Job Summary
The Head of Production is a full-time, on-site role based in Bristol, responsible for overseeing full production processes for Whats on Group's collection of publications. This role manages end-to-end production workflows from creating adverts to full pre press process and sending the completed magazines to print.
The Head of Production collaborates closely with the sales team to align production plans with content and business objectives. The role also involves implementing best practices, and optimising processes.
Duties
- Designing adverts for our magazines
- Collaborate with and manage any free-lance art workers employed on a given project.
- Creating logos, brochures and presentation graphics
- Producing magazine layouts and print-ready artwork
- Managing multiple design briefs in a fast-paced, fun environment
- Stay current with industry trends in journalism, advertising design and publishing technology to keep our offerings fresh and relevant.
Skills overview
- Must have at least 1 year proven experience working within print production management.
- Excellent attention to detail
- Ability to work to deadlines and manage multiple projects
- Exceptional communication skills to articulate vision clearly across teams and stakeholders
- Confident Mac user with pre-press experience
- You’ll need to be able to perform under pressure whilst not sacrificing your excellent attention to detail.
Core Technical Skills
- Typography: Fine-tuning hierarchy, leading, tracking, and kerning to build clear, readable layouts on paper.
- Layout & Grid Systems: Using column grids, baseline alignment, and purposeful white space to control visual flow across single pages and spreads.
- Colour & Prepress Management: Designing strictly in CMYK, managing spot colours (Pantone), and setting up colour profiles so proofs match press.
- Creative Suite Mastery: Navigating InDesign for advert design and multi-page publishing, Photoshop for image editing and colour correction, and Illustrator for vector assets.
Print Production & Preflight
- Bleed & Safety Zones: Dialing in precise bleed dimensions, crop marks, and safe margins to prevent trim errors during finishing.
- Asset Resolution: Sourcing and managing high-res assets (300 DPI minimum) to ensure crisp, sharp press output.
- Preflight & Hand-off: Packaging assets, embedding typefaces, and exporting press-ready PDFs with correct printer marks for commercial print runs.
Editorial & Advertising Design
- Flatplanning: Mapping out issue structures to balance ad placement, editorial spreads, and overall visual rhythm.
- Copyfitting: Adjusting type parameters on the fly so text flows seamlessly into designated frames without awkward widows or orphans.
- Ad Design & Brand Compliance: Crafting impactful display ads with clear calls-to-action while strictly honouring client brand guidelines.
The role
- Full time – office based in Bedminster, Bristol
- All hardware and software provided
- You’ll be joining a friendly, family-run independent business that has been part of Bristol for over 40 years.
Pay: £35,000.00-£40,000.00 per year
Work Location: In person
