Global Toy Industry Employment Update: September 2026

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NEW JOB VACANCIES – POSTED THIS WEEK

USA/HK

• Direct Import Consultant - The Direct Import Consultant is a 12-month, hands-on role establishing and managing the company’s DI operations for major US retailers. Covering retailer systems, factory coordination, compliance and delivery, they build sustainable processes and train the Hong Kong team to take over. Deep mass-market and club-account DI experience is essential. Can be based in HK or USA.

USA/UK/HK/AUSTRALIA

• Director of International Sales - The Director of International Sales drives games and toys growth globally, developing markets, strengthening distributor relationships and delivering revenue targets. Based in the USA, UK, Hong Kong or Australia, they coordinate product launches and align US and HK teams. The role requires 8–10+ years’ international sales experience and approximately 30% travel.

USA (NYC)

• Senior Manager, Brand Franchise, Emotional Support Pals (based in NYC) - The Senior Manager leads Emotional Support Pals’ strategy, commercial performance and brand development. Working across product, sales, creative, marketing and licensing, they coordinate plans and execution to drive growth. The role combines strategic ownership with hands-on delivery in a fast-moving consumer products business.

If you are based in the relevant locations and have the appropriate experience for any of these roles, please get in touch with your resume/CV.

Global Toy Industry Employment Update: September 2026

Stronger Sales, Uneven Hiring and a Changing Market for Talent

There is a slightly awkward contradiction running through the toy industry this September. Some of the sales figures look very encouraging, major businesses are investing, and there are clear examples of companies adding people. Yet restructuring and job losses remain part of the picture. For somebody looking for their next role, or a business deciding whether to recruit, the answer depends heavily on which part of the industry they are looking at.

Our assessment is that this is a market of selective opportunity. Growth is creating reasons to recruit, but those opportunities are distributed unevenly between companies, countries and specialisms. A business expanding its collector offering or opening stores can have very different staffing requirements from a traditional manufacturer trying to improve profitability. Both belong to the toy industry, but their employment situations can be worlds apart.

There is also a limit to what the available figures can tell us. The sources reviewed for this update do not provide a consistent worldwide measure of toy vacancies, salaries or net job creation. Company headcounts, restructuring announcements and investment plans provide useful evidence, while sales results help explain the commercial backdrop. The recruitment implications below are our analysis of those developments, rather than a claim that every toy company is hiring in the same direction.

A Better Sales Backdrop Gives Employers More Options

Circana reported that toy sales value across its tracked global markets increased by 14% in the first half of 2026. In the United States, its separate first-half report showed dollar sales up 17% and unit sales up 12%. Those are substantial improvements, although they measure retail activity rather than employment, and the tracked markets should not be confused with a census of every country.

A stronger market gives businesses more room to invest in people, but recruitment still has to make sense at company level. Additional sales can be absorbed by existing staff, stronger products can replace weaker ones without increasing the workload, and a company can grow revenue while struggling with its costs. The question for a hiring manager is whether an extra person will help turn demand into sustainable profit.

Mattel illustrates that distinction. Its second-quarter sales rose 10% to approximately $1.125 billion, while adjusted operating income fell to $39 million from $96 million. Its results identified tariffs, inflation, higher royalties and foreign exchange among the pressures on gross margin. This is precisely the sort of situation in which better sales need not translate into a broad expansion of staffing.

For candidates, the practical lesson is to look beyond a company’s headline growth rate. The profitability of the relevant division, its investment priorities and the reason a position exists are all worth understanding before deciding that a business is an attractive next move.

North America: Expansion and Restructuring Side by Side

The North American picture includes encouraging commercial momentum. Hasbro reported second-quarter revenue growth of 16%, with Wizards and Digital Gaming up 27% and Consumer Products up 5%. Canada’s Spin Master reported revenue growth of 8.9% and highlighted investment in innovation, collectibles and strategic trading cards. These results point to areas receiving management attention and investment; neither announcement should be read as a promise of proportional workforce growth.

