Manager, Quality Engineering - Mattel Brick Shop

Role Summary

Mattel is currently looking for a Manager, Quality Engineering. This person will be part of the corporate quality engineering team and will be responsible for leading a team of quality engineers supporting Mattel's global brand teams as well as various product development programs.

The manager will work directly with the Marketing, Design, Product Development teams, as well as other support teams in R&D, quality data analytics, product safety and regulatory compliance, laboratories, as well as global manufacturing and quality teams.

The Manager, Quality Engineering will provide both human and technical leadership to ensure that quality, safety, regulatory compliance, reliability and consumer expectations are fully integrated at all stages of the product development cycle. This person will help define and implement quality strategies for the brands, product categories or sectors assigned to them, while developing talent within their team and ensuring consistent application of quality engineering practices.

The role includes responsibility for team performance, talent development, resource planning, technical execution and quality outcomes for the area under their responsibility. This position requires strong technical judgment, an ability to influence decisions cross-functionally as well as an ability to build and develop a high-performing quality engineering team.

Responsibilities

Strategy development and execution

• Defines and implements quality engineering strategies for assigned brands, product categories or functional areas to support business objectives and consumer expectations.
• Ensures consistent application of product quality, safety, risk management, reliability and regulatory compliance requirements throughout the product development cycle.
• Maintains a solid knowledge of global regulations and standards applicable to toys and consumer products, as well as industry best practices, and ensures that these requirements are well understood and applied by the team.
• Maintains awareness of new and evolving regulatory requirements, standards, technologies and industry practices and supports the implementation of applicable changes within the organization.
• Identifies systemic product and process risks in areas under responsibility and develops, with appropriate cross-functional partners, strategies to mitigate these risks.
• Uses expertise in quality engineering and lessons learned to contribute to the development and improvement of the organization's practices and processes.

Leadership and team development

• Leads, supports and develops a team of quality engineers, strengthening their skills in quality systems, regulatory requirements, technical problem solving, risk management, data analysis and decision-making.
• Establishes clear objectives, priorities, expectations and responsibilities for the team and ensures their alignment with quality engineering and business objectives.
• Provides ongoing support and feedback, ensures performance management and supports the career development of team members.
• Develops the technical and leadership skills of the team through mentoring, challenging mandates, knowledge sharing and development planning.
• Assesses team capabilities and resource needs and allocates engineering resources appropriately based on product complexity and risks, workload and business priorities.
• Supports the recruitment, onboarding, development, succession planning and retention of quality engineering talent.
• Creates an environment that fosters technical curiosity, collaboration, accountability, continuous learning, and appropriate escalation of product quality and safety concerns.

Cross-functional influence

• Builds strong partnerships with Marketing, Design, Product Development, Product Safety, Regulatory Compliance, Quality Data Analytics, Play Labs, Manufacturing, Labs and other partner functions.
• Ensures that quality engineering is appropriately involved throughout product development to influence decisions impacting quality, safety, compliance, reliability and consumer satisfaction.
• Anticipates downstream impacts, opportunities and risks, and ensures appropriate cross-functional collaboration and communication to ensure effective resolution.
• Influences cross-functional teams and leaders to make balanced, risk-based decisions while maintaining consumer safety and regulatory compliance as core requirements.
• Provides quality engineering leadership on important issues related to quality, safety, compliance, manufacturing or performance of products after their marketing.
• Establishes effective communication and escalation practices within the team so that significant risks are appropriately communicated to Quality Engineering leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.

Decision making and data strategy

• Promotes objective, data-driven decision-making within the Quality Engineering team.
• Ensures that engineers adequately identify, collect, analyze and interpret data necessary to support decisions related to product quality and risk.
• Reviews technical analyzes and recommendations for complex or higher risk issues and ensures conclusions are technically sound, clearly communicated and adequately documented.
• Uses data from product testing, consumer complaints, returns, quality data analytics, Play Lab results, manufacturing performance and other available sources to identify trends, emerging risks and opportunities for improvement.
• Establishes and monitors appropriate key performance indicators (KPIs) and quality measures for the areas under his or her responsibility, and ensures that significant trends and issues result in necessary actions.
• Communicates significant quality trends, risks, and recommendations to Quality Engineering leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.

