POSITION OVERVIEWThe Brand Director owns the global brand strategy and product roadmap for MGA's Action & Entertainment portfolio, including in-market brands such as CarTuned™, Hyojo™, and Armorsaurs™, and new sports and entertainment brands. This role sets the multi-year brand strategy for the portfolio and leads a cross-functional team to translate that vision into commercially successful global product lines.
This is a brand-building role for a leader who understands boys' action and collector categories: fandom, rarity and chase mechanics, collector community dynamics, and entertainment- and content-led brand development. The ideal candidate pairs rigorous analytical and portfolio discipline with genuine instinct for what makes a collector brand successful. This role operates as one half of a two-Director partnership with the Marketing Director, and the two are jointly accountable for the growth of the Action & Entertainment portfolio.
This is a fast-paced, hands-on role. Decisions are made quickly and the Director is expected to be hands-on building the line plan, reviewing the numbers, and course-correcting in real time.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIESGlobal Brand Strategy & Planning- Own and execute the multi-year global strategic roadmap for the Action & Entertainment brands, including brand positioning, target audience definition, and growth ambition.
- Define the global brand architecture and ensure consistency of brand meaning across all regions, categories, and licensing extensions.
- Conduct market research, consumer insight work, and competitive analysis to identify white space, emerging trends, and opportunities within the boys' action and collector landscape.
- Serve as the internal authority on the collector consumer - collecting behavior, community sentiment, secondary-market dynamics, and fandom health.
- Partner with the Marketing Director to ensure global brand strategy translates into an executable marketing and communications plan.
- Lead brand development for new Action & Entertainment properties, from concept and positioning through launch, including the new sports and entertainment brands in the pipeline.
Product & Line Management- Own the global product portfolio ensuring the right product mix for the target audience across sub-brands, categories, price points, and retail channels.
- Partner with Product Development and Packaging to guide the creation of innovative toys and collectibles that resonate with the target audience.
- Manage product lifecycle end to end including the innovation pipeline, line architecture, SKU optimization and phase-outs.
- Lead license selection for the portfolio with Product Development and the Licensing teams, deciding which inbound licenses to pursue and integrating them into the line.
Team Leadership & Development- Lead, coach, and develop the Brand team.
- Set clear goals and performance expectations; build a culture of strategic rigor, curiosity, and accountability.
- Recruit, onboard, and retain talent; build bench strength within the Brand team.
- Model collaborative leadership across the Brand/Marketing partnership and set that tone for both teams.
Global P&L, Budget & Forecasting- Manage the annual global brand forecast and P&L for the Action & Entertainment portfolio, ensuring alignment with corporate objectives.
- Lead the forecasting process across regions, consolidating regional inputs into a single global brand number.
- Track performance against forecast, identify risks and opportunities, and adjust strategy to achieve revenue and profitability goals.
- Manage gross margin and pricing architecture for the portfolio in partnership with Finance and Operations.
Cross-Functional Collaboration- Align with Sales and Retail Marketing teams to ensure product sell-in strategy and line presentation meet retailer expectations globally.
- Collaborate with Operations, Supply Chain, and Inventory teams to optimize production planning and inventory levels.
- Partner with Media, PR, Creative, and Entertainment teams to ensure content and marketing plans support brand strategy.
- Represent the portfolio to senior leadership in line reviews, strategic planning cycles, and business reviews.
QUALIFICATIONSRequired- Education: Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, or a related field. MBA preferred.
- Experience: 8+ years in brand management, brand planning, or strategic planning within the toy or collectibles industry.
- People leadership: 3+ years directly managing and developing a team, with demonstrated success building and retaining talent.
- Global scope: Proven track record managing large, global brands across multiple regions and retail channels.
- Product fluency: Hands-on experience with product development processes, line planning, and bringing physical product to market.
- Commercial rigor: Experience managing a brand P&L, forecast, and pricing architecture.
- Category insight: Demonstrated understanding of boys' action, collector, or fandom-driven categories - including collector motivations, rarity and chase mechanics, community dynamics, and content- or entertainment-led brand building.
Preferred- Experience with brands serving both kid and adult-collector audiences, and an understanding of how those audiences differ.
- Familiarity with entertainment and content pipelines (series, shorts, gaming, digital) as brand-building vehicles.
- Proficiency in market research tools, syndicated data (e.g., Circana/NPD), and data analysis platforms.
- Experience with licensing.
- Exposure to international markets and the differences in how consumer categories behave outside the U.S.
- Experience taking a new brand from concept to market, not only growing an established one.
Salary $145,000.00 - $175,000.00
