Torchora
Back to Home

Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Writing Manager

💰 $80,000 - $140,000

ContentMarketingEditorialCommunicationsWriting

🎯 Role Definition

The Writing Manager leads and develops a team of writers and editors to create high-quality, on-brand content that drives engagement, conversions, and thought leadership. This role defines and executes content strategy, owns editorial quality and governance, collaborates closely with SEO, product, design and marketing teams, and uses analytics to continuously optimize content performance. The Writing Manager balances hands-on writing and editing with hiring, coaching, budget and vendor management, and roadmap planning for scalable content operations.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Senior Writer / Senior Editor with proven leadership or cross-functional project experience
  • Content Strategist or SEO Content Lead transitioning into people management
  • Communications Manager or Marketing Manager responsible for content programs

Advancement To:

  • Director of Content / Head of Content
  • Senior Director, Content Strategy or Editorial
  • Vice President, Content / Chief Content Officer

Lateral Moves:

  • Product Content Manager / UX Writing Lead
  • Brand or Communications Lead

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Lead, hire, and manage a multidisciplinary writing and editing team (staff writers, copywriters, UX writers, freelance contributors), establishing clear goals, conducting performance reviews, and providing ongoing coaching and career development to raise editorial quality and retention.
  • Develop and own the global content strategy and editorial roadmap aligned to business objectives (lead generation, user acquisition, engagement, retention, thought leadership), ensuring all content initiatives have measurable goals and timeframes.
  • Oversee the editorial calendar end-to-end, prioritizing stories, landing pages, guides, product copy, and campaign content to meet launch dates and seasonal marketing needs while balancing reactive content opportunities.
  • Define and enforce brand voice, tone, and style guidelines (AP/Chicago or bespoke house style), creating and maintaining a centralized content style guide and content templates to ensure consistent, on-brand messaging across channels.
  • Collaborate with SEO specialists to implement keyword research, on-page optimization, internal linking strategies, and content gap analyses that drive organic traffic growth and SERP visibility.
  • Set and monitor KPIs for content performance (organic traffic, engagement, conversion rates, time on page, bounce rate, lead quality) and produce regular dashboards and executive reports to guide strategy and investment decisions.
  • Edit, proofread, and approve high-impact content (long-form articles, whitepapers, product pages, ad copy, executive thought pieces) to ensure factual accuracy, clarity, legal/compliance alignment, and adherence to UX best practices.
  • Build and manage processes for ideation, briefs, copy review cycles, version control, CMS publishing, and archival to scale content production while preserving quality and speed-to-publish.
  • Partner with Product and UX teams to craft effective product copy, onboarding flows, microcopy and in-app messaging that reduce friction and improve user experience and conversion.
  • Oversee content localization and internationalization strategies by coordinating with localization vendors and regional leads to maintain voice and quality in translated content.
  • Manage relationships with internal stakeholders (marketing, sales, legal, customer success, engineering) to prioritize content needs, align on messaging, and integrate content into campaigns, customer journeys, and product launches.
  • Recruit, evaluate, and manage freelance networks and external agencies, negotiating scopes, rates, and deliverables while maintaining editorial consistency and budget discipline.
  • Implement A/B testing and CRO methodologies for headlines, page layouts, and CTAs; iterate on content based on statistically significant results and user feedback.
  • Define metadata, taxonomy, and content tagging standards to improve content discoverability, personalization, and reuse across channels and platforms.
  • Create and maintain content governance policies, copyright and compliance checklists, and process documentation to reduce risk and streamline approvals.
  • Drive content repurposing and multi-format distribution strategies (blog → long-form guides, social snippets, email sequences, video scripts) to maximize ROI from core assets.
  • Lead cross-functional content workshops and training sessions to elevate writing standards and promote content literacy across the organization.
  • Coordinate editorial partnerships, guest contributions, and co-marketing content efforts that increase reach, backlinks, and domain authority.
  • Allocate and manage content budgets, forecasting resource needs for hiring, freelance work, tools (CMS, SEO platforms, analytics), and agency support.
  • Champion data-driven content initiatives by working with analytics and BI to track funnel impact and inform editorial prioritization using user research and search intent signals.
  • Act as a senior content reviewer for crisis communications, executive communications and high-profile public-facing content to ensure brand protection and message clarity.
  • Continuously scan industry trends, competitor content, and emerging channels to recommend innovation in formats, distribution, and editorial voice.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc executive and cross-team content requests, such as thought leadership pieces, keynote abstracts, and press statements.
  • Contribute to the long-term content technology roadmap (CMS features, automation, content ops tooling) and provide requirements for procurement.
  • Collaborate with analytics and growth teams to run content experiments and exploratory analyses to identify new content opportunities and monetization paths.
  • Partner with hiring and HR to design onboarding curricula for new writers and editors and to establish mentorship programs.
  • Participate in sprint planning, agile ceremonies, and project prioritization with product and marketing squads to integrate content work into delivery cadences.
  • Provide subject-matter-expert support to customer success and sales enablement for content that answers customer FAQs, case studies, and playbooks.
  • Audit and refresh evergreen content periodically to maintain accuracy, SEO relevance, and up-to-date data or regulatory references.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Expert-level writing and editing skills with demonstrated mastery of grammar, clarity, storytelling, and persuasive copy across long-form and short-form formats.
  • Content strategy development and execution experience, including editorial planning, audience segmentation, and content lifecycle management.
  • Proven SEO experience: keyword research, on-page optimization, content gap analysis, analytics interpretation, and familiarity with tools such as Google Analytics, Search Console, SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Moz.
  • Proficiency with major CMS platforms (WordPress, Contentful, Drupal, or equivalent) including publishing workflows, templates, and basic troubleshooting.
  • Experience creating content briefs that translate audience insights and SEO requirements into clear deliverables for writers and designers.
  • Competence in content governance, style guides, legal/compliance checks, and localization workflows for global content.
  • Familiarity with marketing and conversion optimization tools (Optimizely, VWO, HubSpot, Marketo) and A/B testing methodologies for content experiments.
  • Strong data literacy: ability to interpret content metrics, create performance dashboards, and convert analytic insights into editorial decisions.
  • Project and resource management skills including budgeting, vendor contracts, capacity planning, and timeline management.
  • Basic understanding of HTML/CSS and accessibility standards to collaborate effectively with engineering and design on web content.
  • Experience with collaboration and documentation tools: Google Workspace, Confluence, Jira/Trello, and Slack.
  • Knowledge of UX writing principles and experience working closely with product design teams to craft microcopy and flows.

