Associate Manager – Key Account (12-Month Fixed-Term Contract)

CREATIVITY IS OUR SUPERPOWER. It’s our heritage and it’s also our future. Because we don’t just make toys. We create innovative products and experiences that inspire fans, entertain audiences and develop children through play. Mattel is at its best when every member of our team feels respected, included, and heard—when everyone can show up as themselves and do their best work every day. We value and share an infinite range of ideas and voices that evolve and broaden our perspectives with a reach that extends into all our brands, partners, and suppliers.

The Opportunity: The Associate Manager – Key Account is responsible for driving sustainable sales growth by developing and executing customer strategies across assigned accounts. The role partners closely with internal cross-functional teams and customers to deliver commercial objectives, ensure operational excellence, and strengthen long-term customer relationships. What Your Impact Will Be: Develop, optimize, and execute strategic account plans to drive sustainable growth across assigned customers and channels. Build accurate sales forecasts, manage demand planning, and prepare customer orders to ensure optimal stock availability. Conduct market, customer, and competitor analysis to identify growth opportunities, mitigate risks, and support commercial decision-making. Serve as the primary point of contact for customers regarding orders, logistics, inventory, payments, and day-to-day commercial operations. Monitor and analyze key commercial KPIs and implement actions to accelerate business performance. Plan and execute customer marketing initiatives and promotional activities in collaboration with the Retail Marketing team. Partner with Supply Chain, Finance, Customer Service and Retail Marketing to ensure excellent execution and customer satisfaction. Key Relationships: Internal: Sales, Retail Marketing, Supply Chain, Customer Service, Finance and Demand Planning. External: Key retail customers, distributors and business partners.

What We’re Looking For: Ability to work effectively within a large international matrix organization. Strong commercial acumen with a customer-centric mindset. Excellent planning, project management and execution skills. Results-oriented with a proactive, flexible and determined approach. Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities. Excellent communication, collaboration and stakeholder management skills. Ability to work independently while managing multiple priorities.

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Sales or a related field. Minimum of 5 years' commercial experience, preferably within Toys, FMCG, Licensed Consumer Products, Apparel, Health & Beauty or related industries. Experience in an international and cross-cultural business environment. Fluent in written and spoken English. Advanced analytical skills and proficiency in Microsoft Excel; experience with sales planning and reporting tools is an advantage. Experience working with e-commerce customers or online retail channels is preferred but not required. Success Measures: Achievement of sales and profitability targets. Forecast accuracy and operational execution. Growth of assigned customer accounts. Customer satisfaction and relationship management. Execution of promotional and commercial plans. Effective cross-functional collaboration.

What We Offer: Gross annual salary range of ZAR 864,000 - ZAR 1,026,000. Monthly car allowance Mobile phone allowance Employee assistance program: Access to Modern Health, Headspace, and Maven Medical Aid Seasonal gifts Mattel’s total compensation package is based on objective, gender-neutral criteria such as job grade, work