Lead Demand Planner - Innovation Ventures

Company 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.

Innovation Ventures is where Mattel builds what's next.

As our entrepreneurial innovation studio, Innovation Ventures exists to create the next generation of breakthrough brands, new business models, and entirely new ways to play. Operating with the agility of a startup and the resources of one of the world's leading toy companies, our team turns emerging consumer insights into bold new concepts that have the potential to become Mattel's next growth driver. If you're energized by ambiguity, passionate about solving problems in new ways, and excited by the opportunity to build something from the ground up, Innovation Ventures offers the rare chance to shape the future of play while making a lasting impact on Mattel's long-term growth.

Job Description

Mattel Ventures is focused on creating and incubating new brands and business models that may require different consumer, channel, and operating approaches than Mattel's established businesses. The Ventures Commercialization workstream translates new concepts into executable business plans, connecting consumer demand, commercial strategy, finance, supply chain, and launch execution. Demand Planning provides the fact base for launch commitments, inventory decisions, and scaling choices when historical demand is limited and assumptions are evolving. The team works cross-functionally to support Mattel-led, licensee-led, or hybrid commercialization models and, where appropriate, transition successful ventures into Mattel's broader commercial engine.

The Opportunity: 

The Lead Demand Planner is responsible for developing and maintaining demand plans for Mattel Ventures projects from early commercialization through launch and scale. Day-to-day responsibilities include building scenario-based forecasts using consumer testing, analogous products, customer inputs, digital and social signals, point-of-sale data, and shipment trends as available; translating those forecasts into inventory and supply requirements; and rapidly updating assumptions as new information emerges. The planner partners with Ventures, Sales, Marketing, Finance, Supply Planning, Customer Fulfillment, Product Development, and external licensees or partners as applicable to support launch decisions and business planning. This role will help create a repeatable demand-planning approach for new ventures and support the transition of successful businesses into Mattel's broader planning processes.

What Your Impact Will Be: 

• Demand Planning and Forecasting: The ideal candidate will develop item, assortment, channel, and market demand plans for Ventures projects with limited historical data. The planner will use analogous products, consumer insights, customer input, digital and social signals, and available point-of-sale and shipment data to build base, upside, and downside scenarios and maintain clear planning assumptions.
• Launch and Commercialization Planning: The ideal candidate will translate route-to-market strategies into launch volumes, phasing, inventory positions, and replenishment requirements. The planner will support Mattel-led, licensee-led, and hybrid commercialization models as applicable and identify demand-related risks and opportunities before commitments are made.
• Analytics and Rapid Learning: The ideal candidate will monitor early demand signals, sell-through, conversion, customer performance, and other available indicators to quickly distinguish signal from noise and update forecasts as the business learns.
• Financial and Business Acumen: The ideal candidate will connect demand scenarios to revenue, margin, inventory, working capital, and service implications and translate data into actionable information to support business decisions.
• Collaboration and Influence: The ideal candidate will build constructive and effective cross-functional relationships with Ventures, Sales, Marketing, Finance, Supply Planning, Customer Fulfillment, Product Development, and external partners. The planner will communicate recommendations clearly and help drive alignment across functions.
• Process Development and Transition: The ideal candidate will help establish lightweight, repeatable demand-planning processes appropriate to the maturity of each venture, document key assumptions and planning requirements, and support the transition of successful ventures into Mattel's broader planning processes as they scale.

Qualifications

What We’re Looking For: 

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree with 5 years’ (or MBA with 3 years) of related experience.
• Thorough understanding of inventory management.
• Proven experience in demand planning and forecasting.
• Strong understanding in data analysis and statistics.
• Proficient in MS Office Suite: Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Experience gathering and documenting process and tool requirements.
• Comfortable moderating meetings, delivering oral presentations and /or training to large groups; strong communication skills to deliver business updates and influence business decisions
• Demonstrated a growth mindset by staying curious and continuously learning, embracing challenges, and improving themselves.

Preferred:

• Experience with JDA/Blue Yonder/Anaplan
• Experience with Tableau/Cognos/Thoughtspot
• Experience with VBA/SQL programming
• Experience supporting new product launches, innovation/venture environments, or forecasting businesses with limited historical data
• Experience using e-commerce, digital, social, or other emerging demand signals in planning and forecasting

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. Join Mattel's Talent Community and start receiving exciting updates about our company, our employees, and our culture. Also, interested in signing up for job alerts? Do so here!

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.

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.

Visit us at https://jobs.mattel.com/ and www.instagram.com/MattelCareers.
Beware of recruiting scams: Mattel will only contact you through official @mattel.com or @smartrecruiters.com email addresses and will never ask for payment or sensitive personal information during the hiring process.

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 $104,000 and $128,000 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. 

Videos to watch:
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