Senior Editor Job Description Template

We are looking for an experienced Senior Editor to join our content marketing team and oversee the production and publication of content, as well as train and manage junior members of our editorial team. 

As a Senior Editor, you will be in charge of proofreading content pieces, improving their clarity, accuracy, and overall quality, and ensuring consistency in style and tone. You will report to the head of the content department and contribute to developing content strategies for internal and external use. 

Our ideal candidate is a great communicator with previous experience in content production and editing. 

Responsibilities

• Overseeing the content production process and ensuring it meets our quality standards
• Proofreading content to ensure accuracy, readability, and consistency in tone
• Ensuring that publishing deadlines are met and that content matches objective briefs and brand visions of our clients
• Leading the junior editorial team by facilitating brainstorming sessions to identify relevant content topics and strategies that will attract and retain target audiences
• Mentoring junior editors and helping them improve the clarity, consistency, and overall quality of content
• Collaborating cross-functionally with Project Managers and other team members to identify areas for improvement in the workflow, creating supporting documentation, and overseeing the implementation of the new processes

Requirements

• A bachelor’s degree in English, Journalism, Communications, or a related field
• 5+ years of editing experience
• Ability to adapt the tone and style to a particular audience’s sensitivity
• Outstanding grammar, spelling, punctuation, and written language skills
• Experience with Google Docs, Google Sheets, etc.
• Excellent communication skills
• Knowledge of SEO best practices/WordPress or similar content management systems/Adobe Creative Cloud/digital marketing concepts is a plus

Salary Ranges for a Senior Editor

Average salaries for the position of a Senior Editor vary according to the level of education, work experience, type of content, industry, location, and/or current market rates. The table below presents annual salaries for this position across the U.S., as per Glassdoor:

How To Tailor Your Senior Editor Job Ad According to the Needs of Your Company

When you start writing a job description for a Senior Editor, you may be tempted to copy the template you have found. Using a ready-made template is a great starting point, but make sure you customize it so your job ad accurately reflects what you are looking for. 

It is necessary to state what industry or niche the content is about and specify any relevant deadlines a person in this position must meet—daily, weekly, or monthly. It is also advisable to say whether that person needs experience with a specific CMS platform, such as WordPress, Joomla, etc., especially if they will use it daily.

You have to adapt the template to suit your organization and specify the type of editor you want to hire. That is why it is necessary to be concrete regarding the responsibilities the new editor will perform and the requirements they have to meet to be taken into consideration. 

For example, different niches and different areas of content marketing would require editors who specialize in a particular subject matter. Consider specifying the niche in the title:

• Retail Editor—Supervises the process of writing social media posts, newsletters, announcements, etc. for retail
• Social Media Editor—Focuses on the quality of the content on the brand’s social media channels
• Newsletter Editor—Selects and edits relevant pieces of news, updates, and stories to share with the target audience and existing clients

Similar Roles to a Senior Editor

Another reason why it is essential to be extra specific when composing your job advertisements is that there are separate roles that sound similar to Senior Editor. While some duties and requirements of these similar positions tend to overlap, these roles may come with different sets of responsibilities in different companies and confuse your applicants. Take a look at the following positions:

• Executive Editor—Assumes a managerial role and is in charge of the entire editorial team. A person in this position oversees content production and collaborates with uploaders, publishers, and other staff members
• Chief Editor (or Lead Editor)—Oversees the production of content for print or digital publications, such as newspapers and magazines

If you need to customize your job ad further and ensure a Senior Editor is what your team needs, check out more of Workello’s job description templates:

• Book Proofreader Editor
• Associate Editor
• Quality Assurance Editor
• Retail Editor
• Medical Copy Editor
• Subtitle Editor
• Financial Editor
• Social Media Editor
• Planning Editor
• Remote Copy Editor
• Editorial Director
• Newsletter Editor
• Online Editor
• Supervising Editor
• Document Editor
• Bilingual Editor
• Production Editor
• Legal Editor
• Section Editor

Get More Senior Editor Job Description Inspiration

It is always a good idea to look at other job ads posted on some of the popular job boards online. You will find job description examples you can learn from and communicate the message you want to send to your candidates more effectively. 

These are some of the best job boards you should explore:

1. Glassdoor
2. Indeed
3. LinkedIn
4. CareerBuilder
5. Jora

Use Pre-Employment Assessments To Test Editorial Candidates

Most job boards are swamped with unqualified candidates. You need to sift through tens, if not hundreds, of applicants to find just one qualified editor.

You cannot be certain whether a candidate is up to par by just looking at their portfolio or conducting a simple interview. The only way to know for sure is to assess their skills.

Pre-employment testing has proven to be the most effective selection method, as you can see here.

What’s even better than testing is having one place where all your applicants’ tests will show up once they’re ready for review. Good skill assessment software should reduce the amount of time and manual work you need to put into your hiring process.

Workello allows you to sift through hundreds of portfolios and test just as many candidates in record time. Here’s how it works:

1. Sign up for a free Workello account and launch your pre-configured hiring funnel in less than 3 minutes
2. Post your job ad on any job board or hiring website and link to your unique Workello job ad
3. Watch all the applicants stream into a single dashboard
4. Send automated tests to filter out unqualified candidates with good portfolios
5. Reject candidates, invite them to interviews, and send offers in just one click

Eliminate Manual Work and Improve Your Pre-Hire Assessment Strategy 

With Workello, you don’t need to use multiple platforms to assess, test, interview, and hire any role on your team. You can test a technical writer, content writer, SEO writer, or copywriter and then move them through the funnel in just one click with our high-volume recruiting software.

Start your Workello free trial today to discover the fastest way to conduct pre-hire assessments.