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What will you work on?
The Vice President, Designis responsible forthe strategic leadership and execution of allaspects of design for new and carry forward products. Reporting to the President of Melissa & Doug,this rolewillshapeandguide thecreativevision for thebrand.
This role is required 4 days per week in our Connecticut office.
How will you create impact?
- Leading a team of designers at all levels and responsible for the creation and execution of products for the brand(s) in addition to partnering with vendors and inventors around the world toaccomplishbusiness goals and financials.
- Be the brand steward, ensuring new products deliver the Melissa & Doug brand mission,aestheticand quality.
- Serve as akey contributor in the creation of 3-year new product strategy and review and refine as needed
- Champion,inspireandleadthe internal team and external partners for the invention of new products based on innovation, insight, research, consumer needs, play pattern, play value, quality,safetyand inclusive design thatreflectschildren of alldiverseabilities andbackgrounds.
- Work withinventorsand inventor relations team to evaluate submissions and reach out to the inventor and vendor community to seek out innovation.
- Communicate vision for eachproductassigned in visual, verbal and prototype forms
- Manage designerworkload, employing external resources when needed for all new product development to ensure key PD launch dates are achieved and the team are delivering on all aspects of the development process.
- Partner withcross-functionalteams(Engineering, Quality Assurance, Marketing, Graphic Design, Sales, Planning, Copywriting) toensureseamlessand on-timedevelopment of each project.
- Partner and collaborate with both internal and external design and ID consultants and manage the development costs with all design team members to bring each productwithinagreed project budgets and cost targets.
- Lead the growth and developmentofthe designteambytraining,mentoringand coaching teammembers at alllevels,fosteringandinspiringa cultureofcreativity,accountabilityandinnovation.
What are your skills and experience?
- Minimum of 20 years of experience in consumer product design with direct experience within the Toy businessand owned Brands/IP.
- Strong experience leading teams that drive high visibility, high impact designprojects, withatleast10 years of experience managing and scaling teams, with proven mentoring and supervisory skills.
- Highly skilledat collaborating withdiverseteams and stakeholders to influenceoutcomes,driveexecution and refine processes.
- Proventrack record achieving KPIs inconsumer product design, including product launch success, on-time delivery, costtargetsand innovation pipelineperformance.
#LI-Hybrid #LI-HM1
This job posting is tied to an open vacancy.
What you can expect from us:
Our mission is to Make Life More Fun with a vision to push the boundaries of innovation, creativity, and fun.