The employment evidence is more mixed. WARNTracker records a Mattel notice affecting 65 employees at its El Segundo headquarters, effective 22 May 2026, following a separate notice affecting 89 employees in January. These are specific reductions at a particular location, rather than a measure of Mattel’s worldwide net employment, but they demonstrate that restructuring has continued during the industry’s sales recovery.

Elsewhere, LEGO’s Virginia operation provides a concrete example of manufacturing recruitment. Its careers page describes existing packing activity and opportunities across functions including manufacturing and logistics, with the new factory scheduled to open in 2027. The distinction matters: recruitment and preparation can be taking place today for capacity that will come fully into service later.

For people targeting North American roles, it therefore makes sense to examine employers individually. A business investing in a new facility, a growing games division and a company redesigning its headquarters structure may all be recruiting, but for very different reasons. Experience that fits the next phase of a business is likely to carry more weight than a general claim to know the industry.

Europe and the UK: Very Different Fortunes Within the Same Region

Europe offers one of the clearest contrasts. LEGO reported first-half revenue growth of 21% and referred to a workforce of approximately 34,000 colleagues. It also opened its Kornmarken Campus in Billund, a manufacturing innovation workplace accommodating more than 1,800 colleagues. That campus figure describes the people based there; it should not be presented as 1,800 newly created jobs.

At the other end of the spectrum, Eurofound recorded Playmobil’s announced closure of its Dietenhofen production operation, scheduled for the end of June 2026 and involving 350 planned job losses. Rising German production costs were cited as the reason for moving production. The contrast shows why a single description of “the European toy jobs market” can conceal more than it reveals.

In the UK and Ireland, there is visible recruitment at retail level. Smyths’ careers pages, reviewed for this update, included sales assistant, night packing and warehouse positions across multiple locations. These advertisements establish that hiring is taking place, but they do not establish how much is seasonal, replacement recruitment or permanent expansion across the wider sector.

For office-based toy professionals, the useful question is how their experience fits a particular business model. Managing a national retail account, developing international distributors and running a consumer e-commerce operation involve different relationships and working methods. Employers should be clear about which of those capabilities they need, rather than expecting one broadly worded commercial role to cover every route to market equally well.

China and Asian Brands: The Employment Story Extends Beyond Factories

Pop Mart supplies some of the strongest direct evidence of workforce expansion in the businesses reviewed. Its first-half announcement reported 12,056 employees at 30 June 2026, including 9,734 sales personnel. The company said sales personnel had increased from 6,219 a year earlier as its global store network expanded. This is a reported increase in staffing, rather than an inference drawn from revenue growth.

That development also broadens the way we should think about Asian toy employment. The opportunities associated with a Chinese consumer brand expanding internationally can include local retail teams, regional management, merchandising, distribution and brand development. A country’s toy sector can be developing international consumer businesses at the same time as its manufacturing operations face a separate set of pressures.

For candidates outside Asia, this suggests a useful question: which overseas brands need help understanding and serving my market? Someone who can explain the retail landscape, establish the right partnerships and adapt commercial execution locally may offer a capability that an expanding business cannot easily provide from headquarters.

For employers, the corresponding challenge is to give local hires enough authority to do the job. Hiring an experienced country manager delivers limited value if every decision about stock, pricing or customer commitments gets trapped in a lengthy approval process.

India and Vietnam: Manufacturing Ambition Requires Capable People

India’s government made a further commitment to the sector in July 2026, announcing a toy task force and a target of reaching 5% of the global toy market by 2032. Its stated objectives included manufacturing capability, integration into global value chains, design, innovation and the creation of a skilled workforce. These are policy ambitions and areas of focus, rather than evidence that the target or associated employment growth has already been achieved.

