust and consensus, and influence the actions of others.
• Ability to develop and manage small project plans including scope, key deliverables, timing, and resources
• Ability to learn new systems and mine data from enterprise systems.
• Highly proficient in Microsoft Office applications, especially Excel and PowerPoint
• Some proficiency in Business Intelligence tools, ie. Tableau or comparable
• Demonstrated a growth mindset by staying curious and continuously learning, embracing challenges, and improving themselves.

The annual base salary range for this position is between $128,000 and $150,000.
**This range is indicative of projected hiring range, however annual base salary will be determined based on a candidate’s work location, skills and experience.

Don’t meet every single requirement? At Mattel we are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

How We Work:

We are a purpose driven company aiming to empower generations to explore the wonder of childhood and reach their full potential. We live up to our purpose employing the following behaviors:

• 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.

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 more than 195 countries in collaboration with the world’s leading retail and ecommerce companies.

Mattel is recognized as a Great Place to Work™ and as one of Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators in 2022.

Visit us at https://jobs.mattel.com/ and www.instagram.com/MattelCareers.

Mattel is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer where we want you to bring your authentic self to work every day. We welcome all job seekers including minorities, females, veterans, military spouses, individuals with disabilities, and those of all sexual orientations and gender identities.

Videos to watch:
The Culture at Mattel
Mattel Investor Highlights