Senior Technical Product Manager, Applied AI

Role Overview
As a Senior Technical Product Manager, Applied AI, you will define, build, and scale AI-powered tools, workflows, and decision‑support systems across Mattel Digital Studios. You will identify friction in cross‑functional workflows—process misalignment, communication overhead, unreliable data, and stretched team bandwidth—and translate that friction into a prioritized portfolio of AI solutions that move the business measurably.

You will manage a portfolio framed in three buckets—Quick Wins, Efficiency Gains, and Strategic Bets—progressing the strongest opportunities from proof‑of‑concept into strategic pilots and broader MDS rollout via scaling, deployment, and repeatability.

This role requires hands‑on technical execution: building prototypes, experimenting with AI models and APIs, and developing working solutions that go beyond prototype into productization, rollout, stakeholder alignment, and cross‑disciplinary repeatability.

The position reports to the MDS Technical Director and collaborates across MDS with Product, Engineering, Operations, and Creative teams.

Responsibilities

Own the applied AI roadmap from pitch to production with direction and buy‑in from MDS leadership, balancing speed, experimentation, and long‑term value creation.

Identify and surface use cases and friction—assessing feasibility and scalability and translating them into high‑impact AI opportunities.

Manage the opportunity portfolio—graduating the strongest proofs‑of‑concept into strategic pilots and broader MDS rollout.

Translate business needs into AI‑powered tools, workflow automations, and decision‑support solutions, defining clear requirements, success metrics, adoption targets, and iteration plans.

Continuously explore emerging AI capabilities and evaluate their application for internal tools, workflows, and content pipelines; apply them where operational impact, not novelty, justifies the work.

Build prototypes, lightweight applications, automations, and decision‑support tools. Work hands‑on using modern AI platforms—LLM APIs, multimodal models, agent frameworks, orchestration tools, and evaluation harnesses.

Rapidly test and iterate on new ideas with a focus on measurable operational impact.

Partner with engineering, platform, and external vendors to productize, harden, and scale successful prototypes—owning build‑vs‑buy judgment and seeing opportunities through to live deployment.

Act as a bridge between MDS leadership, Product, Engineering, Operations, and Creative teams to identify and unlock AI opportunities within internal workflows and pipelines.

Secure leadership buy‑in, drive alignment across stakeholders on priorities, and translate ambition into crisp execution plans with owners, timelines, and measurable outcomes.

Enable teams through reusable tools, workflow patterns, playbooks, and training that make adoption repeatable across disciplines—not one‑off wins.

Collaborate with external partners (e.g., OpenAI) to accelerate internal capability building and spearhead vendor evaluation and integration.

Manage adoption risks—data quality, compliance, hallucinations, over‑reliance, brand and creative integrity—setting guardrails with the Office of AI and consulting with legal and privacy teams.

Define success metrics per opportunity—productivity, quality, cost, effectiveness—and report portfolio impact regularly.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Product Design, or related field (or equivalent experience). Master’s preferred.

5–8+ years of experience in product management, engineering, or technical roles, with a demonstrated track record of personally shipping internal tools, automations, and cross‑functional operational improvements.

Hands‑on experience building AI workflows and automations using LLM APIs, multimodal models, agent frameworks, and orchestration tools (e.g., OpenAI, Claude, LangChain, Python‑based pipelines, Retool, low‑code automation).

Demonstrated ability to take an AI solution from prototype through productization and rollout—incl. stakeholder alignment, enablement, and measuring business impact post‑deployment.

Strong product and operator mindset with the ability to diagnose workflow pain points and connect user needs and business goals to technical solutions.

Experience working cross‑functionally with production, engineering, design, creative, and business stakeholders.

Strong problem‑solving skills, with a bias toward action and rapid iteration.

Ability to operate in ambiguity and navigate emerging technology landscapes.

Strong communication and storytelling skills, with the ability to influence across technical and non‑technical audiences.

Demonstrated curiosity and growth mindset, staying current with rapidly evolving AI capabilities—including awareness of responsible‑use considerations.

The pay range is indicative of projected hiring range; base pay will be determined based on 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.

Equal Opportunity Employer
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.

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