The recruitment implications are nevertheless worth considering. If manufacturers are to win and retain more demanding international customers, production capacity has to be supported by people who can manage tooling, quality, factory planning, customer communication and product development. An experienced manager who can build dependable processes may be as important to an expansion as another piece of equipment.

Vietnam also remains part of the investment picture. LEGO’s 2025 annual report describes its Vietnamese factory and continuing expansion elsewhere in its manufacturing network, including Mexico. These are examples of capacity being distributed across different locations; they do not provide a reliable count of net toy manufacturing jobs gained or lost by country during September 2026.

For businesses changing their sourcing arrangements, staffing deserves attention early in the process. The person negotiating a factory price is not necessarily the person best equipped to establish quality systems or resolve problems during production. A sourcing move can therefore require new skills even when the business has no intention of materially increasing its overall headcount.

Latin America, Australia and Other Markets Need a Local Reading

Circana’s regional analysis identifies Latin America as a growing opportunity with different category preferences and pronounced seasonality. It also highlights Australian momentum in building sets, trading card games and collectibles. These differences help explain why a commercial approach that works in one territory cannot simply be copied into another. They are demand signals, rather than regional employment statistics.

The practical recruitment implication is to value local execution. An international sales appointment should be assessed against the customers, channels and operating problems that matter in the intended territory. Language skills help, but so does knowing which distributors can deliver, how retailers plan their buying and what makes a product commercially viable at local price points.

The evidence reviewed is thinner for toy-specific employment across the Middle East and Africa, and does not support a confident regional hiring verdict. Companies considering those markets should build their staffing case around identifiable customers, realistic distribution arrangements and the scale of support required. A large market opportunity on a presentation slide is not, by itself, a sufficient brief for a new employee.

Retail Expansion Creates Work, but the Contract Matters

One of September’s notable announcements was the planned opening of 120 additional standalone Toys “R” Us stores in the United States for the holiday season through its partnership with Go! Retail Group. The announcement demonstrates investment in physical retail, although the reporting reviewed does not establish an associated employment total or guarantee that every new position will be permanent.

Retail expansion can require store managers, customer-facing teams, stock handling and operational support. However, the employment value of an opening depends on the format, trading period and contract offered. Candidates should establish whether a position is seasonal, fixed-term or permanent, and who actually employs them where a familiar brand operates through a partner.

For suppliers, another retail outlet can also create work beyond the shop floor. Account servicing, availability planning, merchandising and launch support all require attention. That workload may justify an appointment, but it should be assessed against the likely ongoing business rather than the excitement surrounding an opening.

Which Skills Have the Clearest Commercial Case?

The evidence above suggests several capabilities that employers should examine closely. This is not a statistical ranking of the most advertised vacancies. It is an assessment of the skills that connect most directly to the opportunities and pressures visible in the market.

Sales and account management remain central, particularly where candidates can demonstrate profitable growth. Winning a listing is useful, but so is improving sell-through, controlling promotional spending, managing stock exposure and retaining the relationship when trading becomes difficult. A candidate who can explain those outcomes in detail gives an employer much more to work with than somebody whose CV simply lists major customers.

Brand, licensing and community expertise also deserve attention where a business is targeting fans and collectors. Understanding an audience should affect product choices, release timing, distribution and communication. Employers need to distinguish familiarity with a popular property from the ability to build a commercially successful programme around it.

On the operational side, sourcing, quality, planning and product development can protect the value created by a strong sales team. A successful launch still depends on products being made correctly, delivered when required and priced to leave a viable margin. Businesses should be particularly careful about reducing these capabilities simply because their contribution is less visible than revenue.

E-commerce and analytical skills belong within this discussion too. Useful expertise means connecting activity to an outcome: whether advertising produces profitable orders, whether a forecast improves availability, or whether a change to the range reduces unsold stock. Employers should define the problem they want solved before deciding which fashionable title to put on the vacancy.

