VP, Franchise Development & Consumer Products

About this role

Mob Entertainment is a startup multimedia studio that is best known for our hit indie horror game " Poppy Playtime" . This franchise is one of the hottest new properties in gaming, and our team is naturally expanding as our ambition expands. To give a taste of our brand's popularity, more than 100 billion YouTube views of Poppy Playtime related content have occurred since the game's launch 4 years ago.

Location: Los Angeles, CA (Hybrid)

About Mob Entertainment

Mob Entertainment is a ~160-person gaming and entertainment studio in Los Angeles behind Poppy Playtime, one of the fastest-growing horror franchises in the world. With millions of fans, chart-topping games, and a rapidly expanding transmedia footprint spanning film, licensing, and consumer products, Mob is building the infrastructure to support a franchise at global scale.

The Opportunity

We are seeking an experienced executive to lead Mob Entertainment's Global Franchise Development & Consumer Products organization — building the Poppy Playtime franchise, not administering an existing licensing catalog. This leader will own licensing strategy, retail expansion, consumer products, and commercial partnerships, while standing up the infrastructure a rapidly growing global franchise requires.

This role must quickly establish strategic priorities, strengthen key partner relationships, and begin executing against a long-term growth plan. Reports directly to the CEO; works closely with Legal and Finance.

Success in This Role

• Launch new revenue streams and business lines around the franchise, not just extend existing ones.

• Convert fan passion into scalable, monetizable businesses.

• Grow licensing revenue through new and expanded partnerships, and strengthen relationships with key global retailers.

• Build a predictable licensing pipeline with accurate commercial forecasting.

• Expand consumer products presence into priority global markets and categories.

• Establish scalable operations, reporting, and governance (and a long-term org plan) for the function.

Responsibilities

Franchise Strategy & Business Building

• Own the global franchise roadmap, treating Poppy Playtime as a business to build rather than a catalog to license out.

• Identify white space opportunities (categories, geographies, formats, platforms) and build the case, structure, and team to launch them.

• Set annual franchise and licensing priorities and revenue plans.

• Operate with a founder's mentality, defining strategy and execution simultaneously where no playbook yet exists.

Licensing & Retail

• Own the global licensing roadmap across all categories (toys, apparel, collectibles, home, publishing, and beyond); identify, prioritize, and close new licensee partnerships.

• Manage the licensee roster (compliance, quality, delivery) and negotiate commercial terms, royalty structures, and MGs with Legal.

• Develop retail expansion strategy across major markets; build relationships with key buyers across mass, specialty, and DTC channels; drive sell-in and shelf-presence activation.

• Recruit, mentor, and develop the team as the function scales.

Brand & Product Oversight

• Enforce brand standards and lead cross-functional product approvals with Creative, Production, and Marketing.

• Oversee product development from concept through retail-ready.

Fan & Community-Driven Commerce

• Partner with Marketing and Community to translate fan demand into product and business opportunities ahead of competitors or unofficial markets.

• Explore creator economy and digital-first models (creator collabs, digital collectibles, community drops, platform-native commerce) as extensions of the core business.

DTC & International

• Define long-term DTC strategy; shorten time-to-market with current commerce partners.

• Identify international commerce opportunities in priority territories (e.g., Brazil, Korea).

Operations & Reporting

• Build licensing operations, royalty governance, and commercial processes from the ground up: deal tracking, approval workflows, licensee communication cadence.

• Deliver annual revenue targets and regular commercial forecasts to leadership.

• Build the team playbook and org structure recommendation for the full-time function.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in consumer products, licensing, or brand management and at least 5 years in a senior leadership role.

• Demonstrated success building new businesses or business lines from the ground up, not solely managing or optimizing established ones.

• Experience in gaming, creator economy, or digital-first entertainment, with fluency in how fan communities form and monetize online.

• Experience creating new revenue platform and new categories that did not previously exist

• A track record of converting fan passion or community engagement into scalable, commercially viable businesses.

• Proven track record closing licensing deals across multiple categories with major retail partners in all meaningful territories.

• Demonstrated experience building, leading, and scaling high-performing Franchise Development & Consumer Products organization.

• Established network of relationships with leading global licensees, retailers, distributors, and licensing agents.

• Ability to operate independently with minimal ramp time as this role requires immediate impact.

• Based in or willing to work from Los Angeles on a hybrid schedule.

• Ability to travel domestically and internationally as required.

Preferred Qualifications/Experience

• Experience operating in a founder-led, high-growth environment with limited infrastructure and resources

• Experience with DTC storefront preferred

• Experience with entertainment or gaming IP preferred.

Salary

The base salary range for this position is listed below. Final compensation within the applicable salary range will be determined based on factors such as the applicant’s experience, qualifications, and work location.

Los Angeles, CA: $248,000 - $290

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