Artwork and Prepress Production Manager

Artwork And Prepress Production Manager

At Niagara, we're looking for team members who want to be part of achieving our mission to provide our customers the highest quality most affordable bottled water.
Consider applying here, if you want to:
Work in an entrepreneurial and dynamic environment with a chance to make an impact.
Develop lasting relationships with great people.
Have the opportunity to build a satisfying career.
We offer competitive compensation and benefits packages for our team members.
Essential Functions

Builds and leads a high-performing organization with strong bench strength, clear accountability, succession planning, and leadership capability across artwork production and prepress functions.
Owns the end-to-end artwork and prepress operating model, including governance, workflow standards, escalation paths, quality expectations, and continuous improvement priorities.
Partners cross-functionally with PLM, Sales, Marketing, Legal, Procurement, Operations, Quality, customers, printers, and third-party suppliers to shape artwork strategies, resolve complex business issues, and improve execution outcomes.
Establishes short- and long-term production objectives, capacity plans, KPI targets, and service-level expectations that support business growth, customer commitments, and packaging launch timelines.
Develops and maintains performance metrics for quality, turnaround time, workload distribution, supplier performance, print readiness, rework, and process efficiency; uses insights to drive measurable improvement.
Leads strategic supplier and print quality management, including vendor expectations, ColorCert governance, printer specification standards, proofing alignment, and consistent brand/color execution across suppliers.
Serves as a senior subject matter expert for print production, prepress, packaging artwork, mechanical file requirements, and supplier readiness; advises internal and external stakeholders on risks, tradeoffs, and best practices.
Leads complex customer and supplier engagements related to artwork requirements, pre-production planning, print feasibility, cost considerations, and issue resolution to protect customer relationships and business results.
Drives standardization of artwork processes, mechanical file requirements, preflight expectations, proofing practices, supplier uploads, and print-ready release criteria to improve consistency and reduce rework.
Identifies systemic artwork, prepress, supplier, and process risks; leads root-cause analysis and corrective action plans that improve quality, turnaround, scalability, and customer satisfaction.
Guides prioritization of internal artwork requests, special projects, marketing support, mockups, trials, and customer-facing materials to ensure resources are focused on the highest-value business needs.
Develops team capability through coaching, training, performance management, technical development, and customer-management guidance that strengthens execution, collaboration, and leadership readiness.
Creates communication forums, training content, and stakeholder alignment processes that improve understanding of artwork workflows, print production requirements, supplier expectations, and customer decision points.
Maintains awareness of industry trends, print technologies, packaging requirements, and functional best practices; translates relevant learnings into process, quality, and capability improvements.
Represents the function in strategic meetings, supplier reviews, customer discussions, press checks, and cross-functional planning sessions as needed to support business continuity and successful project execution.
Manages administrative responsibilities for the function, including time and attendance oversight, invoice and purchase order review, and related operational controls as needed.
This position requires approximately 25% travel.
Please note this job description is not designed to contain a comprehensive list of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without prior notice.
Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:
6 Years – Experience in field or similar manufacturing environment
6 Years – Experience in leadership role
6 Years – Experience project management
6 Years – Experience with prepress file preparation experience and related software such as Esko, ColorCert or similar
6 Years – Experience with Adobe Creative Suite
6 Years – Experience with Oracle Agile PLM Software or other large manufacturing product lifecycle management system
6 Years – Experience with Microsoft Office Applications including Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint
*experience may include a combination of work experience and education
Preferred Qualifications:
10+ Years– Experience in field or similar manufacturing environment
10+ Years – Experience working in similar position
10+ Years – Experience managing people/projects
10+ Years – Experience with prepress file preparation experience and related software such as Esko, ColorCert or similar
10+ Years – Experience with Adobe Creative Suite
10+ Years – Experience with Oracle Agile PLM Software or other large manufacturing product lifecycle management system
10+ Years – Experience with Microsoft Office Applications including Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint
*experience may include a combination of work experience and education
Competencies

This position embodies the values of Niagara's LIFE competency model, focusing on the following key drivers of success:
Lead Like an Owner
Makes safety the number one priority
Keeps alert for safety issues and escalates immediately
Effectively prioritizes tasks based on department goals
Shows respect to others and confronts interpersonal issues directly
Prioritizes resolution of customer issues effectively
Responds promptly and honors commitments to internal and external customers
InnovACT
Makes recommendations to continuously improve policies, methods, procedures, and/or products
Demonstrates adaptability by reacting appropriately to unexpected changes in situations or circumstances
Increases performance through greater efficiency
Find a Way
Seeks to develop technical knowledge through learning from other experts
Understands interdepartmental impact of individual decisions and actions
Seeks solutions rather than placing blame
Empowered to be Great
Consistently looks for ways to improve one's self through growth and development opportunities
Communicates clearly and promptly up, down, and across
Communicates effectively to manage expectations
Additionally, the ideal candidate is expected to demonstrate the following competencies:

Leadership – inspires and motivates others to perform well; displays passion and optimism; can take charge when necessary to ensure decisions are made; able to build morale and group commitments to goals and objectives; ability to balance team and individual responsibilities.
Fosters Teamwork – listens and responds to others' proposals; enlists active participation of all team members; recognizes and encourages behaviors that contribute to teamwork; balances team and individual responsibilities; contributes to building a positive team spirit; able to build morale and group commitments to goals and objectives.
Manage Performance – ensures team members have clear goals and responsibilities; provides specific performance feedback, both positive and corrective; supports team in achieving goals.
Creativity – uses original ideas or imagination to create pleasing and meaningful graphic designs for use in packaging; can identify and foster others' creativity for use in design and business.
Insightful – skilled at identifying opportunities for increasing business efficiency; stays abreast of business, industry and market advances and trends.
Oral Communication – speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations; demonstrates presentation skills.
Written/Oral Communication – writes and speaks clearly and informatively; presents information and data effectively; able to read and interpret written information from a variety of levels and technical proficiencies.
Planning/Organizing – strong sense of urgency for solving problems efficiently and getting projects completed; organizes or schedules other people and their tasks.
Detail Oriented – minimizes mistakes, follows every step in a process and follows through with all tasks; double checks work for accuracy.