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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Writing Supervisor

💰 $ - $

EditorialContentWritingManagement

🎯 Role Definition

The Writing Supervisor leads a team of writers and editors to produce high-quality, on-brand content across channels. This role combines editorial judgement, people management, process ownership, and performance measurement to ensure content meets strategic business objectives (SEO, engagement, conversions). The Writing Supervisor sets standards, maintains consistency across formats, and partners cross-functionally with marketing, product, and design to deliver timely, impactful content.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Senior Writer or Senior Content Writer
  • Content Editor or Copy Editor
  • Associate Editor / Assistant Editor

Advancement To:

  • Editorial Director
  • Head of Content / Content Strategy Lead
  • Managing Editor or Director of Content Operations

Lateral Moves:

  • Content Manager / Content Operations Manager
  • UX Writing Lead / Content Design Lead
  • Communications Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Lead, mentor, and manage a team of writers, copy editors, and contributors—establish performance expectations, conduct regular 1:1s, and create career development plans that increase skill levels, retention, and throughput across the content team.
  • Set and enforce editorial standards and style guidance (AP, Chicago, in-house style) to maintain consistent voice, tone, grammar, and formatting across website, email, social, and print content; update the style guide and train staff on changes.
  • Oversee content planning and the content calendar: prioritize assignments, allocate writers based on skill and bandwidth, manage deadlines, and ensure cross-channel alignment with product launches, campaigns, and PR initiatives.
  • Perform and supervise substantive editing and line editing for clarity, accuracy, legal/compliance risk, factual sourcing, and SEO optimization; ensure all content meets quality and brand standards prior to publication.
  • Collaborate with SEO specialists to implement keyword strategy, on-page optimization (titles, meta descriptions, headings), and internal linking that improve organic search performance and align with content goals.
  • Develop and implement content workflows and SOPs for ideation, drafting, editing, approvals, and publication; streamline processes to reduce turnaround times and minimize rework.
  • Track content performance using analytics tools (Google Analytics, Search Console, content analytics platforms); translate metrics into actionable recommendations for content refreshes, A/B tests, and editorial prioritization.
  • Manage freelance and agency relationships: recruit, onboard, brief, and quality-review external writers and contractors; negotiate scopes, timelines, and budgets to scale content production.
  • Create and present regular reporting on editorial KPIs (traffic, engagement, conversions, time-to-publish, content velocity) to senior leadership and stakeholders to inform strategy and resourcing.
  • Drive content strategy in partnership with marketing, product, design, and sales teams to develop content that supports the buyer journey, user onboarding, retention, and revenue goals.
  • Ensure legal, regulatory, and brand compliance in all content — coordinate reviews with legal, compliance, and subject-matter experts; manage sensitive topics and approvals for regulated verticals.
  • Coach writers on SEO best practices, storytelling techniques, and format-specific skills (long-form articles, product copy, landing pages, emails, social posts, video scripts) to raise overall team capability.
  • Maintain and evolve the content asset library and taxonomy — tag content for discoverability, reuse, and lifecycle management; define templates and modular components to support consistent, scalable content creation.
  • Lead editorial ideation sessions and content audits to identify gaps, repurposing opportunities, and evergreen content that improves search authority and reduces production costs.
  • Coordinate cross-functional launches and editorial contributions for product releases, events, and campaigns—ensure messaging consistency and timely delivery across channels and geographies.
  • Set hiring requirements, interview candidates, and build a diverse, high-performing editorial team that brings expertise in niche audiences, verticals, or content formats relevant to the business.
  • Manage editorial budgets and resourcing allocations, balancing in-house capacity with freelance spend to meet volume and quality targets while controlling costs.
  • Implement quality assurance and proofreading checks, build pre-publish and post-publish review cycles, and handle crisis communications or rapid-response content requests as needed.
  • Drive continuous improvement by piloting new content formats (interactive, video scripts, longform guides), tools (AI-assisted drafting, editorial platforms), and processes to increase engagement and efficiency.
  • Standardize content briefs and creative direction documents to ensure writers and designers receive clear objectives, audience definitions, key messages, CTAs, and measurement targets.
  • Facilitate stakeholder governance for editorial decisions—run approval workflows, maintain version control, and mediate feedback to keep projects on schedule and aligned with business priorities.
  • Champion accessibility and inclusive language practices across content to ensure compliance with accessibility standards (WCAG) and to broaden audience reach.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc editorial analysis and provide subject-matter input to business leaders for pitches, proposals, and executive communications.
  • Contribute to the broader content strategy and roadmap by identifying topic clusters, pillar pages, and distribution strategies that maximize audience reach.
  • Collaborate with UX designers and product managers to ensure microcopy, help content, and in-app messaging are clear, consistent, and data-driven.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies when working within cross-functional product or marketing squads to align editorial deliverables with sprint goals.
  • Maintain relationships with analytics, SEO, social, and marketing ops teams to coordinate tagging, tracking, and content experiments.
  • Serve as primary point of contact for editorial tools (CMS, content collaboration platforms, workflow automation) — advise on feature requests, training, and onboarding.
  • Support recruiting efforts by writing clear job descriptions, reviewing portfolios, and conducting writing tests that reflect real editorial tasks.
  • Lead periodic content training sessions and brown-bag lunches to keep the organization current on writing best practices, SEO trends, and style updates.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Expert-level copyediting and substantive editing: grammar, syntax, tone, structure, and fact-checking for multiple formats.
  • Strong knowledge of editorial style guides (AP, Chicago Manual of Style) and ability to create and maintain an organization-specific style guide.
  • SEO expertise: keyword research, on-page optimization, meta tags, structured data basics, and familiarity with tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Moz.
  • CMS proficiency (WordPress, Drupal, Contentful, or similar): content entry, template use, scheduling, and basic HTML/CSS understanding for formatting.
  • Experience with content collaboration and workflow tools (e.g., Asana, Trello, Jira, Airtable, Contentful, GatherContent, Slack) and editorial calendars.
  • Competence with analytics/reporting: setting up dashboards, interpreting engagement metrics, and using data to inform editorial priorities.
  • Familiarity with content governance: version control, rights management, and taxonomy/metadata best practices.
  • Comfort with modern content creation tools and multimedia basics (video scripts, podcast show notes, image captions, basic audio/video workflows).
  • Experience managing freelance/agency contracts, scopes of work, and quality assurance processes.
  • Knowledge of accessibility and inclusive language guidelines (WCAG basics, plain language principles).