Soft Skills

  • Leadership and people management: coaching, mentoring, conflict resolution, and performance management to grow a high-performing editorial team.
  • Excellent stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration skills to influence product, marketing, sales, and legal partners.
  • Strong strategic thinking and prioritization skills with an ability to balance short-term campaign needs and long-term content investments.
  • Exceptional communication skills, both written and verbal, with the credibility to present results and roadmaps to senior leadership.
  • Attention to detail and editorial judgment for quality control at scale.
  • Empathy and user-centric mindset to craft content that resonates with diverse audiences and solves user problems.
  • Adaptability and comfort with ambiguity, iterating quickly when priorities or business goals shift.
  • Time management and multitasking skills to manage competing deadlines and complex content programs.
  • Critical thinking and problem-solving, using data and user research to inform content decisions.
  • Creative mindset and curiosity for new formats, distribution channels, and storytelling techniques.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in English, Journalism, Communications, Marketing, or a related field — or equivalent practical experience in content leadership.

Preferred Education:

  • Master’s degree in Communications, Journalism, Creative Writing, Marketing, or MBA with a specialization in marketing/communications is a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • English, Journalism, Communications
  • Marketing, Digital Media, Content Strategy
  • Human-Computer Interaction, UX Writing
  • Business, Advertising

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 5–10+ years of professional writing, editing or content strategy experience, with at least 2–5 years in a managerial or lead role overseeing writers and editorial processes.

Preferred:

  • Prior experience scaling content teams in a fast-paced SaaS, consumer tech, media, or agency environment.
  • Proven track record improving organic search performance, growing content-driven revenue, and managing cross-functional stakeholder relationships.
  • Experience managing remote or distributed content teams and working with freelance networks or agency partners.
Explore More Careers