Assistant Category Manager – Toys & Hardline, UP&E China

Role Overview:

The Assistant Category Manager – Toy & Hardline plays a pivotal role in driving category success through hands-on execution, operational excellence, and strategic partner support. Acting as a key coordinator, this position manages daily category operations, streamlines core administrative, executional, and transactional responsibilities, and ensures seamless collaboration across internal and external stakeholders. By taking ownership of operational tasks, the Assistant Category Manager enables Category leadership and sales teams to focus on accelerating strategic growth initiatives and expanding critical partner relationships. This role calls for an agile, detail-oriented individual who thrives in a dynamic environment and is committed to supporting the business’s ambitious goals.

 

Job Responsibilities:

 

• Own day-to-day category administration to support Category Director’s growth objectives, including: sku setup & maintenance, range lists, line sheets, and planning templates.
• Coordinate internal processes across approvals, finance, legal, and operations to ensure smooth and timely execution.
• Act as the main cross-country interface, coordinating country, regional, and global meetings; sharing distributor information, and provide support to the development of regional and global line plans.
• Prepare and coordinate materials for range reviews, line plan discussions, and retail sell-in meetings.
• Own and aintain launch trackers and retail/licensee performance snapshots. Consolidate data, track actuals vs. forecast, and proactively flag risks, gaps, and opportunities early.
• Support the overseas expansion of China-based strategic partners by coordinating pipeline tracking, Visual Line Plan updates, and aligning retail and marketing activities to accelerate growth.
• Support the Category Head in planning and managing the calendar and pipeline for identifying and developing white space initiatives across existing and potential partners.
• Coordinate and track the progress of international market entry and expansion plans, working closely with regional, global, and local stakeholders to ensure timely and effective execution.
• Prepare and maintain measurable commercial impact indices and progress updates for category and country leadership to support business performance tracking and informed decision-making.

 

The responsibilities associated with this position are not limited to the above description and may be modified at any time by the Company.

Qualifications & Experience: 

• Strong understanding of China-based brands and their global expansion pathways; experience supporting international business development preferred.

• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple stakeholders, with strong cross-functional coordination skills.

• Solid analytical and operational capabilities, including performance tracking, reporting, and business planning support.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to engage effectively with both internal teams and external partners.
• Fluent in Mandarin and English.
• Proactive, detail-oriented, and able to balance executional rigor with strategic awareness.
• Self-motivated, ability to deal with ambiguity and fast-paced working environment, and able to handle challenging, multiple deadlines.
• Strong team player with solid work ethic; willingness to learn and take on new tasks.
• Results oriented, take responsibilities and desire to win.

Desired Characteristics:

• Prior experience in licensing, consumer products, toys, hardlines, or related industries is desirable but not essential.

As part of our selection process, external candidates may be required to attend an in-person interview with an NBCUniversal employee at one of our locations prior to a hiring decision. NBCUniversal's policy is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, membership in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran and require support throughout the application and/or recruitment process as a result of your disability, you have the right to request a reasonable accommodation. You can submit your request to AccessibilitySupport@nbcuni.com.