Graphics Production & Color Manager
About The Position
The Graphics Production Manager is responsible for ensuring the accuracy, quality, and timely delivery of flexo-friendly, print-ready assets. This leadership role bridges the gap between creative design and technical manufacturing, providing strategic direction and technical mastery to a specialized team of production artists, colorists, and platemakers. By overseeing the file preparation, Esko workflow automation, press fingerprinting, and contract proofing, the Manager ensures rigorous color consistency and technical accuracy. This leadership role is responsible for optimizing production efficiency and troubleshooting complex prepress challenges to meet demanding deadlines while maintaining the highest industry standards.
Requirements
- Bachelor of Science degree in Graphics or Printing Technology, or equivalent work experience
- Minimum of 10+ years in prepress, printing or platemaking with proven leadership experience
- Strong communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical information for non-technical stakeholders
- Excellent problem-solving skills, particularly with color discrepancies, file issues, and production bottlenecks
- Exceptional attention to detail and commitment to quality
Nice To Haves
- Expertise in color management, including ICC profiling, calibration, spectrophotometers, proofing systems, and print standards (e.g., GRACoL, SWOP, G7)
- Strong proficiency in Adobe Creative Cloud (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign)
- Experience with packaging production tools (Esko’s Automation Engine, ArtPro+, Imaging Engine, and WebCenter; Kodak’s Prinergy, ColorFlow and Insite) to support advanced prepress and workflow automation
Responsibilities
- Embody and promote our core values: Care for People, Act as One, Do What’s Right, Make it Better, Play to Win, and Preserve the Planet
- Lead and mentor a cross-functional team of production artists, colorists, and platemakers to deliver flexo-friendly separations / color builds and high-quality proofs within best-in-class productivity standards
- Manage daily department scheduling, job prioritization, and workload allocation to meet tight production deadlines
- Cultivate a high-performance production team by setting clear KPIs and providing robust training and ongoing, constructive feedback
- Drive employee engagement through targeted career development and skill building
- Ensure users have the most effective tools and optimized workflows to deliver “right-first-time” proofs and plates
- Collaborate closely with the Graphics Systems Administrator and IT to enhance user experience and optimize the functionality of integrated systems, platforms, and processes
- Lead the development and governance of art specifications and prepress processes to uphold industry standards and ensure accurate proofing profiles, printing curves, and contract proofing performance for consistent, color-correct outputs
- Oversee the end-to-end flexo platemaking workflow to drive superior quality, reduce waste, and deliver fast, reliable turnaround that meets evolving customer needs
- Proactively collaborate with cross-functional teams to resolve integration issues and drive continuous improvement initiatives that streamline the front-end supply chain
- Ensure accountability for monitoring and reporting key production metrics, covering artwork prep and plating processes
- Collaborate with manufacturing facilities to ensure best practices for plate handling and respond to graphic and plate related inquiries
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Manager
