Operations & Release Architect

Job Description

The Opportunity: 

What Your Impact Will Be: 

About the Role

The Principal, Operations & Release Architect serves as the portfolio authority responsible for the architecture, governance, and define the framework for Operations building capabilities, Release Management, and Service Transition across the Global Brands & Commercial Technology portfolio. The position is responsible for defining the target delivery operating model, establishing enterprise standards, and driving adoption of scalable practices that improve release predictability, operational resilience, and production quality.

This role leads through expertise, influence, and architectural governance. The Principal partners with Product, Engineering, QA, Infrastructure, Security, vendors, business leaders and cross functional teams to align technology delivery with operational excellence and helps to ensure the teams are following the operating model.

Role Purpose

• Assess the current state and architect the measurable baselines for Operations and Release Management capability for Commercial Technology.
• Define future-state operating models, governance frameworks, and engineering practices.
• Provide strategic technical leadership without direct people management.
• Standardize release, deployment, and service transition practices across enterprise platforms.
• Drive continuous improvement through automation, metrics, and operational maturity.

Enterprise Architecture & Strategy

• Complete a current-state maturity assessment across release, change, incident, and delivery practices
• Own the architecture for Operations, Release Management, and Service Transition.
• Define enterprise standards, reference processes, governance models, and design principles.
• Develop multi-year roadmaps for operational maturity, deployment automation, and platform reliability.
• Evaluate new technologies and practices that improve software delivery and production operations.
• Partner with enterprise architecture and platform teams to ensure alignment with GTO standards.

Operations Architecture

• Design & support the Global Brands & Commercial Technology portfolio to align with enterprise AMS operating model
• Define ITIL-aligned Incident, Problem, Change, Knowledge, Service Request, and Service Transition processes for Global Brands & Commercial Technology portfolio
• Establish operational health metrics, observability standards, support models, and production readiness requirements.
• Drive RCA, Known Error Database (KEDB), technical debt reduction, and operational resilience.
• Define support readiness requirements for all new capabilities entering production.

Release Architecture & Governance

• Own the enterprise Release Management framework and governance model.
• Define release lifecycle standards, policies, controls, and approval workflows.
• Establish portfolio-wide release calendars and deployment governance.
• Lead Release Readiness Reviews, Go/No-Go governance, CAB participation, and production readiness assessments.
• Standardize release practices across Agile delivery teams and technology platforms.

Portfolio Planning & Delivery Governance

• Coordinate release strategy across Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud, TPM, Anaplan, Tenovos, Airtable, Workfront, Rights Management, and related platforms specific to the Global Brands & Commercial Technology portfolio
• Architect dependency management, environment strategy, deployment sequencing, cutover planning, and hypercare.
• Ensure releases minimize operational risk and business disruption.

Influence & Technical Leadership

• Serve as the principal advisor for Operations and Release Management for the portfolio
• Mentor engineering teams, release coordinators, administrators, and vendors on enterprise standards.
• Drive adoption of best practices through influence rather than organizational hierarchy.
• Facilitate executive governance discussions and resolve complex cross-functional challenges.

Metrics & Continuous Improvement

• Own KPIs including Deployment Frequency, Change Success Rate, Change Failure Rate, Release Lead Time, MTTR, Release Predictability, Operational Readiness Score, and DORA metrics.
• Use data to identify improvement opportunities and guide investment priorities.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives focused on automation, governance, and operational excellence.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, Business, or related field.
• 15+ years of Release Management, Technology Operations, DevOps, Application Delivery, or Solution Architecture, including senior / principal-level scope.
• 7+ years designing enterprise operating models, governance frameworks, or release architectures.
• Demonstrated success influencing senior leaders and global delivery teams without direct authority.
• Deep knowledge of Agile, SAFe, DevOps, CI/CD, ITIL, Change Management, Service Transition, and enterprise governance.
• Hands on experience with Jira, Azure DevOps, ServiceNow, GitHub, and enterprise delivery platforms.

Qualifications

What We’re Looking For: 

• Preferred Qualifications

• ITIL Foundation or Managing Professional certification.
• SAFe, PMP, or Release Train Engineer certification.
• Experience with Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud, TPM, Anaplan, Workfront, Airtable, Tenovos, Rights Management, and Digital Asset Management platforms.
• Experience designing enterprise Centers of Excellence, operating models, or release transformation programs.
• Knowledge of SOX controls, observability, deployment automation, and DORA metrics.

• Success Measures

• Current state assessment complete; baselines instrumented; top risks contained; interim release calendar and CAB cadence operating
• Enterprise adoption of standardized Operations and Release Management practices.
• Improved release predictability and production stability.
• Reduced operational risk and change failure rates.
• Increased automation and operational maturity.
• Standardized practices embedded in Business As Usual; sustained operational stability trusted advisor status with executive leadership and delivery organizations.

Additional Information

Don’t meet every single requirement? At Mattel, we are dedicated to an inclusive workplace and a culture of belonging. If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we still encourage you to apply. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

How We Work:
We are a purpose driven company aiming to empower generations to explore the wonder of childhood and reach their full potential. We live up to our purpose employing the following behaviors:

• We collaborate: Being a part of Mattel means being part of one team with shared values and common goals. Every person counts and working closely together always brings better results. Partnership is our process and our collective capabilities is our superpower.
• We innovate: At Mattel we always aim to find new and better ways to create innovative products and experiences. No matter where you work in the organization, you can always make a difference and have real impact. We welcome new ideas and value new initiatives that challenge conventional thinking.
• We execute: We are a performance-driven company. We strive for excellence and are focused on pursuing best-in-class outcomes. We believe in accountability and ownership and know that our people are at their best when they are empowered to create and deliver results.

Our Approach to Flexible Work:
We embrace a flexible work model designed to empower a culture of growth, optimism, and wellbeing, where every employee can reach their full potential. Combining purposeful in-person collaboration with flexibility, our focus is to optimize performance and drive connection for moments that matter.

Who We Are:
Mattel is a leading global toy and family entertainment company and owner of one of the most iconic brand portfolios in the world. We engage consumers and fans through our franchise brands, including Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price, American Girl, Thomas & Friends, UNO, Masters of the Universe, Matchbox, Monster High, MEGA and Polly Pocket, as well as other popular properties that we own or license in partnership with global entertainment companies. Our offerings include toys, content, consumer products, digital and live experiences. Our products are sold in collaboration with the world’s leading retail and ecommerce companies. Since its founding in 1945, Mattel is proud to be a trusted partner in empowering generations to explore the wonder of childhood and reach their full potential.

Mattel’s award-winning workplace culture has been recognized by Forbes, Fast Company, Newsweek, Great Place to Work, TIME, and more.

Visit us at https://jobs.mattel.com/ and www.instagram.com/MattelCareers.

Mattel is an Equal Opportunity Employer where we want you to bring your authentic self to work every day. We welcome all job seekers, and all applicants will receive consideration for employment.

Videos to watch:
The Culture at Mattel
Corporate Philanthropy