How To Become A Senior Production Artist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a senior production artist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted experts

Carol Anne Ketelsen,

David Abbott

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a senior production artist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $41.74 an hour? That's $86,821 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 6,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a senior production artist?

Carol Anne Ketelsen

Career Consultant for CAS and SON, Oakland University

When interviewing for a position remember that you are also interviewing them. As a candidate you need to determine if this company and culture is a fit for you. Although you want that job, be patient, be selective, and be realistic; you don't have to take the very first thing that comes your way. Do your homework on the company, position, and pay. Know your worth, and don't sell yourself short.

Once in the career, be professional. Dress professionally. Talk professionally. Act professionally. Learn the unwritten rules of the organization. Follow the chain of command. Ask the best way to connect with your supervisor. Accept personal responsibility. Share the credit on projects. Collaborate with others, and be a team player. Workplace professionalism is judged by your communication - verbal, nonverbal and written - your image, your competence, and your demeanor.

ScoreSenior Production ArtistUS Average

Salary

6.8

Avg. Salary $86,821

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.2

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.37%

Asian 10.42%

Black or African American 3.42%

Hispanic or Latino 10.63%

Unknown 4.99%

White 70.17%

Gender

female 41.72%

male 58.28%

Age - 37

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 37

Stress level

4.2

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.5

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.9

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a senior production artist

Explore senior production artist education requirements

Most common senior production artist degrees

Bachelor's

68.3 %

Associate

22.4 %

Master's

4.3 %

Start to develop specific senior production artist skills

Skills	Percentages
Adobe Indesign	13.57%
Art Directors	10.05%
Adobe Photoshop	6.74%
Web Banners	6.40%
Mac	6.29%

Complete relevant senior production artist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New senior production artists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a senior production artist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real senior production artist resumes.

Research senior production artist duties and responsibilities

Manage production of products; custom banners, t-shirts, satin flags, from concept to final product.
Produce PDF files for outside vendors and internal customers.
Perform layout and pre-press of all POS, window backdrops, magalogs, and advertising.
Eliminate printing of regional meeting line art by creating live PDF files to save 5K+ sheets of paper.

Get senior production artist experience

Generally, it takes 6-12 months to become a senior production artist. The most common roles before becoming a senior production artist include production artist, graphic designer team lead and production artist/designer.

Prepare your senior production artist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your senior production artist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a senior production artist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable senior production artist resume templates

Build a professional senior production artist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your senior production artist resume.

Apply for senior production artist jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a senior production artist job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do senior production artists rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Senior production artist reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Dec 2019

Pros

Working in the production/preflight realm of work is great because I am able to execute the concept that the designer comes up with. I have a very technical role that requires a lot of attention to detail, which is something I enjoy. Also, the competition is stiffer considering most designers are not trained to do production work

Cons

A lot of companies and hiring directors don't understand the importance of the role and how much technical skill it requires, therefore a lot of employers tend to pay less, when they should be paying more. This role takes more training.