Job Description

The Opportunity:
Mattel Studios is seeking a Sr. Manager, Adult & Four-Quad TV Animation to help drive the development and execution of a slate of premium animated programming based on Mattel's dynamic portfolio of brands. This role serves as a key creative lead across assigned projects, partnering closely with internal stakeholders and external creative partners to deliver compelling, brand-defining storytelling for television, streaming, and emerging digital platforms.

Reporting to the Sr. Director, Mattel Studios Animation Creative (Adult & Four-Quad), this position requires an experienced creative executive with a proven ability to manage projects across development and production, provide strong creative leadership, and collaborate across multiple business functions. The ideal candidate is proactive, highly organized, and passionate about animation, with exceptional storytelling instincts and a deep understanding of the evolving entertainment landscape, particularly within adult and four-quadrant programming.

What Your Impact Will Be:
Responsibilities

• Lead the creative development and execution of assigned long-form and short-form animated projects across television, streaming, and digital platforms.
• Serve as the primary creative executive on select projects while partnering closely with senior creative leadership on priority franchise initiatives.
• Drive compelling story development in collaboration with writers, producers, studios, showrunners, and creative talent to ensure engaging, brand-aligned storytelling.
• Provide creative leadership and thoughtful editorial feedback throughout all stages of development and production, including pitches, outlines, scripts, visual development, casting, animatics, edits, and final delivery.
• Partner cross-functionally with Franchise, Consumer Products, Marketing, Publishing, Digital, and other internal teams to ensure content supports broader franchise and business objectives.
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with production studios, creators, agents, writers, and other industry partners.
• Identify emerging creative talent, new storytelling opportunities, and innovative content formats that support future franchise growth.
• Manage multiple concurrent productions and development projects while maintaining creative excellence, brand consistency, and alignment with business priorities.
• Collaborate closely with production and studio teams to proactively solve creative and production challenges while maintaining schedules and quality expectations.
• Contribute to greenlight discussions, franchise planning conversations, and creative reviews by providing thoughtful recommendations and creative insight.
• Monitor trends in animation, streaming, comedy, digital media, and audience behavior to inform creative recommendations and identify opportunities for innovation.
• Develop presentations, pitch materials, creative summaries, and executive-facing documents that effectively communicate project vision and progress.
• Serve as a key liaison for creative asset requests, project communication, and coordination across internal and external partners.
• Mentor and provide day-to-day guidance to junior team members and coordinators, fostering collaboration and creative excellence.

Qualifications

What We're Looking For:

• 8+ years of experience in animation, television, streaming, or digital content development and production.
• Demonstrated success managing creative projects across multiple stages of development and production.
• Strong understanding of storytelling fundamentals, including character development, structure, pacing, comedy, and emotional resonance for Adult and Four-Quad Animation.
• Proven ability to lead creative discussions, provide clear and constructive feedback, and positively influence creative outcomes.
• Experience working with franchise-driven or brand-based entertainment properties.
• Strong visual storytelling sensibility and understanding of animation production pipelines from concept through final delivery.
• Experience developing content for multiple audience demographics, including adult animation and co-viewing audiences.
• Highly organized with exceptional project management skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent communication, presentation, collaboration, and relationship management skills.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including script analysis and editorial note-giving.
• Demonstrated passion for creative excellence and high-quality storytelling.
• Meaningful experience in comedy programming is highly desirable.

Preferred Skills

• Experience overseeing both long-form and short-form animated content.
• Strong understanding of platform-specific content strategies across broadcast, streaming, and digital ecosystems.
• Demonstrated ability to build productive relationships within the television, streaming, and animation creative communities.
• Experience collaborating on global franchise and brand initiatives.
• Strong PowerPoint, presentation development, and visual storytelling skills.
• Passion for comedy across both animated and live-action programming.

What Success Looks Like

• Evaluate incoming creative material and identify projects that align with Mattel Studios' content strategy and creative priorities.
• Develop recommendations for writers, directors, creators, and talent while maintaining awareness of emerging industry voices and trends.
• Deliver high-quality, audience-driven content that supports Mattel's franchise and business objectives.
• Demonstrate creative leadership and ownership across assigned productions while consistently delivering strong creative outcomes.
• Successfully manage multiple development and production projects while balancing creative quality, timelines, and business priorities.
• Build trusted partnerships with internal teams, production partners, creators, and studios that enable efficient collaboration and successful project execution.
• Contribute valuable creative insight that strengthens franchise development, supports greenlight discussions, and helps position Mattel Studios as a leader in premium animated entertainment.

*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.

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!