Associate Manager, Product Design - MOA Dolls

About the role

The Associate Manager, MOA Dolls Design leads a small team of product designers developing product experiences across Fashion Dolls, Playsets, Collectibles and emerging categories. The role combines product development expertise, project leadership and people management, working across the ES and Asia teams from design concept through pre-production. It calls for trend forecasting, innovation leadership, talent development and AI-enabled design practices.

Key responsibilities

• Coach and develop designers through feedback, mentoring and project guidance, and manage workload and resource allocation
• Monitor trends across toys, fashion, entertainment, gaming, social media, lifestyle and collectibles, and identify whitespace and emerging consumer needs
• Benchmark competitors and recommend new concepts, product platforms and growth opportunities
• Promote creativity and continuous improvement, and support early-stage innovation with ES Design
• Lead design from turnover through FPR, balancing consumer experience, aesthetics, manufacturability, quality, safety and cost, and resolve issues with engineering and manufacturing partners
• Partner with ES Design, Product Management, Engineering, SG, Packaging, Quality and costing teams, and influence decisions across ES and Asia
• Monitor model spend against the approved annual plan and identify cost savings without compromising quality

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in Product Design, Industrial Design, Toy Design, Fashion Design or a related field
• 7+ years of product design experience, preferably in dolls, toys, consumer products, collectibles or related fields
• Strong portfolio showing product innovation, storytelling and brand-centred design
• Minimum 2 years of people management or team leadership experience preferred
• Experience with global teams and manufacturing partners, and frequent travel to China, is an advantage

Required skills

• Concept ideation, sketching, visualization and storytelling, with knowledge of consumer trends, play patterns, sustainability and materials
• Solid understanding of product construction, materials, tooling and manufacturing
• Comfortable using AI tools such as Copilot, Vizcom and ChatGPT for research, concept development and visualization, with awareness of responsible AI and IP
• Project management, problem solving and cross-functional collaboration