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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Content Director

💰 $90,000 - $180,000

MarketingContentEditorialDigital Strategy

🎯 Role Definition

The Content Director is a senior marketing and editorial leader responsible for defining and executing a high-impact content strategy that drives audience growth, engagement, conversion, and brand affinity across digital and offline channels. This role blends editorial vision, data-driven decision-making, and operational rigor to lead multidisciplinary teams (editors, writers, designers, video producers, SEO specialists, and digital marketers), manage content operations and governance, and partner with product, sales, and analytics to align content with business goals.

Key focus areas include content strategy and roadmap development, brand voice and editorial standards, SEO and discoverability, content lifecycle and repurposing, performance measurement and optimization, and people management and budget oversight.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Senior Content Manager or Head of Content with proven results in audience growth and revenue contribution.
  • Editorial Director or Executive Editor at a digital or b2b/b2c publication.
  • Head of Content Marketing or Content Strategy in agency or startup environments.

Advancement To:

  • VP of Content / Head of Content and Communications
  • Chief Content Officer
  • Head of Brand or Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)

Lateral Moves:

  • Director of Product Content / UX Content Lead
  • Director of Growth Marketing
  • Director of Editorial Operations

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Define and own the multi-year content strategy and roadmap aligned to business outcomes (revenue, leads, retention, and brand metrics), ensuring clear OKRs and measurable KPIs for content programs.
  • Lead the editorial vision and brand voice across all platforms, creating detailed editorial guidelines and style guides that maintain brand consistency and content quality at scale.
  • Oversee the content calendar and production pipeline for owned channels (blog, newsletters, long-form, video, podcasts, social) to ensure timely delivery, cross-channel cohesion, and thematic campaigns that support product launches and seasonal priorities.
  • Drive SEO strategy and execution in partnership with SEO specialists, including keyword strategy, content gap analysis, on-page optimization, technical SEO coordination, and a methodology for evergreen content creation and maintenance.
  • Develop and institutionalize content governance, including source attribution, fact-checking processes, legal/compliance review, content accessibility standards (WCAG), and quality assurance procedures.
  • Manage and mentor a cross-functional team of editors, writers, multimedia producers, content strategists, and freelancers, setting clear performance expectations, career development plans, and hiring priorities.
  • Build and manage content operations, including workflow automation, editorial tooling (CMS, DAM, project management), and vendor relationships to improve throughput, reduce cycle time, and lower production costs.
  • Use analytics and audience insights (page analytics, cohort analysis, engagement metrics, conversion funnels) to drive iterative content improvements, A/B testing of headlines and formats, and personalization strategies.
  • Partner with product, growth, sales, and customer success teams to integrate content into the customer journey, enable sales enablement materials, product onboarding content, and knowledge base documentation.
  • Own content budgeting and resource allocation, forecasting staffing needs, managing external agency or freelance budgets, and demonstrating ROI for content investments.
  • Create and oversee content distribution strategies that combine organic, owned, earned, and paid tactics to maximize reach and accelerate funnel progression.
  • Lead major editorial projects and thought leadership programs, such as whitepapers, research studies, long-form features, and executive interviews, ensuring these assets are optimized for lead generation and PR value.
  • Architect a content repurposing and syndication strategy that transforms cornerstone content into multi-format assets (infographics, short-form video, social microcontent, emails) to maximize lifetime value and reduce production overhead.
  • Define and track content performance dashboards and reporting cadence for executive stakeholders, providing actionable insights and recommendations to pivot strategy based on performance data and business needs.
  • Drive audience development initiatives, including subscriber growth for newsletters, content membership programs, community-building tactics, and retention-focused editorial hooks.
  • Incorporate user research and qualitative feedback (surveys, user interviews, session recordings) into content planning to better address customer pain points and improve conversion outcomes.
  • Champion innovation in content formats and channels (interactive tools, rich media, podcasts, livestreams, AR/VR pilots), testing new approaches and scaling successful experiments.
  • Ensure content operations are compliant with privacy, copyright, and regulatory requirements (GDPR, CCPA, industry-specific regulations) and coordinate with legal to mitigate risk.
  • Facilitate cross-functional workshops and content sprints to align stakeholders, accelerate backlog prioritization, and translate strategic initiatives into executable editorial workstreams.
  • Negotiate and manage strategic partnerships with media outlets, influencers, and content syndication partners to amplify reach and secure co-marketing opportunities.
  • Establish a robust freelance and contributor program with standardized onboarding, editorial brief templates, payment processes, and performance evaluation to supplement internal capacity.
  • Lead crisis communications and rapid-response editorial processes during brand or product incidents, ensuring timely, accurate, and brand-aligned messaging across channels.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc executive requests by producing strategic content briefs, performance analyses, and narrative decks that explain content impact and next steps.
  • Contribute to the organization's broader marketing and digital strategy, ensuring content initiatives are prioritized in planning and roadmap sessions.
  • Collaborate with marketing ops and IT to translate content needs into CMS configurations, taxonomy structures, metadata requirements, and integrations with analytics and CRM systems.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies with product and marketing teams to scope content work, refine acceptance criteria, and remove blockers for editorial delivery.
  • Oversee content migration and CMS modernization projects, ensuring content audits, redirects, and SEO preservation are executed with minimal traffic or ranking disruption.
  • Coordinate with creative design and UX teams to ensure content is presented with accessible, on-brand design and that storytelling is optimized for user experience across devices.
  • Provide thought leadership and mentoring across the organization on content best practices, storytelling techniques, and data-informed editorial decision-making.
  • Represent the company at industry events, panels, and webinars to raise brand profile and attract talent, partnerships, and audience members.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Strategic Content Strategy: Proven ability to create multi-channel content strategies that map to funnel stages, revenue metrics, and retention goals.
  • Editorial Leadership: Deep experience in developing editorial guidelines, story frameworks, and quality control processes for long-form and short-form content.
  • SEO & Organic Growth: Practical expertise in keyword research, technical SEO awareness, content clustering, and working with SEO tools (e.g., SEMrush, Ahrefs, Screaming Frog).
  • Content Operations & CMS: Hands-on experience configuring and administering content management systems (WordPress, Contentful, Drupal, or enterprise CMS), taxonomy design, and DAM workflows.
  • Data & Analytics: Fluency with analytics platforms (Google Analytics / GA4, Looker, Tableau, Mixpanel) to derive insights, build dashboards, and run content experiments.
  • Multimedia Production: Knowledge of video production workflows, podcast production, editing tools (Adobe Premiere, Final Cut, Audition), and distribution best practices.
  • Project Management & Agile: Experience running editorial sprints, backlog prioritization, and using tools like Jira, Asana, or Trello to manage cross-functional delivery.
  • Conversion Optimization: Understanding of content-led conversion tactics, landing page optimization, CRO testing, and attribution models.
  • Legal & Compliance Awareness: Familiarity with copyright, licensing, privacy regulations (GDPR/CCPA), and industry-specific compliance considerations.
  • Growth & Paid Content Amplification: Experience coordinating paid social and native promotion with content campaigns, and measuring paid/organic interplay.
  • UX Writing & Information Architecture: Ability to craft microcopy, content hierarchies, and modular content components for product and marketing surfaces.
  • Research & Thought Leadership: Skills to commission and manage original research or data-driven reports that position the company as an authority.

