Position Summary

Under the general direction of the Marketing Design Director, the Production Manager serves as the first point of contact for marketing and communications production process on behalf of internal clients, including faculty, students, staff and alumni and is responsible for coordination, development of design/creative assets, management, and production delivery of communications materials for an innovative, collaborative marketing team. As such, the role will involve the management of a challenging, complex and dynamic workload.

The Production Manager will build and nurture highly productive relationships with colleagues across the university and with key external agencies and suppliers and will play a critical role in managing brand, vendor relations, and delivery of all university premiums and marketing materials, ensuring high impact and quality throughout. The Production Manager will pursue the university’s excellence agenda, champion best practices, and client service across the university and with key partners, ensuring that excellent customer service is delivered at all times. The Production Manager will be a “brand champion”, an advocate for the university’s position and reputation and will play a lead role in the activation of the university’s visual identity and all creative executions. The Production Manager is also responsible for printing and producing banners, signage, and posters with the large format printer.

Candidates should be highly motivated, detail oriented, with excellent verbal and written skills, and adept at managing communications projects. The Production Manager is expected to be a flexible and tenacious team player who has managed communications projects in areas including message development, print, web, digital and social media platforms. The successful candidate will be able to quickly develop a strong understanding of organizational priorities and work with multiple stakeholders to build and administer complex production plans.

Our generous benefits package includes medical, dental, and vision plans; paid parental leave; short-term and long-term disability plans; life insurance; flexible spending accounts; and a 403(b) retirement plan which includes a 10% employer contribution after two years of service. RFUMS is committed to employee well-being and work-life balance. Full-time staff members are eligible for three weeks of vacation, 15 sick days, and 13 holidays plus two floating holidays. That is a minimum of 30 paid days off each year!

Who We Are

Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science (RFU) is a graduate health sciences university committed to serving the population through the interprofessional education of health and biomedical professionals and the discovery of knowledge dedicated to improving wellness. The university embodies the spirit of inquiry and excellence modeled by its namesake Dr. Rosalind Franklin, whose Photo 51 was crucial to solving the structure of DNA. 

Today, the university’s 6 colleges continue Dr. Franklin’s legacy through rigorous academics, pioneering research, and innovative community service. Our unique interprofessional education model allows students to learn from and with each other in a variety of settings, including our simulation labs, the student-led Interprofessional Community Clinic, and through partnerships with area hospitals and clinics. RFU is a national leader in interprofessional research and practices, and is nationally recognized for its research in areas including neuroscience, brain-related diseases, inherited disorders, proteomics, cancer cell biology and immunology, cardiac resuscitation, and gait and balance.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Oversees the planning, development and production of graphics materials; reviews and approves final graphics production.
• Researches, plans and implements new operating and production methods; researches and prepares operating and production procedures and reports.
• Establishes and oversees production goals and objectives; partners with creative contributors to ensure projects are delivered on time, on budget and within scope through production plans and effective communications; monitors production schedules, identifies risks, anticipates impending deadlines and approvals, and troubleshoots challenges that arise during the production schedule; escalates to senior leadership as needed and develops action plans to address problems in a timely manner.
• Designs workflow and maximizes office productivity through use of appropriate software applications and computer hardware options; assesses equipment, space and staffing requirements.
• Develops production guidelines, procedures, and rules and monitors compliance; develops and implements techniques for evaluating production activities; develops and evaluates budget requests.
• Interacts with design team members to establish production priorities.
• Reviews records to ensure completeness, accuracy and timeliness.
• Acts as liaison between department and internal or external customers.
• Conducts training on efficient use of brand identity templates and ensures standard procedures and practices.
• Provides superior customer service throughout the project.
• Provides subject matter expert feedback and information.
• Schedules and participates in meetings with cross-departmental project teams; follows up with meeting notes.
• Maintains, tracks, reconciles, and reports vendor invoices and department operating expenditures.
• Conducts inventory of production supplies.
• Performs additional duties, as assigned.

Conditions of Employment

• Must achieve satisfactory results from a background check.
• Compliance with the current COVID19 vaccination policy.

Required Education & Experience

• 5 years of production management experience.
• Experience working with marketing communications projects.
• Experience with print production processes.
• Experience with project/production management software/tools.
• Experience in marketing communications program management.

Required Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

• Proven commitment to stakeholder satisfaction and quality deliverables.
• Excellent communication skill and attention to details.
• Ability to see the big picture, even under time and budget pressure; ability to adapt to changes without losing direction and focus.
• Ability to watch production costs and manage production effectively even when multiple vendors/internal teams are involved.
• Proven ability to react quickly to time-sensitive assignments even with little advanced notice.
• Ability to keep a clear overall vision, making sensible compromises without limiting projects’ success.

Preferred Qualifications

• Some experience in higher education or non-profit communications is desirable.
• Strong MS Office skills, particularly PowerPoint and Excel, and Adobe Creative Suite and PDF editor.
• FTP client software such as Fetch.
• Competency with both Mac and PC platforms.
• Strong organizational skills.

Typical Physical Demands & Working Conditions

• Selected candidate must have the mental and physical capabilities to perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodations.

EOE, Including Disability / Vets