Production artist to make customer art print-ready for apparel (DTG/DTF/sublimation)

We run a custom apparel shop in Fort Walton Beach, Florida (Red7Tees and byTomCat), producing DTG, DTF, sublimation, and embroidery. We are looking for an ongoing production artist to take customer-supplied artwork and make it print-ready, fast. This is production prep, not original design. You will work with files our customers send us and get them ready for the press. What you will do: - Knock out backgrounds and colors (for example, removing a black background from art going on a black shirt) and produce clean, transparent files - Resize and position artwork to garment print areas, and upscale low-resolution files within realistic limits - Build half-tones so gradients and fades hold up in print - Clean up and rebuild low-quality and AI-generated artwork, including vectorizing or redrawing where needed - Prep embroidery artwork for handoff to our digitizer (we do not need digitizing done) - Flag files that will not print well so we can get better source art How we work: - Ongoing and as-needed. We send you jobs as orders come in, so there is no reposting or reapplying - Turnaround target is 24 to 48 hours per job, faster when possible - Mostly asynchronous: file in, print-ready file out, no customer contact - Tools: Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator Who we are looking for: - Proven production art-prep experience (knockouts, transparency, resizing and upscaling, half-tones), not a creative or brand designer - Fast and accurate, with the judgment to spot a file that will not print and say so - Clear communicator who can work with some overlap to US Central time This can grow. We want a steady, long-term relationship, with potential to grow into ongoing or full-time work for the right person. To apply: - Share a portfolio with before/after examples: a raw customer file and the print-ready version you produced. We especially want to see a background or color knockout, an AI-generated or low-resolution cleanup or upscale, and a vectorize or redraw. - Shortlisted freelancers complete a short paid test on a real file before any ongoing work. In your proposal, tell us what software you use and your typical turnaround on this kind of prep.