Lead Demand Planner - Innovation Ventures

Mattel•El Segundo, CA

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

Mattel Ventures is focused on creating and incubating new brands and business models that may require different consumer, channel, and operating approaches than Mattel's established businesses. The Ventures Commercialization workstream translates new concepts into executable business plans, connecting consumer demand, commercial strategy, finance, supply chain, and launch execution. Demand Planning provides the fact base for launch commitments, inventory decisions, and scaling choices when historical demand is limited and assumptions are evolving. The team works cross-functionally to support Mattel-led, licensee-led, or hybrid commercialization models and, where appropriate, transition successful ventures into Mattel's broader commercial engine. The Opportunity: The Lead Demand Planner is responsible for developing and maintaining demand plans for Mattel Ventures projects from early commercialization through launch and scale. Day-to-day responsibilities include building scenario-based forecasts using consumer testing, analogous products, customer inputs, digital and social signals, point-of-sale data, and shipment trends as available; translating those forecasts into inventory and supply requirements; and rapidly updating assumptions as new information emerges. The planner partners with Ventures, Sales, Marketing, Finance, Supply Planning, Customer Fulfillment, Product Development, and external licensees or partners as applicable to support launch decisions and business planning. This role will help create a repeatable demand-planning approach for new ventures and support the transition of successful businesses into Mattel's broader planning processes.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree with 5 years’ (or MBA with 3 years) of related experience.
Thorough understanding of inventory management.
Proven experience in demand planning and forecasting.
Strong understanding in data analysis and statistics.
Proficient in MS Office Suite: Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Experience gathering and documenting process and tool requirements.
Demonstrated a growth mindset by staying curious and continuously learning, embracing challenges, and improving themselves.

Nice To Haves

Experience with JDA/Blue Yonder/Anaplan
Experience with Tableau/Cognos/Thoughtspot
Experience with VBA/SQL programming
Experience supporting new product launches, innovation/venture environments, or forecasting businesses with limited historical data
Experience using e-commerce, digital, social, or other emerging demand signals in planning and forecasting

Responsibilities

Develop item, assortment, channel, and market demand plans for Ventures projects with limited historical data.
Use analogous products, consumer insights, customer input, digital and social signals, and available point-of-sale and shipment data to build base, upside, and downside scenarios and maintain clear planning assumptions.
Translate route-to-market strategies into launch volumes, phasing, inventory positions, and replenishment requirements.
Support Mattel-led, licensee-led, and hybrid commercialization models as applicable.
Identify demand-related risks and opportunities before commitments are made.
Monitor early demand signals, sell-through, conversion, customer performance, and other available indicators to quickly distinguish signal from noise and update forecasts as the business learns.
Connect demand scenarios to revenue, margin, inventory, working capital, and service implications.
Translate data into actionable information to support business decisions.
Build constructive and effective cross-functional relationships with Ventures, Sales, Marketing, Finance, Supply Planning, Customer Fulfillment, Product Development, and external partners.
Communicate recommendations clearly and help drive alignment across functions.
Help establish lightweight, repeatable demand-planning processes appropriate to the maturity of each venture.
Document key assumptions and planning requirements.
Support the transition of successful ventures into Mattel's broader planning processes as they scale.