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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Digital Editor

💰 $ - $

🎯 Role Definition

The Digital Editor is a content leader responsible for shaping and executing digital content strategy across web, mobile and social platforms. This role combines editorial judgment, SEO-driven content optimization, audience development, and cross-functional collaboration with product, design, marketing and analytics teams. The Digital Editor ensures content is accurate, timely, engaging, and aligned with strategic KPIs (traffic, engagement, subscriptions, conversions). Strong command of CMS workflows, SEO best practices, analytics tools and newsroom-style editing is essential.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Staff Writer / Reporter with demonstrated digital publishing experience
  • Social Media Editor or Content Producer with portfolio of digital-first work
  • Copywriter or Multimedia Producer with CMS experience

Advancement To:

  • Senior Digital Editor
  • Managing Editor (Digital)
  • Director of Content / Head of Editorial
  • Content Strategy Lead or Audience Development Director

Lateral Moves:

  • SEO/Content Strategist
  • Product Content Manager
  • Audience Development Manager / Growth Editor
  • UX Writer or Editorial Producer for multimedia

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Lead the day-to-day editorial operations for the website and mobile channels, planning daily and weekly content schedules that balance breaking news, evergreen content, and growth-oriented features to meet traffic and engagement goals.
  • Commission, assign and edit stories, listicles, explainers, and long-form features; provide clear editorial briefs that include target audience, SEO keywords, tone, format, and CTA expectations.
  • Implement and enforce SEO best practices across headlines, subheads, meta descriptions, slugs, structured data, and internal linking to improve organic search visibility and topic authority.
  • Work closely with analytics and audience teams to set measurable KPIs (pageviews, time on page, conversion rate, bounce rate) and iterate content strategy based on performance data and A/B testing results.
  • Manage content workflows in the CMS, including editorial scheduling, tag taxonomy, lead images, multimedia embeds, and quality-control checks before publication.
  • Copyedit and proofread content for clarity, accuracy, style consistency and brand voice; resolve factual errors and ensure all content complies with legal and ethical standards.
  • Develop and execute cross-platform distribution plans—email newsletters, push notifications, social channels, and syndication partners—to maximize reach and engagement.
  • Build and maintain content templates and style guides for recurring content types (roundups, explainers, product reviews) to streamline production and maintain editorial consistency.
  • Coordinate with product and design teams to prioritize and implement content-related product features (e.g., paywalls, personalization modules, content recommendations) to drive subscriber and retention objectives.
  • Train and mentor junior editors, reporters and contributors on SEO copywriting, headline testing, CMS best practices and data-informed storytelling techniques.
  • Lead editorial meetings and story ideation sessions to generate audience-centred content ideas that drive user acquisition and retention.
  • Collaborate with the marketing team to develop high-impact content partnerships, sponsored content opportunities, and native advertising that meet revenue targets while preserving editorial integrity.
  • Produce and maintain evergreen content hubs and topic clusters that support long-term organic traffic growth and internal linking strategies.
  • Manage editorial calendars for seasonal campaigns and product launches, coordinating timelines, assets and cross-functional dependencies to ensure on-time delivery.
  • Oversee multimedia elements—photo selection, video packaging, podcast episodes—and ensure they are integrated with written content to enhance user experience and engagement metrics.
  • Monitor competitor content and industry trends to identify content gaps, new formats and topical opportunities for differentiation and traffic growth.
  • Implement and maintain tagging and taxonomy strategies to improve content discoverability and personalization in recommendations engines.
  • Conduct audience research, persona development and user testing to refine content formats, headlines and discovery paths that increase time on site and subscription conversions.
  • Lead crisis editorial responses and corrections processes, ensuring rapid, transparent updates to live content and communication with stakeholders.
  • Optimize older, underperforming content through repackaging, canonicalization, redirects and updated reporting to recapture search traffic and maintain content freshness.
  • Collaborate with legal and standards teams to vet potentially sensitive content, manage takedown requests, and ensure compliance with copyright and privacy regulations.
  • Create measurable editorial briefs for freelancers and agencies, negotiate clear deliverables, and manage budgets for commissioned content projects.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
  • Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
  • Assist product and engineering in QA testing of content features and rollout communications.
  • Represent editorial in cross-functional stakeholder meetings to prioritize content initiatives and resource allocation.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Advanced CMS experience (WordPress, Drupal, Contentful, or custom platforms) — publishing workflows, templating, and metadata management.
  • SEO and content optimization: keyword research, on-page optimization, schema markup, canonical tags, and URL structures.
  • Web analytics proficiency (Google Analytics, GA4, Adobe Analytics) — event tracking, conversion funnels, cohort analysis, and dashboards.
  • Headline testing and A/B testing tools (Optimizely, VWO, Google Optimize) to increase CTR and engagement.
  • HTML/CSS basics and familiarity with content rendering issues across devices and browsers.
  • Newsletter tools and email campaign best practices (Mailchimp, Braze, Iterable) for audience retention and monetization.
  • Social publishing and analytics platforms (Hootsuite, Sprout Social, CrowdTangle) for distribution and trend monitoring.
  • Multimedia production awareness — video editing basics, podcast workflows, image optimization and accessibility (alt text, captions).
  • Structured content and tagging systems (taxonomy management, content models) to improve discoverability and personalization.
  • Content performance dashboards and SQL or query tool familiarity for ad-hoc reporting and data pulls.
  • Experience with content monetization tools and subscription platforms (Stripe, Recurly, Memberful) a plus.
  • Familiarity with content governance, rights clearance, and digital copyright standards.

Soft Skills

  • Strong editorial judgment and an authoritative voice on content quality, credibility and audience fit.
  • Excellent communication and stakeholder management — able to explain editorial trade-offs to product, engineering and commercial teams.
  • Project and people management — prioritize workloads, mentor contributors, and coordinate cross-functional deadlines.
  • Data-informed decision-making — comfortable translating analytics into editorial strategy and measurable outcomes.
  • Adaptability and calm under pressure — manage breaking news cycles and tight publication timelines.
  • Creative problem solving and curiosity — continuously experiment with formats, headlines and distribution methods.
  • Attention to detail and commitment to accuracy, legal compliance and ethical reporting standards.
  • Leadership and mentorship — building capabilities in junior staff and creating a culture of continuous improvement.
  • Negotiation and vendor management — commissioning freelance work and managing external content partners.
  • Time management and organizational skills to manage multiple projects and editorial deadlines concurrently.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Communications, English, Digital Media, or a related field — or equivalent professional experience in digital publishing.

Preferred Education:

  • Master’s degree in Journalism, Digital Media Strategy, or Communications is a plus.
  • Certifications in SEO, Google Analytics, content strategy, or product management are beneficial.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Journalism
  • Digital Media / Multimedia Production
  • Communications
  • English / Literature
  • Marketing / Content Strategy
  • Data Analytics (applied to editorial workflows)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3–7 years of progressive digital editorial experience, including hands-on CMS publishing, SEO, and audience growth responsibilities.

Preferred:

  • 5+ years in a digital newsroom or content team with demonstrable results in increasing traffic, engagement or subscriptions.
  • Experience managing people (editors, contributors, freelancers) and coordinating cross-functional projects with product and marketing teams.
  • Portfolio of published work showing editorial leadership, SEO impact and cross-platform storytelling.
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