Design Operations Lead: Workflow, Partnerships & Delivery

Tyson Foods; Springdale (AR); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid time off

401(k) plan

Health benefits

Life insurance

Dental and vision benefits

Prescription drug benefits

Job summary

Tyson Foods in Springdale, AR is seeking a Design Operations Manager to coordinate design projects across Brand, Marketing, Innovation and packaging teams. You will lead intake, prioritization, scheduling and tracking to ensure on-time, on-brand delivery.

You will optimize workflows, manage internal and external partners, and drive governance and continuous improvement to balance capacity with business goals.

Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Design, Marketing or a related field.
• Experience: 5+ years in design operations, creative services, project management, marketing operations, packaging or a related discipline.
• Special Skills: Demonstrated experience leading complex cross-functional projects from concept through implementation.
• Special Skills: Experience managing multiple projects and priorities within a fast-paced corporate environment.
• Special Skills: Strong understanding of creative development, production processes and packaging execution.
• Special Skills: Experience partnering with suppliers, design agencies, production partners, engineering, packaging, procurement, regulatory, marketing and legal teams.
• Special Skills: Proficiency with project and workflow management tools.
• Special Skills: Strong organizational, communication and problem-solving skills.
• Special Skills: Proven ability to influence without direct authority and drive results through collaboration and stakeholder management.
• Preferred Qualifications: Experience supporting CPG food organizations.
• Preferred Qualifications: Experience with packaging artwork development, print production, commercialization and product launch processes.
• Preferred Qualifications: Experience implementing workflow optimization, resource planning and creative operations best practices.

Responsibilities

• Lead the intake, prioritization, scheduling and tracking of all design projects and requests.
• Manage project workflows and distribute workload based on team capacity and business priorities, partnering with Design Leadership on project assignments.
• Facilitate prioritization discussions and recommend staffing, outsourcing or resource allocation solutions when demand exceeds available capacity.
• Establish project timelines, milestones and deliverables, and track milestones, action items and approvals to maintain accountability.
• Monitor project status and proactively identify dependencies, risks and bottlenecks, facilitating solutions to keep projects on track.
• Maintain visibility of work across business units through project tracking tools, reporting and resource planning.
• Serve as a liaison between stakeholders and designers to ensure expectations, priorities and requirements are clearly communicated.
• Partner closely with Brand, Marketing, Innovation, Sales, Packaging, Engineering, Procurement, Regulatory and Operations teams to align on project objectives and execution plans and ensure timely delivery.
• Facilitate stakeholder alignment, decision-making and issue resolution throughout the project lifecycle.
• Build strong cross-functional relationships and act as a trusted advisor on creative processes, project planning and execution strategies.
• Manage relationships with external design agencies, packaging suppliers, printers, prepress providers and production vendors, coordinating timelines, deliverables, approvals and communications.
• Partner with suppliers, designers and production partners to resolve technical challenges and ensure design intent is maintained through final production.
• Evaluate supplier performance and identify opportunities to improve quality, efficiency and speed to market.
• Support agency and vendor onboarding while ensuring alignment with organizational processes and standards.
• Develop, implement and maintain standardized design workflows, operating procedures and best practices.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives focused on efficiency, visibility, quality and speed to market, and identify opportunities to enhance design capabilities and team effectiveness.
• Implement and optimize project management tools, dashboards and reporting systems and drive adoption of new tools, technologies and ways of working.
• Ensure compliance with brand standards, design guidelines, regulatory requirements and operational processes.
• Oversee delivery of creative assets across multiple brands, channels and formats.
• Drive projects from concept through final implementation by coordinating activities across stakeholders, suppliers and business teams.
• Balance speed, accuracy, quality and operational efficiency while managing multiple simultaneous priorities.
• Contribute to long-term capacity planning, resource forecasting and operational strategy development to support business growth.
• Provide data-driven recommendations to improve prioritization, resource management and workflow performance.
• Advocate for operational excellence while enabling the design team to deliver high-quality creative solutions that support business goals.

Skills

Cross-functional leadership

Project management

Workflow optimization

Stakeholder management

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor's degree in Design, Marketing or a related field

Tools

Project management tools

Job description

Tyson Foods in Springdale, AR is seeking a Design Operations Manager to coordinate design projects across Brand, Marketing, Innovation and packaging teams. You will lead intake, prioritization, scheduling and tracking to ensure on-time, on-brand delivery.

You will optimize workflows, manage internal and external partners, and drive governance and continuous improvement to balance capacity with business goals.