Art Preproduction Manager

We’re looking for an Art Preproduction Manager to lead a team of 10–15 Graphic Production Artists for transforming customer artwork into accurate, high-quality, press-ready files at speed and scale. This role partners closely with Product, Engineering, and Operations to support efficient preproduction workflows, drive operational consistency, and ensure successful adoption of new tools and processes across the proofing function.

You’ll play a key role in strengthening the operational foundation of the preproduction team by improving documentation, training resources, SOPs, and day-to-day process consistency. This role is empowered to identify gaps, reduce dependency on tribal knowledge, and help create a more scalable, accountable, and well-aligned operation as the business continues to grow.

Success in this role means building a high-performing team, improving throughput and first-pass approval rates, reducing rework, and maintaining a strong culture of quality and continuous improvement. The ideal candidate combines strong people leadership with operational discipline, process-oriented thinking, and the ability to bring structure and clarity to fast-paced production environments.

• Lead and develop a team of 10–15 Graphic Production Artists (local and offshore) in a fast-paced production environment where quality, speed, and consistency are equally important. Provide coaching, performance management, hiring support, and day-to-day operational leadership that helps the team scale effectively while maintaining high standards.
• Strengthen and maintain the operational foundation of the preproduction function by building clear, accessible documentation, SOPs, training materials, and reference resources. Reduce dependency on tribal knowledge and create greater consistency across onboarding, communication, and execution.
• Partner closely with Product, Engineering, and Operations to support evolving workflows, operational improvements, and the successful rollout of new tools and processes. Serve as a key operational voice in identifying friction points, surfacing improvement opportunities, and helping teams adapt to change effectively.
• Support continuous improvement initiatives across prepress systems, automation, and workflow tooling. Evaluate, test, implement, and optimize operational processes that improve efficiency, reduce rework, and support long-term scalability.
• Own and improve operational performance across the proofing function by monitoring KPIs such as turnaround time, first-pass approval rate, quality defects, SLA adherence, rework volume, and team productivity. Use data to identify trends, drive accountability, and support informed decision-making.
• Create operational clarity and alignment across the team by reinforcing consistent execution of workflows, SOPs, quality standards, and communication practices. Work cross-functionally to support a stable, efficient, and continuously improving production environment.

• You’ve led teams in high-volume prepress, print production, creative operations, or manufacturing environments where speed, quality, and consistency all matter  know how to build accountability, coach performance, and create structure without slowing the operation down.
• You’re highly process-oriented and operationally disciplined. You’ve inherited under documented or inconsistent workflows before and know how to systematically surface, organize, and maintain institutional knowledge in a way that supports onboarding, scalability, and day‑to‑day execution.
• You’re comfortable operating in evolving environments where tools, workflows, and priorities continue to improve over time. You can help teams successfully adopt new processes and technologies while maintaining stability and throughput.
• You bring strong technical knowledge of prepress and print production workflows, including proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator and Photoshop) and familiarity with prepress automation or workflow tools such as ESKO, Art Pro+, or similar systems.
• You use data and operational metrics to identify trends, improve performance, and support decision‑making. You’re comfortable…