Associate Director, Production

Macmillan Publishers; New York (NY); Remote; USD 105,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

Macmillan Publishers seeks an experienced Associate Director of Production to lead the frontlist team for Feiwel & Friends, Henry Holt, and Godwin Books imprints. You will coach production managers while handling your own list of 40–45 titles yearly across picture books, chapter books, novelty, and graphic novels.

You will partner with Editorial, Design, Managing Editorial, and Publishers to maintain workflows, safety testing, and offsite storage, ensuring on-time, on-budget, high-quality

Qualifications

• Fifteen years of book production experience with at least ten years in children's books.
• Excellent knowledge of book production and manufacturing processes.
• Experience in people management is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Supervise and coach the production team across scheduling, prepress, estimating, printing and binding.
• Maintain quality and guide vendors, reviewing projects to high-standard outcomes.
• Ensure compliance with corporate workflows and accurate data entry in systems.
• Collaborate with editorial, design and managing editorial on product delivery options.
• Keep projects on track regarding schedule, budget and quality; attend status meetings.
• Manage a medium-sized title list through production and manufacturing.
• Maintain strong vendor relationships and evaluate performance.

Skills

Book production

Team leadership

Production management

Vendor management

Project scheduling

People management

Biblio/RSuite familiarity

Google platform knowledge

Tools

Biblio

RSuite

Google platform

Job description

Macmillan Children's Publishing Group is seeking an experienced Associate Director of Production to lead the frontlist production team for the Feiwel & Friends, Henry Holt, and Godwin Books imprints, as well as Conversions for MCPG. In this hands‑on leadership role, you'll coach and support a team of production managers while also managing your own list of 40–45 titles a year, spanning picture books, chapter books, novelty books, and graphic novels.

You'll serve as a key liaison to Editorial, Design, Managing Editorial, and the Publishers; own 4‑color workflows across the group; and partner with a co‑Associate Director and other department leads to maintain department‑wide workflows, the Safety Testing program, and offsite materials storage. The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in children's book manufacturing, strong vendor relationships, and a talent for keeping complex projects on schedule, on budget, and at the highest quality.

What You'll Do:

• Management: Supervise and coach the production team in all aspects of production and manufacturing including, but not limited to: scheduling, prepress, estimating, printing and binding for text & components. Manage some of the seasonal launch tasks as pertains to the team.
• Maintain quality and coach team to manage vendors and review projects with an eye to high‑quality standards.
• Ensure Production Managers manage their projects in compliance to corporate workflows and procedures, including entering project data into systems (Biblio and RSuite), contracting with vendors using approved scales, archiving and closing out projects.
• Collaboration with Internal Stakeholders: Provide editorial with options for product delivery. Investigate manufacturing options for print materials (books, media, components, etc.)
• Work with the Production Management team to keep projects on track in terms of schedule, budget, quality, vendor assignments.
• Attend weekly status meetings with managing editorial, production editorial, design, and art to track title progress.
• Coordinate with internal customers about project details and department protocols. Help teams set priorities.
• Managing a Title List: manage a medium sized list that includes some priority titles through the production/manufacturing process.
• Vendor Management: Maintain strong relationships with established vendors. Negotiate prices for non‑contract projects and ensure vendors are conforming to Macmillan contracts. Evaluate vendor performance and oversee quality control reviews, issues and resolutions.

What You'll Bring:

• 15 years of book production experience with at least 10 years in Children's. Excellent knowledge of all facets of book production and manufacturing. Must be highly organized and detail minded. Must have basic understandings of overall business of publishing and how production issues affect the success of a publishing company. Experience in people management a plus.
• Ability to prioritize. Works collaboratively with others in a professional manner. Able to adapt to changes, delays and unexpected events. Anticipates, identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner.
• Working knowledge of Biblio and RSuite (desirable)
• Knowledge of the Google platform (desirable)

Salary range:

$105,000 - $115,000

FSLA status: Exempt

This position is classified as remote but is tied to our New York, NY office located at 120 Broadway. Employment is subject to New York State tax withholding under applicable regulations.

Macmillan Publishers is the U.S. trade company that is part of the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, a large family‑owned group of media companies headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. Holtzbrinck Publishing Group's publishing companies include prominent imprints around the world that publish a broad range of award‑winning books for children and adults in all categories and formats.

U.S. publishers include Celadon Books, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Flatiron Books, Henry Holt & Company, Macmillan Audio, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, The St. Martin's Publishing Group, and Tor Publishing Group. In the UK, Australia, India, and South Africa, companies in the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group publish under the Pan Macmillan name. The German publishing company, Holtzbrinck Deutsche Buchverlage, includes among its imprints S. Fischer, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Rowohlt, and Droemer Knaur.

Macmillan is proud to be an equal opportunity employer consistently striving to foster a culture where everyone belongs. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds and identities. Qualified applicants are evaluated without regard to race, color, religion, age, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability status, physical ability, neurodiversity, genetic information, protected veteran status, family and economic status and background or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. We prohibit discrimination of any kind and will provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities in accordance with applicable law.

Equal Opportunity Employer

This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws. For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.