Creative Traffic Specialist, Packaging

Mary Kay•Town of Addison, WI

5d•Onsite

About The Position

The Creative Traffic Specialist is a member of Mary Kay’s in-house creative agency, working with partners across divisions to create consumer goods packaging subject to FDA regulation. The role independently manages the full lifecycle of packaging project briefs and artwork approvals in the Artwork Management System (AMS), helping maintain a continuous flow through multi-stage, multi-department and agency data-entry and approval processes. It works with the Packaging Production Supervisor to plan and prioritize projects for the Production Artist team, recommends priorities within and across teams, communicates priorities to project teams, and keeps management informed about high-profile projects. The role seeks to improve agency effectiveness by identifying root causes of challenges and recommending practical solutions and best practices in collaboration with cross-functional partners. It works with New Product Development (NPD), Global Creative teams, and internal Mary Kay clients to manage project scope and timelines and ensure resources are assigned appropriately. It also serves as a backup to the Artwork Data Manager as needed. The position is onsite at Mary Kay’s Global Corporate Headquarters in Addison, Texas.

Requirements

At least 2 years of experience in traffic, communications, or packaging.
A bachelor’s/university degree in communications or business, or equivalent applicable experience.
Strong attention to detail, exceptional organization, and the ability to coordinate and monitor workflows.
Ability to multitask and adjust to changing production schedules.
Problem-solving ability to identify potential packaging-artwork issues and work independently with group owners to develop solutions.
Ability to distinguish relevant from irrelevant information and focus on critical matters.
Strong interpersonal and communication skills for working with coworkers, team members, vendors, and management.
Knowledge and understanding of packaging engineering, printing, production, and local and subsidiary regulations to facilitate communication between departments.
Ability to facilitate meetings with clients and creative teams and present to management.
Diplomacy in resolving interpersonal conflicts in a creative environment.
Ability to communicate complex and technical information clearly to different audiences.
Assertiveness, results orientation, a solutions-focused approach, and good business judgment to lead and influence project development.
Ability to build and maintain relationships across multiple departments.
Familiarity with the creative development process from creative strategy through print production.
Ability to work onsite at Mary Kay’s Global Corporate Headquarters in Addison, Texas.

Nice To Haves

Consumer packaged goods and FDA regulation experience.
Working knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, Acrobat, Agile, Outlook, and Adobe Workfront.
Proven experience managing projects in an advertising agency or marketing communications environment.

Responsibilities

Run daily data-capture reports, notify task owners of due dates, and follow up on overdue tasks.
Collaborate with data owners to resolve issues that could delay project tasks, facilitate solutions, and notify the program manager when timing or program updates are needed.
Reroute project briefs to data owners for missing information and sign off on briefs for the Artwork Data Manager audit process.
Prioritize project briefs based on project scope and artwork due dates.
Negotiate revised artwork due dates with the Project Management Office for delayed projects and inform the Packaging Production Supervisor.
Receive project briefs into production and inform the Packaging Production Supervisor about Production Artist assignments and workload.
Track incoming briefs and negotiate revised artwork due dates with the Project Management Office, buyers, contractors, or appropriate project owners.
Assign appropriate data owners to artwork workflows to obtain approvals from Brand Marketing, Package Engineering, Regulatory, Legal, and international subsidiaries, including translators.
Use traffic and component status reports to follow up with task owners on due and overdue tasks.
Communicate changing information, including deadlines and copy revisions, to all involved parties throughout each project.
Ensure specialized artwork processes follow documented specifications and report on special-project status to team members and the Packaging Production Supervisor.
Create and distribute project-status reports, including weekly priority and packaging reports, monthly approved-art reports, Creative Core reports, and updated-briefs-in-audit reports.
Use component status reports semi-monthly to forecast production volume and recommend upcoming workload coverage to the Packaging Production Supervisor.
Back up the Artwork Data Manager, including auditing packaging-art project briefs for complete and compliant copy, Production standards, and consistency across product, product line, and region.
Guide users across departments and subsidiaries on providing copy content for packaging artwork and hold data contributors accountable for timely correction of missing or inaccurate information.
Assign projects for all regions to the appropriate workflow and close and complete Artwork Data Management tasks listed in the weekly Print Proof Approved Report.
Understand and maintain the AMS packaging-content database and library.
Review content for grammar, duplication, Company style compliance, and availability of English content for all regional packaging-art versions.
Manage knowledge of the Translation Exchange Report process, from report creation through loading received content into the database library.