Design Operations Lead

Design Operations Lead (Packaging & Pre-Press) Position: Full-Time Remote Contractor (37 hours/week) Schedule: European Business Hours Alignment (CET / Central European Time overlap required) Location (US Client): Open to talent in South Africa (SA) About the Business We are a fast-growing, profitable European e-commerce scale-up specializing in custom-printed takeaway packaging for businesses of all sizes. Operating across 14 European markets, we connect food service brands, cafes, and restaurants with sustainable, high-quality custom packaging. We have been recognized for exceptional revenue growth three years in a row, with ambitious plans to triple our business over the next three years. Today, our international team of 30+ includes a strong, certified remote culture focused on clarity, performance, and work-life balance. About the Role At our company, every customer design must become accurate, production-ready packaging artwork—quickly, consistently, and without mistakes. As our Design Operations Lead, you will manage our remote team of four designers and own how the design operation performs and develops. Your core mission is to deliver high-quality work within strict service-level agreements (SLAs) while continuously improving the processes, workflows, and AI/automation tools that make the team faster and easier to scale. This is a hands-on leadership role. You will improve workflows and coach team members, but you will also leverage your deep pre-press and production expertise to review complex artwork, solve print production challenges, and step into production artwork creation whenever needed. Key Responsibilities Process Improvement & Automation: Identify bottlenecks and manual work, then build smarter workflows, systems, automations, and AI-supported processes to increase team output, speed, and reliability. Team Leadership & Development: Create structure, clarity, and accountability across a remote design team through effective planning, structured feedback, performance tracking, and individual coaching. Artwork Quality Ownership: Maintain a rigorous quality bar, review complex customer artwork, and catch pre-press errors before files reach manufacturing or print production. Cross-Functional Collaboration: Act as the operational bridge between the Design team and international sales, customer support, and production partner teams. Hands-On Production Support: Step into customer design production when required—from reviewing and correcting artwork in Adobe Illustrator to helping the team navigate high-volume surges. Key Performance Metrics (First 3 Months) Establish a consistent management rhythm and implement measurable workflow improvements. Lead the team to maintain a 99.9% turnaround compliance rate within our standard 2-hour customer design response window. Qualifications & Requirements Relevant Experience: 4+ years of professional experience in graphic design, pre-press, packaging design, print production, or production artwork. Pre-Press Expertise: Advanced hands-on experience creating, reviewing, correcting, and preparing production-ready artwork for professional print (vector graphics, CMYK, spot colors, dielines, and vectorizing low-quality source files). Software Mastery: Expert proficiency in Adobe Illustrator and professional print preparation tools. Operational Drive: Proven track record of improving workflows, systems, or team processes, ideally incorporating automation or AI tools to eliminate repetitive manual tasks. Leadership Capability: Experience leading, coordinating, or mentoring designers/production workflows. (We welcome senior individual contributors ready to take their first formal management step if they possess strong operational capabilities). Schedule Alignment: Ability to work full-time hours (37 hrs/week) aligned with Central European Time (CET/CEST) operating hours (max 1–2 hours shift variation). Perks & Working Conditions Flexibility: 100% remote working setup. Work-Life Balance: Standard 37-hour work week with generous paid time off, paid sick days, and paid parental leave. Overtime is rare and always compensated. Impact & Culture: High-growth scale-up environment with certified high employee satisfaction and clear paths for personal development. Somewhere