Production Manager - Operations

We are growing our team and adding a Production Manager to our Madison, WI based Operations team. The Production Manager is responsible for leading and developing a team of subject matter experts producing insights from imagery and LiDAR. Working in close partnership with Pipeline, Delivery, Quality teams, this role ensures that skilled resources are available, well-prepared, and effectively deployed across active projects. The Production Manager serves as the primary people leader for production resources, while Delivery Managers retain project-level authority; creating a shared ownership model focused on both team performance and client outcomes. In addition, the production manager is the primary point of contact for 3rd party production resources when necessary to supplement internal teams. Job Responsibilities Directly manages a technical production team including hiring, onboarding, performance management, and professional development. Partners with Delivery Managers to assign production resources to projects based on current capacity, project complexity, and individual skill sets. Monitors team workload and utilization, proactively surfacing capacity constraints or imbalances to Delivery Managers. Conducts regular one-on-ones and team meetings to maintain alignment, address issues, and support career growth. Works with QA, GIS, and Training teams to ensure project readiness and smooth handoffs across functions. Serves as an escalation point for complex issues that exceed production team scope, coordinating resolution with the appropriate Delivery Manager or stakeholder. Reviews and approves project setups, including Project Asset Definitions and configurations in in house software solutions. Maintains and enforces delivery standards across the team, identifying patterns in quality issues and driving corrective actions. Supports Training by ensuring production team members have a thorough understanding of project scope and client requirements before work begins. Contributes to continuous improvement of delivery processes, documentation, and tooling in collaboration with Delivery Managers and the broader Operations leadership team. Acts as a liaison between production and functional teams (QA, GIS, Training, Product) to facilitate clear communication and timely resolution of blockers. Participates in project planning discussions with Delivery Managers to provide a staffing and readiness perspective. Supports pilots, sample extractions, and analytics preparation as needed, leveraging team capacity appropriately. Bachelor's degree, Associate's degree, or equivalent experience. Experience in leading and developing teams. Proficient in Microsoft Office and works in a Microsoft Windows environment. Prior Data Extraction Analyst experience is required. Strong communication and organizational skills. Familiarity with statistical analysis preferred.