Sr. Designer, Design & Development (Toys & Hardlines)

NBCUniversal•Universal City, CA

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

NBCUniversal’s UDX Franchise, Products & Partnerships team is seeking a Senior Designer to lead end-to-end creative and product development across puzzles, activities, party goods, and packaging. The role shapes product design programs aligned with brand vision, franchise priorities, and retailer business objectives, partnering with retail and other external partners to bring market-ready products to life. The Senior Designer safeguards brand integrity and quality while guiding work from concept through approvals and production, with a focus on innovation, commercial success, and timely delivery. The role provides creative direction to internal and external partners, develops differentiated product ranges, and serves as a subject-matter expert in design, materials, technical execution, and licensing. It works closely with Category, Franchise, Legal, and other teams, as well as stakeholders, rights holders, and filmmakers. The position is hybrid and requires working from the office at least four days per week; travel may be required to support business and operational needs.

Requirements

At least 4 years of professional graphic design experience; consumer products and licensing industry experience preferred.
Mastery of industry-standard tools, including Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign), and Keynote and/or PowerPoint.
Understanding of product development and retail timelines, from concept approval through in-store delivery.
Ability to use brand and category expertise to identify trends and translate strategy into market-ready product lines.
Strong concept-to-execution design capability across toys, hardlines, and consumer products.
Ability to translate brand guidelines, character stylization, and entertainment intellectual property into market-ready designs.
Ability to provide effective creative direction while safeguarding character and property integrity.
Understanding of packaging structures, brand design elements, toy functionality, and product instructions.
Ability to apply relevant market trends to opportunities for Universal intellectual property.
Professional portfolio demonstrating product ideation, sketching, creative problem-solving, design development, and the full product development lifecycle from concept to shelf.
Portfolio should include examples of sketches, trend research, pattern and print development, overlays/redlines, technical design packages (tech packs), sampling iterations, and final produced products.
All portfolio work must be the candidate’s original work and clearly identify their individual design contributions.
Bachelor’s degree in graphic design, illustration, or a related field required.

Nice To Haves

Consumer products and licensing industry experience.
Deep understanding of entertainment and consumer products licensing across toys, hardlines, and related categories.

Responsibilities

Lead and oversee product development across puzzles, activities, party goods, and packaging, ensuring brand integrity, quality, and commercial relevance.
Provide clear creative direction to internal and external partners, including decisions and next steps.
Foster a collaborative, inclusive, high-performing creative culture that supports innovation, professional growth, and thoughtful risk-taking.
Drive creative excellence while optimizing processes, timelines, and resources in line with business objectives and milestones.
Conceptualize and develop compelling, differentiated product ranges across categories.
Collaborate cross-functionally to advance business initiatives and strategies.
Apply licensing expertise and ensure licensed products uphold franchise integrity, storytelling, and visual consistency.
Guide partners through licensing and approvals, setting expectations for quality, timing, and execution.
Translate creative concepts into commercially viable products and identify new business opportunities.
Serve as a subject-matter expert in materials, technical design, and execution; ensure designs meet Universal’s creative and quality standards.
Provide partners with clear, actionable creative and product design guidance, and prioritize workloads and competing demands.
Lead brainstorming for new product concepts, categories, and brand extensions.
Track global design, retail, consumer, and cultural trends, and monitor competitive products and packaging to identify opportunities and support differentiation.
Build relationships with internal teams, senior leaders, and external partners to support alignment and timely decisions.
Use negotiation and influencing skills to manage stakeholders, third parties, rights holders, and filmmakers.
Represent the Product Design Studio as a creative leader in internal and external meetings.
Oversee partner collaboration from concept through production, ensuring accountability and on-brand execution.
Partner with Category, Franchise, and Legal teams to provide assets and guidance for commercially compelling products.
Present creative strategies, product designs, and line plans to engage and influence diverse stakeholders.
Perform additional duties as assigned and travel as required to support business and operational needs.
Review prototypes, samples, and pre-production builds to maintain design integrity.
Create production-ready specifications, artwork files, and presentation materials.