The Stanford Alumni Association (SAA) has a mission to reach, serve, and engage all 250,000+ Stanford alumni and students; to foster a lifelong intellectual and emotional connection between the university and its graduates; and to provide the university with goodwill and support. SAA produces a wide array of offerings and programming to connect Stanford alumni, ranging from events such as Reunion Homecoming, to a wide range of volunteer opportunities, to creating content, including STANFORD magazine, and providing travel opportunities, including the Stanford Travel/Study and Stanford Sierra Camp programs.
Position Summary:
STANFORD magazine, the award-winning magazine of the Stanford Alumni Association, is seeking an organized, collaborative, and detail-oriented production manager to oversee and coordinate the production of the magazine across print and digital platforms. With a 50-year history of strong reader engagement and high standards of editorial quality, STANFORD magazine reaches more than 230,000 readers through its print publication and additional audiences via its website.
The production manager plays a central role in ensuring the timely, accurate, and efficient delivery of four issues each year by managing production schedules, workflows, deadlines, and processes from initial story development through final publication. Working closely with editors, designers, writers, fact-checkers, printers, vendors, and internal partners, the production manager serves as a key operational hub for the magazine, keeping complex projects moving forward while maintaining high standards of quality and accuracy. Communication skills, calmness under pressure, problem-solving, multitasking, and tech-savviness are key attributes of this position.
The ideal candidate will be confident using standard productivity tools, including Microsoft Word and Google Docs, and demonstrate the ability to quickly learn and navigate specialized software, systems, and production workflows. Experience with publishing and workflow management tools such as Airtable, Insite, CARD (Salesforce), content management systems, and Adobe Creative Cloud applications—including Acrobat Pro, Photoshop, and InDesign—is preferred.
In this role you will:
Manage the production process
- Negotiate annual production schedule with our printer and develop and maintain internal production calendar
- Route stories and other magazine elements using Airtable; communicate constantly with editors, designers, writers, and fact-checkers to ensure smooth flow of work
- Enforce deadlines, help individuals prioritize work, and troubleshoot throughout the production process
- Support print production using basic knowledge of specialized software, including InDesign and Acrobat Pro, including making changes to story text with accuracy and attention to detail, reviewing iterations of stories for errors, and managing corrections process. As skills and time permit, lay out some magazine elements, including Class Notes, obituaries, and full-page ads.
- Support web production by posting simple stories online. As skills and time permit, resize images for web and email newsletter.
- Serve as liaison to printer for labels, postage, instructions, and approval of pages
- Serve as liaison to SAA revenue department for ad placement and technical matters; review ads against specifications; resolve issues with advertisers; and upload ads for print and digital production. As skills and time permit, collect, process, and upload all ads sold by the Ivy League Magazine Network for its member schools
- Receive and track incoming materials, including books from Stanford authors, story pitches, and obituary submissions
- Schedule and staff editorial team meetings
Provide administrative and financial support
- Maintain fiscal-year snapshot of revenue, printing, and postage
- Create, send, and track freelancer contracts
- Support student intern hiring and onboarding
- As skills and time permit: Initiate purchase orders; process invoices and purchasing card receipts
Serve as the magazine’s “front door”
- Respond to emails from alumni and other stakeholders with appropriate knowledge and sensitivity (including story pitch rejections); troubleshoot questions and requests
- Maintain relationships with campus collaborators, including the registrar’s office and communications offices at the seven schools; request information and forward story ideas/alumni updates as appropriate
- Arrange for mailroom to deliver mags across campus
- Other duties as assigned
Core Duties:
- Independently implement, administer and evaluate day-to-day activities of the unit, function or program by identifying and executing tasks and objectives, making recommendations that impact policies and programs, and assigning resources to achieve the goals of the program.
- Collect and analyze data, create reports, review and explain trends; formulate and evaluate alternative solutions and/or recommendations to achieve the goals of the program or function.
- Analyze and interpret policies; develop, revise and implement procedures for program or function.
- Represent the program or function as the key contact and subject matter expert within the department, unit or school. Commit resources and provide information and/or training. May also represent the program or function to external/internal stakeholders and constituencies.
- Organize and/or participate in outreach activities that may include developing communications and training, planning/promoting events and/or conferences.
- May participate in development of budgets, monitor, and approve expenditures. May perform limited forecasting and provide recommendations that determine the budget.
- May direct staff to perform various tasks and assignments. May also supervise staff.
Minimum Education and Experience
Bachelor’s degree and three years of relevant experience, or combination of education and relevant experience.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
- Demonstrated ability to prioritize own work and multi-task.
- Demonstrated excellent organizational skills.
- Demonstrated ability to take initiative and ownership of projects.
- Ability to communicate effectively both orally and in writing.
- Ability to routinely and independently exercise sound judgment in making decisions.
- Demonstrated experience working independently and as part of a team.
- Relevant subject matter knowledge.
- Ability to direct the work of others, for jobs requiring supervision.