Soft Skills

  • Strong leadership and people management: coaching, performance feedback, conflict resolution, and talent development.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication; able to articulate editorial decisions to non-editorial stakeholders.
  • Strategic mindset with the ability to align editorial work to business outcomes (traffic, leads, retention, brand awareness).
  • High attention to detail and relentless focus on accuracy and consistency.
  • Project and time management: prioritize competing deadlines and scale production in fast-paced environments.
  • Collaborative mindset: build relationships across marketing, product, design, and legal teams.
  • Adaptability and problem-solving: respond to breaking news, rapid changes in priorities, and iterative editorial workflows.
  • Creativity and storytelling: craft compelling narratives and guide writers to produce audience-centered content.
  • Coaching and mentoring: develop writers’ craft and career paths through structured feedback and training.
  • Decision-making and accountability: own editorial outcomes and escalate or remediate issues proactively.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Journalism, English, Communications, Marketing, or a related field.

Preferred Education:

  • Master’s degree or advanced coursework in Journalism, Creative Writing, Communications, Content Strategy, or related disciplines; professional editorial certifications a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Journalism
  • English or Literature
  • Communications
  • Marketing
  • Media Studies
  • Technical Writing

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 5–8+ years in professional writing, editing, or content roles with at least 2–3 years in a supervisory or lead capacity.

Preferred:

  • 7+ years of combined editorial and content operations experience, including demonstrated success improving content KPIs, managing teams, and operating editorial workflows at scale.
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