Senior Production Manager

Senior Production Manager

Workman Publishing, a publishing division within Hachette Book Group, is seeking a Senior Production Manger to coordinate manufacturing responsibilities for frontlist titles published by Workman’s Adult and Children’s imprints. Formats include books, novelty, stationery and calendars. Primary responsibilities include costing, scheduling, and ordering manufacturing. This role is located in Hachette’s New York office on a hybrid basis.

The ideal candidate will work closely with Design, Editorial and Managing Editorial departments as well as outside vendors, both domestic and overseas, to produce high quality print on aggressive schedules, within budget constraints. The candidate should be comfortable working in a highly collaborative but deadline-driven, team-oriented environment. The candidate will need to balance out-of-the-box thinking and creativity with the practicalities cost constraints. The candidate will have the ability to successfully execute the vision of the publishing division while taking proactive steps to avoid issues as well as possess the ability to react quickly and efficiently to unforeseen complications with the utmost grace and diplomacy.

This position requires skills to manage, motivate and mentor staff to foster good habits, teamwork, continuous improvement, and growth.

Responsibilities:

• Effectively and efficiently coordinates all phases of book production and manufacturing from composition, prepress, printing and binding through final delivery.
• Negotiates pricing throughout the development of a product through proper bidding and cost analysis.
• Collaborates with Publisher, Editorial, and Design to conceptualize and develop product, applying creative solutions to solve special product needs and budgetary constraints.
• Work closely with domestic and overseas vendors to manage supplier performance, to ensure schedule fidelity, a high level of quality, and budget requirements.
• Monitors production schedules through coordination with outside vendors as well as all relevant in-house departments to ensure on-time delivery at every stage of manufacturing.
• Manages prepress requirements, traffics and color correct proofs.
• Prepare and update budgets and cost estimates both seasonally and on a title-by-title basis.
• Attends and participates in regular production meetings.
• Analyzes production specifications with an eye towards potential cost-saving opportunities. Communicates alternative specifications to editorial and design departments for discussion.
• Works independently, keeping Manager and imprint informed of any service disruption or vendor quality issues. Communicates such issues to the vendor, in collaboration with Manager as needed.
• Prepares cost estimates, purchase orders, and shipping instructions from HBG’s title management system.
• Diligently maintains accurate specification and scheduling information in Title Management.
• Supervises day-to-day duties of direct reports,
• Performs other duties and special projects as assigned.

Qualifications:

• Possess knowledge of book production process for a diverse range of formats that is reinforced by 10+ years professional