Soft Skills

  • Leadership & People Development: Track record of hiring, coaching, and scaling editorial teams and nurturing cross-disciplinary talent.
  • Strategic Thinking & Business Acumen: Ability to translate company objectives into content strategies that materially impact KPIs.
  • Communication & Stakeholder Management: Strong written and verbal communication skills with a history of aligning executives, product, and marketing leaders.
  • Decision-Making Under Ambiguity: Comfortable prioritizing initiatives and reallocating resources when business needs or data signals shift.
  • Collaboration & Influence: Skilled at building consensus across creative, technical, and commercial stakeholders.
  • Creativity & Editorial Judgment: Exceptional taste and judgment about what stories to tell, what formats to use, and how to adapt for channels.
  • Time Management & Prioritization: Operates effectively in a fast-paced environment, balancing long-term strategy and short-term execution.
  • Resilience & Adaptability: Able to lead through change, pivot strategy, and maintain team morale during peak cycles.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Journalism, Marketing, English, Media Studies, or a related field.

Preferred Education:

  • Master’s degree in Communications, Journalism, Business (MBA), or equivalent advanced training in content strategy / digital marketing.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Journalism
  • Marketing
  • Communications
  • English / Literature
  • Media Studies
  • Business Administration

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 8–15+ years of professional experience in content, editorial, or content marketing roles with progressive leadership responsibility.

Preferred: At least 5 years in a director-level role or equivalent experience leading cross-functional content teams, with demonstrable outcomes in audience growth, SEO-driven traffic increases, lead or revenue contribution, and successful content programs scaled across channels. Experience in your industry vertical (SaaS, B2B, consumer, media) is a strong plus.

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