Technical and engineering excellence

• Provides technical leadership and oversight of product investigations, root cause analyses, engineering studies, sampling strategies, risk assessments, and product verification and validation activities.
• Ensures appropriate use of investigation and problem-solving methodologies such as Ishikawa (Fishbone) Diagrams, 5 Whys, FMEA (FMEA) and other applicable root cause analysis tools.
• Oversees and guides the development and maintenance of Product Requirements Documents (PRDs), Primary Concerns Documents (PCDs), testing strategies and other quality engineering documents.
• Ensures that product concepts, intended modes of play, reasonably foreseeable uses and misuses, consumer interactions and identified risks are adequately translated into robust testing and verification strategies.
• Collaborates with internal laboratories and third-party testing organizations to ensure testing strategies adequately address regulatory requirements, identified risks and product performance expectations.
• Ensures that investigations and corrective actions are complete, technically sound, adequately documented and completed within required timeframes.
• Provides technical guidance regarding the appropriate application and interpretation of statistical analyses, sampling plans, engineering studies and quality data.
• Ensures appropriate execution of risk management activities and use of tools such as FMEA (FMEA), Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), Preliminary Risk Analysis (PHA) and other relevant methodologies.
• Maintains in-depth knowledge of internal Quality Management System (QMS) procedures and ensures the team adheres to applicable processes and requirements.

Product quality and consumer experience

• Ensures that product knowledge, predictable consumer usage and play patterns are considered in quality engineering decisions and product risk assessments.
• Uses quality systems data, consumer feedback, test results, product returns, manufacturing performance and post-market information to understand product and process performance.
• Identifies opportunities to improve product quality, reliability, durability and consumer satisfaction based on available data and lessons learned.
• Directs or supports the investigation and resolution of important issues related to the quality and safety of products after their marketing in the sectors under their responsibility.
• Collaborates with cross-functional teams so that lessons learned from consumer feedback and field performance are incorporated into current and future product development.

Culture and continuous improvement

• Promotes a culture focused on quality, consumer safety, accountability, continuous learning and shared responsibility within the team and in cross-functional partnerships.
• Identifies and leads continuous improvement initiatives in the areas under his responsibility by applying appropriate continuous improvement methodologies and tools.
• Evaluates quality engineering processes and identifies opportunities to improve their effectiveness, consistency, scalability and efficiency.
• Leads cross-functional improvement initiatives and ensures improvements remain compliant with regulatory requirements, standards and internal quality management system requirements.
• Uses KPIs, quality indicators, lessons learned and benchmarking to identify opportunities for improvement.
• Promotes the adoption and sharing of best practices between quality engineering teams.
• Develops, where relevant, business cases for significant improvement opportunities and communicates expected impacts on quality, operations, consumers and the business.

Requirements

• Excellent interpersonal skills and strong leadership skills, with a demonstrated ability to lead, coach, develop and engage technical professionals.
• Demonstrated knowledge of regulatory standards applicable to consumer products, particularly toys or products intended for children.
• Strong technical judgment and ability to evaluate complex product quality and safety, regulatory, manufacturing and consumer issues and make informed risk-based decisions.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with a demonstrated ability to use data to identify solutions and implement effective actions.
• Demonstrated ability to influence cross-functional teams and leaders without direct line of authority.
• Ability to balance product safety, compliance, quality, consumer experience, business needs, costs and schedules while maintaining appropriate quality standards.
• Demonstrated ability to effectively manage multiple projects, team priorities and resources simultaneously while meeting critical deadlines.
• High level of personal and professional integrity, high reliability, strong work ethic, good judgment and sense of responsibility.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including listening and presentation, with the ability to communicate complex technical issues clearly and concisely.
• Resourceful, diplomatic and professional individual, capable of establishing strong relationships across different functions, geographic regions and different levels of the organization.
• Collaborative leader, strongly results-oriented, with a positive attitude and able to foster accountability while maintaining effective working relationships.
• Demonstrated ability to develop others through coaching, feedback, technical mentoring and meaningful development opportunities.
• Highly adaptable and able to adjust priorities and focus as departmental, product development and business needs evolve.

