Job Posting: Production Operations Manager
Salary Range: $60,000 – $80,000 / year (Full-Time, Exempt)
Location: Denver, CO (100% Onsite)
Reports To: Chief Executive Officer
About Us & Our Mission
For over 60 years, Talking Book Publishers, Inc. has served as a foundational partner in accessible media, recording thousands of audiobooks and periodicals for the blind and print-disabled community nationwide.
We operate a high-volume, continuous production pipeline across multiple onsite recording booths, a dedicated in-house staff, and an extensive roster of English and Spanish freelance voice talent. Every single week, our studio turns out dozens of full-length audiobooks and time-sensitive publications under strict quality standards. We are an established, high-output facility with a deeply meaningful mission.
The Role: Onsite Operational Anchor
We are seeking an operations-focused manager with corporate maturity and strong logistical capability to serve as our onsite anchor in Denver.
Designed for an accomplished project manager or operations manager with 4+ years of experience, this role requires someone who thrives in a dynamic environment, excels at daily execution, and takes genuine pride in keeping a fast-moving production floor organized, calm, and on schedule.
As the primary onsite partner to our primarily offsite CEO, your core responsibility is to turn strategic direction and real-time input into clear daily deliverables. Our CEO moves fast and frequently introduces new ideas or priority adjustments into the flow. You will act as the steady operational bridge: receiving those inputs, triaging priorities, organizing the team, and ensuring production never misses a beat.
This role is about managing the operational machine, not artistic coaching. While daily execution comes first, you will also serve as a practical systems creator—using ClickUp, AI tools, and documented Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to streamline workflows and build cross-trained backups so the studio runs seamlessly.
Key Responsibilities
1. CEO Partnership & Priority Execution
- Priority Intake & Triage: Work closely with our offsite CEO to absorb dynamic daily, weekly, and monthly priorities, translating high-level direction and last-minute requests into structured, actionable deliverables for the floor team.
- Operational Cushion: Act as the steady filter between executive decision-making and floor execution, protecting production schedules while keeping the organization agile, calm, and responsive.
- Executive Visibility: Maintain straightforward real-time tracking in ClickUp to give offsite leadership clear visibility into studio capacity, project statuses, and team bandwidth.
2. Daily Studio Operations & Administrative Governance
- Production Logistics: Oversee daily workflow across our recording booths, onsite staff, external freelance narration, and post-production pipelines to ensure weekly and monthly periodicals and audiobooks stay on schedule without last-minute panics.
- Onsite Floor Anchor: Maintain a reliable, organized physical presence in our Denver studio, setting a clear, supportive, and high-performance tone for the floor.
- Operational Administration: Handle essential administrative execution, including tasks such as reviewing and approving weekly employee timecards/hours for payroll processing, Ingest process for new recording work entering the building, and managing floor schedules.
3. Practical Systems Building & Vacation-Proofing
- SOP & Onboarding Documentation: Document clear, step-by-step SOPs and training modules for core studio operations, onboarding, and administrative routines.
- Cross-Training & Backup Development: Identify (with help from the CEO) and cross-train an onsite "floor anchor" backup on key daily triage tasks, ensuring studio operations remain 100% stable and self-sustaining during your paid time off.
- Modern Process Automation: Maintain an AI-forward mindset to strip out manual steps, leveraging ClickUp and low-code AI tools (e.g., , Clickup, Google ecosystem, etc) to make daily tasks and workflows faster and simpler for everyone.
4. High-EQ Stakeholder Diplomacy
- Talent Management: Serve as the primary operational contact for our onsite staff and extensive bilingual freelancer roster. Exercise high emotional intelligence to navigate creative personalities with warmth and tact—building trust while keeping everyone firm on deadlines and output.
Qualifications
The sucessful candidate will possess:
- 4+ Years of Operational Management Experience: Demonstrated track record in project management, creative operations, supply chain, or media production logistics.
- Agile & Execution-Focused: Proven ability to manage fast-paced environments, adapt calmly to shifting executive priorities, and keep teams aligned without getting overwhelmed.
- Strong CEO Partner: Comfortable receiving high-volume ideas and turning them into clear daily/weekly action plans for a team.
- Practical Tech Adaptability: An AI-forward approach to work. Hands-on experience using ClickUp (or similar project management platforms) to organize tasks, track deliverables, and build SOPs.
- High-EQ Diplomacy: Exceptional interpersonal skills and corporate maturity. Skilled at managing strong personalities and maintaining firm boundaries around schedules and production deadlines.
- Administrative Reliability: Meticulous and dependable with routine operational work like payroll timecard approvals, scheduling, and basic reporting.
- 100% Onsite Presence: Eager to be the daily physical leader in our Denver studio.
- Bilingual (English/Spanish): A strong plus, but not required.
Why Join Us?
- High-Impact Partnership: You will manage studio operations with a close, collaborative relationship with executive leadership.
- Innovative Work Culture: We value systems over heroics—we actively encourage innovation and want you to build repeatable SOPs for balance and efficiency; creating a sustainable and fulfilling work-life balance.
- Meaningful Mission: Work that directly expands literary access and equity for visually impaired readers across the country.
How to Apply
To apply, please submit your resume and cover letter and fill out our online application, use the link in this ad.
Pay Range: $60,000.00 - $80,000.00 per year
Deadline to Apply: 08/15/2026
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Health savings account
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Retirement plan
- Vision insurance