Manager, Corporate Sales Personalization/Custom Gifts

Position Summary: The Manager of the Personalization/Custom Gifts department will be responsible for the management of the personalization/customization process and operations in Obetz.

This scope will include all logo development for gift builds, managing the personalization team that makes up the Logo/Custom/Personalization division including the end-to-end process for orders requiring these custom touches.

This role serves as the liaison between Corporate Sales, the Merchants, Gift Production, and Fulfillment for all Corporate Sales specific personalization/custom gift needs.

Additional responsibilities include managing and ensuring all Logo and Custom gifts are built to specification and shipped on time to meet specific delivery expectations.

This role will also help with the research, evaluation, and implementation of new technology to drive sales in the personalization space across multiple brands.

A key focus is team/individual development, on-time and complete production, achieving aggressive safety, quality, cost, inventory performance goals and continuous improvement of the personalization/custom gift process.

This person will be required to work with the Corporate Sales team, local management team(s), along with the Merchant, Finance and other Enterprise teams.

This role is currently based in Obetz, Ohio and will have limited travel to local sites.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities Major responsibilities of the position are listed below.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Other duties, assignments and specific projects may be assigned at the discretion of executive management.

* Establish, develop and maintain strong working relationships with key business partners.

* Lead a full-time staff of 3 core & 2-4 seasonal associates to deliver brand performance targets.

* Increase efficiency and productivity, reduce costs and improve quality through continuous improvement initiatives.

* Develop and execute production and labor demand plans and schedules to meet targets.

* Develop and manage the personalization/customization strategies by estimating, forecasting, and budgeting along with the Corporates Sales, Merchant, Finance, and Operations teams.

* Maintain current knowledge of industry requirements and legislation on brand compliance.

* Identify, research and explore trends and/or technology improvements in the industry.

* Lead as an agent of change to maintain flexibility while taking advantage of new opportunities.

* Drive alignment and reduce waste/duplication of efforts where possible to gain efficiencies across different departments and/or brands for organizational benefit * Champion safety for the department while influencing facility safety performance.

* Other job duties as assigned by leadership team.

Education and Experience * Bachelor Degree in Business, Management, or other related field preferred.

* 2-5 years of management experience required, prefer in a printing or personalization industry.

* Must have working knowledge of enterprise systems and openness to additional training.

* Positions of increasing responsibility in Production, Fulfillment or QA preferred.

* Strong organizational, planning, process improvement, communication and prioritization skills.

* Proficiency in Microsoft Office products with good technical skills.

* Knowledge of printing, personalization, or specialty marketing industries strongly preferred.

* Technically oriented, comfortable around machinery and plant environment.

* Able to effectively communicate verbally & in writing with internal and external partners * Budgeting and/or purchasing experience strongly preferred with ability to make recommendations that include financial justifications, especially within printing industry * Ability to work well under pressure with multiple projects and deadlines including the ability to work with people of different experiences and educational backgrounds.

KNOWLEDGE * Administration and Management — Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

* Customer and Personal Service — Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services.

This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

* Production and Processing — Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.

* English Language — Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

SKILLS * Active Listening — Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

* Active Learning — Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.

* Reading Comprehension — Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

* Negotiation — Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.

* Critical Thinking — Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

* Management and Financial Resources — Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.

* Management of Material Resources — Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.

* Management of Personnel Resources — Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.

ABILITIES * Oral Comprehension — The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

* Oral Expression — The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.

* Problem Sensitivity — The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong.

It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.

* Written Comprehension — The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

* Written Expression — The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

* Speech Clarity — The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

* Deductive Reasoning — The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

Physical Demand and Work Effort * Keying/typing, sitting, standing, walking * Ability to work with and around large printers including the addition and removal of material and supplies to keep the printers operational * Constant mental and/or visual attention; the work is either repetitive or diversified requiring constant alertness in an office environment * The job is typically performed under comfortable working conditions; any disagreeable elements are generally absent during normal performance of the job.

* Industry research (could include on-line, site visits, business meetings, conference calls, etc…) * Compliance with company attendance and other business standards.

* Travel Requirements primarily within central Ohio, up to 20% Equal Opportunity Employer Minorities/Women/Protected Veterans/Disabled

Full-time