AI: Assess the Work Before Making Claims About the Jobs

It would be premature to attach a reliable global toy-sector job-loss figure to artificial intelligence on the evidence available for this update. The more useful approach is to examine tasks. Drafting product copy, preparing reports, exploring early concepts and organising information are all areas where a business can assess whether AI tools improve productivity, subject to appropriate review and protection of confidential material.

The employment question then becomes what people do with the time saved. A product developer still needs judgement about play value and manufacturability. A salesperson still needs to understand why a buyer is hesitating. A manager still has to make decisions and accept responsibility for them. Employers should evaluate practical improvements in work rather than assuming that access to a tool automatically removes the need for a role.

Candidates can take a similarly grounded approach. Being able to explain how a tool improved a real process is more persuasive than adding “AI expert” to a profile without evidence. Industry knowledge and judgement remain part of that explanation.

What Employers Should Do Before Recruiting

The first step is to define the outcome required from the appointment. “We need another salesperson” is a weaker starting point than identifying the accounts, territories or channels that need attention and explaining what success should look like. The same applies to product, marketing and operations roles. A clear brief makes it easier to assess candidates and helps the successful person contribute sooner.

Employers should also resist treating restructuring elsewhere as proof that every desirable candidate will be easy to secure. A large applicant pool can still contain very few people with the required combination of experience, location, relationships and motivation. Hiring decisions should be based on that specific pool, supported by a realistic package and an efficient process.

There is also a case for looking beyond an exact previous job title. Somebody from an adjacent category may bring relevant retail relationships or operational expertise, while an established toy professional may be ready to take broader responsibility. The important distinction is between skills that transfer and knowledge the person will need support to develop.

What Candidates Should Take From September’s Market

For candidates, specificity is helpful. A CV should make the scale and nature of a person’s contribution understandable: the markets they developed, products they brought through to launch, teams they managed or operational problems they resolved. Where figures can be shared appropriately, they should explain the result and the candidate’s own role in achieving it.

It is equally sensible to ask more searching questions about prospective employers. Is the role a replacement or an addition? What resources and decision-making authority come with it? Why is the business recruiting now, and what would a successful first year look like? The answers can reveal more about an opportunity than the job title or the familiarity of the brand.

A redundancy should not automatically be read as a verdict on someone’s ability. The examples in this update include changes to location, structure and business priorities. Candidates affected by those decisions should be ready to explain their contribution clearly and connect it to the needs of their next employer.

Looking Towards 2027

As September draws to a close, the evidence supports cautious optimism about commercial opportunity, alongside a selective view of employment prospects. There are businesses expanding their workforce and investing in future capacity, while others are reducing particular operations or working to improve profitability. Those developments can coexist for some time.

The next useful signals will include Christmas sell-through, stock positions, margins and whether announced investments turn into sustained operating activity. Strong demand can support hiring, but the quality of that demand matters: a business entering 2027 with healthy margins and manageable inventory has different options from one that has bought growth through heavy discounting.

For employers and candidates alike, the task is to understand where experience can make a practical difference. The toy industry still needs people who can create appealing products, build customer relationships and deliver reliably. Finding the right match between those capabilities and a company’s next stage is where recruitment can make its strongest contribution.

ARE YOU A TOY OR GAME COMPANY LOOKING FOR THE BEST PEOPLE IN THE TOY & GAME INDUSTRY TO DRIVE YOUR BUSINESS FORWARD? We have over 17,000 opt in subscribers to our bulletins, newsletters and email lists. Combined with a quarter of a century of real business experience and industry contacts around the world. Don’t let recruiters waste your time with poorly qualified candidates, we’ll screen out people who aren’t a good match with what you’re looking for saving you time and raising the standard of your new hires. Get in touch today to recruit your next vacancy…

Sign up to our Free Toy Industry Journal e-newsletter for the latest articles, podcasts, trends and insights into what’s going on in the Global Toy & Games business, just click here to sign up: https://forms.aweber.com/form/54/1325077854.htm