Producer, External Development — Mattel Digital Studios
About the position
The Producer, External Development at Mattel Game Studios keeps our externally-developed games moving — on schedule, on brief, and on quality. In our publisher model, every title is built by an external studio, which makes disciplined production the difference between a plan and a shipped game. Working closely with the Lead Producer, Publishing, you will run the day-to-day production process for your titles: tracking milestones, coordinating across internal teams and external partners, surfacing risks early, and keeping communication clear and consistent. This is a hands-on, process-oriented execution role — ideal for someone who brings structure to ambiguity and uses modern, AI-assisted workflows to do it faster and better. The ideal candidate has real mobile free-to-play production experience, a builder’s instinct for process and organization, and a genuine appreciation for Mattel’s core brands.
Responsibilities
- Run the day-to-day production process for your titles: maintain milestone schedules, track deliverables and dependencies, and keep external studios aligned to agreed timelines, scope, and budget expectations — escalating to the Lead Producer when plans need to change.
- Establish and maintain the production rituals, documentation, and tracking that keep delivery predictable — milestone definitions, status rollups, risk logs, and meeting cadences across internal teams and external partners.
- Use AI-assisted workflows to accelerate the work — status synthesis and reporting, meeting and build-review summaries, documentation and brief drafting, and early risk surfacing — and apply judgment about where AI speeds things up and where it does not.
- Serve as a primary day-to-day point of contact for external development teams, facilitating clear, consistent communication and timely follow-through.
- Keep internal Mattel departments — brand, marketing, licensing, legal, and finance — informed and aligned throughout development.
- Help translate product vision and priorities into clear briefs, requirements, and tasks for external teams, and contribute relevant market and competitive context that keeps titles aligned.
- Help ensure external teams understand and uphold Mattel’s brand guidelines, providing feedback that protects brand integrity.
Requirements
- 5+ years in game production, product, or project management within the video game industry, with hands-on mobile free-to-play experience.
- Demonstrable experience helping take games through the development lifecycle, from concept to launch and live operations.
- Strong organizational rigor and fluency with production methodologies (Agile/Scrum, Waterfall, etc.) and tooling (Jira, Confluence, Asana, etc.). You bring structure to ambiguity and build process that speeds up shipping rather than slowing it down.
- Demonstrated use of AI tools to make production work faster and better — reporting, documentation, summarization, and analysis — with the judgment to know where AI helps and where it does not.
- Solid practical understanding of free-to-play development, business models, and live operations.
- Passion for the art and science of games (of any genre/model), as both a fan and a professional.
- Strong analytical skills with a proactive approach to identifying and resolving challenges.
- Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, capable of tailoring messages for technical, creative, and business audiences.
- A true team player with the ability to build strong working relationships and influence effectively across teams.
Nice-to-haves
- Deep familiarity and passion for Mattel’s core brands and their potential within the digital gaming space (Barbie™, Hot Wheels®, Monster High™, Masters of the Universe®, Uno®, etc.).
- Experience working with and on behalf of a licensed IP.
- Operated as a producer in both a studio and a publisher environment.
- Experience shipping or operating live mobile titles (F2P or premium).
- Experience integrating AI or automation into a production pipeline with external partners.
Benefits
- Competitive total pay programs
- Comprehensive benefits
- Resources to help empower a culture where every employee can reach their full potential