Experience, training and skills

• Bachelor's degree in industrial, electrical, mechanical, materials engineering or a related technical discipline.
• 6+ years of progressive experience in product development, product engineering, manufacturing or quality, preferably in the toy, children's products or consumer products industries.
• Prior experience leading engineers, technical teams or large cross-functional programs; formal experience in personnel management is preferred.
• Good knowledge of global safety standards and regulatory requirements applicable to toys and consumer products.
• Strong knowledge of the structure, procedures and implementation of quality management systems (QMS).
• Experience in product development processes from initial design through production and post-market support.
• Knowledge of risk management principles and tools such as FMEA (FMEA), Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), Preliminary Risk Analysis (PHA) and other structured risk assessment methodologies.
• Knowledge of engineering and quality tools, including statistical analysis, cause-and-effect analysis, root cause analysis, process mapping, sampling methods and engineering studies.
• Experience interpreting product quality and performance data and using statistical analysis to support engineering decisions.
• Experience working with in-house and/or third-party product testing laboratories.
• Experience supporting global manufacturing, supplier and product development organizations.
• Knowledge of human factors and usability engineering principles and their application to toys and consumer products is an asset.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office, project management tools and statistical analysis software such as Minitab.

Benefits

Don't meet all the requirements?

At Mattel, we are deeply committed to an inclusive work environment and a culture of belonging. If you are excited about this position but your past experience does not fully match all of the qualifications listed in the description, we still encourage you to apply. You could be the ideal candidate for this position or other opportunities.

About the Company

CREATIVITY IS OUR SUPERPOWER. This is our heritage and it is also our future. Because we don't just make toys. We create innovative products and experiences that inspire fans, entertain audiences, and help children develop through play. At Mattel, we're at our best when every member of our team feels respected, included, and heard—when everyone can be their fullest selves and give their best every day. We value and share an infinite diversity of ideas and voices that evolve and expand our perspectives, with an impact that extends across all of our brands, partners and suppliers.

The quality engineering team works closely with the product design and development teams to influence design and engineering decisions and ensure compliance with consumer expectations, regulatory requirements and brand standards for quality, safety and reliability.

We also work directly with international quality and manufacturing teams to support problem resolution before production, as well as any issues that may arise after production.

This is a team that makes data-driven decisions and builds strong rationales to define and support our requirements.

Our way of working

We are a company driven by a mission: to enable generations to explore the magic of childhood and reach their full potential. We embody this mission through the following behaviors:

• We collaborate: Being part of Mattel means being part of a single team that shares common values and collective goals. Every person counts, and working closely together always produces better results.

Partnership is our method, and our collective skills are our superpower.

• We innovate: At Mattel, we are always looking for new and better ways to create innovative products and experiences. Whatever your role in the organization, you can make a difference and have a real impact. We welcome new ideas and value initiatives that challenge traditional ways of thinking.
• We act: We are a performance-oriented company. We strive for excellence and seek top-notch results. We believe in responsibility and ownership of projects, and know that our employees perform at their best when they are autonomous and empowered to create and deliver results.

Mattel is a global leader in toys and family entertainment, and has one of the most iconic brand portfolios in the world. We engage consumers and fans through our franchises, 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 licenses owned or operated in partnership with major entertainment companies.

Our offering includes toys, content, merchandise, as well as digital and immersive experiences. Our products are marketed in collaboration with leading global retail and e-commerce players. Founded in 1945, Mattel is proud to be a trusted partner that empowers generations to explore the magic of childhood and reach their full potential.

Mattel's award-winning company culture has been recognized by Forbes, Fast Company, Newsweek, Great Place to Work, TIME, and many others.

Discover our opportunities at https://jobs.mattel.com/ and at www.instagram.com/MattelCareers.

Mattel is an equal opportunity employer and encourages everyone to come to work and be their whole selves every day. We welcome all job seekers, and all applications are considered without regard to race, ethnicity, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, veteran or protected veteran status, disability, or any other basis protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws.