Product Development Manager

Hybrid work: Employees work in a hybrid model balancing collaboration in our office and remote work.

Overview

WildBrain CPLG is a world-leading entertainment, sport and brand licensing agency with 20 offices worldwide. Since 1972 we have been providing our partners with dedicated licensing and marketing professionals and fully integrated retail, creative & product development, legal and accounting services.  

We are looking to add to our talented team of innovators that can help us manage some of the most profitable and enduring brands in the world! We believe that our partnerships are about clarity, openness, and trust, and we are widely known for our straightforward approach.

About the Role

Position Overview: Product Development Manager, CPLG China

Reporting directly to the Creative Director in China, this role partners closely with the China Commercial & Marketing and Global partnership teams, owning end-to-end product development strategy and execution for WildBrain’s IP portfolio in China, with a primary focus on hardlines categories (e.g., toys, stationery, home, electronics accessories, User Interface). The ideal candidate is a curious, strategic thinker with a strong background in brand or agency environments, and a passion for storytelling through design. You will lead cross-functional alignment across licensing, design, engineering, manufacturing, quality, and retail partners—driving scalable processes, on-time delivery, and commercial outcomes. The role also requires strong high-tech art awareness and hands-on familiarity with innovative technology tools and emerging creative technologies, using them to spark inspiration, accelerate ideation, and enrich concept development.

You’ll play a key role in shaping consumer product experiences and content for WildBrain’s iconic IPs—including Teletubbies, In the Night Garden, and Peanuts—setting product line direction, seasonal/category roadmaps, and go-to-market readiness, by delivering innovative, brand-aligned creative across product development, POSM, and digital content. In hardlines, you will drive product architecture, CMF, packaging and safety/compliance readiness, working closely with licensees/factories to translate creative intent into manufacturable, testable, and cost-effective products. You will act as the product development point of contact for licensees and key accounts, ensuring IP integrity while balancing cost, feasibility, margin, and consumer insights. This role requires a confident creative who can navigate across diverse brand ecosystems with ease, while maintaining a consistent visual language and high design standards. A strong ability to innovative technology and other advanced creative tools for inspiration generation, concept exploration, and faster visualization will be highly valued.

Areas of Accountability

• Professional Experience: proven track record, significant experience in consumer product development and/or licensed product development (hardlines preferred), with demonstrated ownership of programs from concept through tooling/sample approvals and mass production.
• Industry Knowledge: Strong understanding of the entertainment and IP landscape; passion for WildBrain brands is a plus. Solid knowledge of China hardlines retail channels, factories, and licensee ecosystem is strongly preferred.
• Communication & Collaboration: Exceptional ability to work cross-functionally and present ideas clearly to diverse stakeholders. Able to influence stakeholders and external partners (licensees/factories/testing) without direct authority.
• Collaboration with wider CS department: 
• Collaborative Spirit: Enjoys working with diverse teams including the wider Creative Services global team and thrives in a multi-disciplinary, multicultural setting. Confident working with external licensees, suppliers, and senior stakeholders across regions.

• Adaptability: Comfortable in fast-paced, evolving environments with global touchpoints. Proven ability to set priorities, make trade-offs, and drive decisions under ambiguity.
• Leadership & Process Ownership: Create structure, coach stakeholders, and elevate standards through clear briefs, governance, and continuous improvement across hardlines development & licensee management.

What You Will Do:

• Own product development strategy for assigned IPs/categories in China, translating franchise priorities into licensee 12–24 month hardlines product line plans, assortments, and seasonal drops.
• Lead end-to-end hardlines development from concept/brief to mass production: ideation, costing, CMF direction, prototyping, factory sampling, packaging, and production sign-off.
• Establish and run a clear stage-gate process, ensuring on-time milestones, risk management, and stakeholder approvals (brand, legal, compliance, manufacturing, retail).
• Collaborate Across Teams: Work closely with commercial, marketing, and product development teams to translate business objectives into compelling creative strategies. Partner with Sales/BD to support pitching, line reviews, and customer-specific initiatives for hardlines key accounts and licensees.
• Manage and influence licensees: provide briefs, design/PD direction, feedback loops, and approvals; elevate output quality while enabling speed and scalability.
• Own supplier and vendor collaboration: align on technical feasibility, tooling approach, materials, safety standards, test requirements, packaging specifications, and lead-times; drive continuous improvement on cost and delivery.
• Ensure Quality & Efficiency: Streamline workflows to optimize cost and effectiveness, while maintaining global quality standards. Champion best practices, templates, and governance across hardlines projects (briefs, tech packs, approval trackers, sample review cadence).
• Trend & Tech Awareness: Stay ahead of design trends and emerging technologies to deliver consumer-centric, revenue-driving creative. Apply new technology-based art tools (e.g., 3D/innovative technology-assisted workflows) to accelerate concept visualization, CMF exploration, and packaging/key art iterations.
• Support Strategic Initiatives: Contribute to pitch decks, concept mock-ups, and visual storytelling for business development and content partnerships. Provide product narratives, range architecture, and commercial rationale tailored to hardlines.
• Ensure assets are aligned to product launches and franchise calendars.
• Track development progress and support forecasting inputs (e.g., launch readiness, key risks, and assumptions) to improve business predictability.

What You Will Bring:

• Creative Excellence: High personal standards and attention to detail across graphic design, product development, and visual storytelling. Able to set the bar for partners/teams and ensure consistent execution at scale.
• Hardlines Product Development Expertise: Strong understanding of hardlines development workflows including materials, mechanisms/structure, CMF, packaging, costing, tooling considerations, and production constraints.
• Compliance Mindset: Familiarity with product safety and compliance requirements, testing documentation, labelling, and quality gates for hardlines categories.
• Commercial & Analytical Skills: Comfortable with range architecture, cost-to-margin thinking, and using sales/consumer insights to guide product decisions.
• Software Mastery: Proficient in Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator, Blender, Rhino, Keyshot, video editing skills are a bonus. Actively adopts up-to-date technology-based art software (e.g., 3D creation/rendering, innovative technology-assisted image workflows, real-time rendering tools) to improve speed and quality of concept visualization and iteration. Ability to review technical packs and align with engineering/CAD outputs is preferred.
• Strategic Thinking: Ability to solve creative challenges with innovative, brand-aligned solutions. Strong judgment to balance brand integrity, feasibility, speed, and profitability.
• Collaborative Spirit: Enjoys working with diverse teams and thrives in a multi-disciplinary, multicultural setting. Confident working with external licensees, suppliers, and stakeholders across regions.

What We Offer

Working at WildBrain is more than a job — it’s the opportunity to join forces with extraordinary, insightful, and imaginative people who will recognize your talents and encourage your professional growth and development in a work environment that promotes creativity and individuality. We offer competitive benefits, and we invest in our people and their future.

Our Commitment

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are in our DNA. As a global leader in kids and family entertainment, we strive to reflect and honour the diversity of our audiences around the world. We believe that creating diverse and inclusive content & brands begins with fostering a culture of belonging at WildBrain. To us, a culture of belonging is one where we celebrate and welcome the diversity of all employees, stakeholders, and external partners and strive to create an environment where every individual feels valued, respected, and brings their authentic self to work.

We demonstrate our commitment to this by striving to provide a supportive work environment and a corporate culture that welcomes and encourages equal opportunities for all employees. We recognize that people bring experience and talent that goes beyond the technical skills and requirements of a job. If you possess similar experience that is close to what we’ve listed here, we encourage you to please still consider applying. We strongly believe that diverse experience, transferable skills, and passion are key! WildBrain accommodates people with disabilities throughout the recruitment and selection process. Applicants are encouraged to make their needs known in advance if accommodation is required.

About WildBrain

At WildBrain, we build and grow beloved family brands through exceptional entertainment experiences. Home to franchises such as Strawberry Shortcake, Teletubbies, Yo Gabba Gabba!, Inspector Gadget and Degrassi, we are a global leader in franchise management—bringing stories to life through content production, audience reach and consumer products. Our award-winning studio has partnered with top global platforms such as Apple TV, Netflix and the BBC, producing acclaimed series such as The Snoopy Show, Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City, Teletubbies (2015), Yo Gabba GabbaLand! and Finding Her Edge. The WildBrain Network, offering more than 1,000 channels across YouTube, FAST and AVOD, delivers premium-quality content to today’s kids and families wherever they’re watching—connecting advertisers to audiences at scale through brand-safe media solutions. WildBrain CPLG, our global licensing and consumer products arm, represents our own and partner brands across major territories worldwide. Headquartered in Toronto, WildBrain trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: WILD). Visit us at wildbrain.com. 

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All legitimate opportunities are managed through our internal Talent Acquisition team and verified partners, and are posted on our official careers page and LinkedIn. If you are unsure about the legitimacy of any outreach, please verify by contacting us directly.