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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Written Communications Consultant

💰 $ - $

CommunicationsWritingConsultingContent Strategy

🎯 Role Definition

The Written Communications Consultant is a subject-matter expert in written messaging, editorial strategy, and content design who partners with business leaders, product teams, and marketing to craft high-impact content that aligns with brand voice, accessibility standards, and SEO best practices. This role combines strategic advisory, hands-on copywriting and editing, process design, and content governance to ensure consistent, effective written communications across internal and external channels.

Primary SEO / LLM keywords: written communications consultant, content strategy, copywriting, editing, editorial governance, SEO writing, content audits, style guide development, plain language, accessibility (WCAG), content operations.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Senior Copywriter or Copy Lead with cross-channel experience
  • Communications or Public Relations Specialist with strategic writing responsibilities
  • Technical Writer or UX Writer with experience in user-centered content

Advancement To:

  • Senior Written Communications Consultant / Content Strategist
  • Director of Communications or Head of Content / Editorial Operations
  • VP of Corporate Communications or Chief Content Officer

Lateral Moves:

  • UX Writer / Content Designer
  • Brand Strategist or Messaging Lead
  • Content Operations Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Serve as a trusted advisor to executives, product managers, legal, and marketing stakeholders by translating complex ideas into concise, audience-appropriate written communications that support business objectives and reduce compliance risk.
  • Lead the end-to-end creation and optimization of high-profile written deliverables — including reports, proposals, white papers, thought leadership articles, executive speeches, customer communications, and web content — ensuring clarity, consistency, and brand alignment.
  • Develop and maintain enterprise style guides, tone-of-voice frameworks, and editorial policies to establish consistent writing standards across departments and channels, and train teams to apply them.
  • Conduct comprehensive content audits and information architecture reviews to identify gaps, redundancies, and opportunities to consolidate messaging and improve findability and SEO performance.
  • Design and implement content governance and approval workflows, coordinating cross-functional review cycles and version control to accelerate time-to-publish while ensuring legal and regulatory compliance.
  • Create SEO-driven copy strategies and optimize on-page content (headlines, meta descriptions, H1/H2 structure, schema suggestions) to improve organic search visibility and drive qualified traffic.
  • Perform rigorous substantive editing and line editing for grammar, clarity, structure, and tone, elevating drafts from subject matter experts into polished, audience-focused materials.
  • Lead audience research initiatives — including stakeholder interviews, persona development, and content analytics reviews — to tailor messaging and measure content effectiveness against KPIs.
  • Build and manage editorial calendars, prioritizing content development based on business goals, seasonal campaigns, product launches, and earned media opportunities.
  • Coach and mentor internal contributors and junior writers in best practices for persuasive writing, plain language, storytelling, and iterative editing techniques.
  • Design content templates, modular content components, and reusable messaging libraries to accelerate content production and ensure consistent customer experiences.
  • Partner with UX, design, and product teams to craft microcopy, error messages, and onboarding flows that reduce friction and improve task completion and user satisfaction.
  • Create clear, persuasive policy and process documentation, including governance charters, FAQs, playbooks, and internal communications that enable operational consistency.
  • Translate technical, legal, or scientific subject matter into accessible language for non-technical audiences without sacrificing accuracy.
  • Lead crisis communications writing and rapid-response drafting, producing timely statements, Q&A briefs, and stakeholder updates under tight deadlines.
  • Establish metrics and dashboards (e.g., content engagement, readability scores, SEO rankings, conversion lift) and present insights to senior leadership to drive continuous improvement.
  • Manage relationships with external agencies, freelance writers, and editors, including scope definition, brief development, and quality assurance to ensure brand tone and message fidelity.
  • Facilitate workshops and cross-functional working sessions to align teams on messaging priorities, editorial workflows, and content localization strategies.
  • Ensure all published content meets accessibility (WCAG) guidelines, readability standards, and legal/regulatory requirements by conducting audits and remediation plans.
  • Implement new tools and processes—such as CMS best practices, editorial automation, or AI-assisted drafting workflows—while defining guardrails and ethical use policies.
  • Prepare and present executive-ready materials that synthesize complex content performance insights and recommended next steps for scaling high-impact written communications.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc writing requests and rapid editorial reviews for stakeholder teams during product launches, marketing campaigns, or regulatory events.
  • Maintain and version-control the content inventory and content brief templates to streamline contributor onboarding and reuse of approved messaging.
  • Contribute to cross-functional content strategy planning sessions and roadmap discussions to ensure written communications are prioritized and resourced.
  • Assist with CMS migrations, tagging taxonomies, and metadata strategy to improve content discoverability and lifecycle management.
  • Run periodic readability and tone consistency checks across channels and implement training where gaps are identified.
  • Coordinate localization and translation workflows for multilingual content and ensure adapted messaging retains tone and intent.
  • Assist legal and compliance teams in reviewing communications to confirm accuracy and adherence to disclosure requirements.
  • Support employee communications campaigns and internal training materials to drive adoption of new processes, product features, or organizational changes.
  • Maintain a repository of research-backed writing best practices, benchmarks, and competitive messaging examples to inform ongoing content improvements.
  • Participate in retrospective and continuous improvement processes for editorial operations and content delivery cadence.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Expert-level copywriting and editing skills with demonstrated ability to write for multiple audiences, formats, and channels.
  • Deep knowledge of content strategy fundamentals: audience segmentation, content lifecycle, governance, and information architecture.
  • Proficiency with SEO best practices, keyword research tools (e.g., Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs), and on-page optimization techniques.
  • Hands-on experience with enterprise CMS platforms (WordPress, Drupal, Contentful, AEM) and content modeling.
  • Strong command of style guides (AP, Chicago, Microsoft, or custom enterprise guides) and experience developing organization-specific editorial policies.
  • Experience conducting content audits, content inventories, and gap analyses using spreadsheets or specialized tools.
  • Familiarity with analytics platforms (Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics) and content performance measurement (engagement, click-through, conversion metrics).
  • Knowledge of accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1+) and experience applying plain-language and inclusive-language principles.
  • Ability to produce structured deliverables: briefs, audience personas, editorial calendars, content templates, and governance playbooks.
  • Experience managing freelance networks, procurement for content services, and vendor performance evaluation.
  • Practical experience leveraging generative AI/LLM tools for drafting or ideation, including defining guardrails and validating outputs for accuracy.

Soft Skills

  • Exceptional attention to detail and a relentless commitment to clarity, accuracy, and tone consistency.
  • Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence senior leaders and cross-functional teams.
  • Excellent project and time-management capabilities; able to prioritize multiple requests and meet tight deadlines.
  • Strategic thinking with the ability to connect content activities to business outcomes and KPIs.
  • Strong facilitation and workshop leadership skills for cross-disciplinary alignment and collaborative writing sessions.
  • Adaptability and resilience in fast-paced, ambiguous environments.
  • Empathy and audience-centric mindset to create content that resonates and drives behavior.
  • Coaching and mentorship aptitude to develop writers and content creators across the organization.
  • Critical thinking and problem-solving skills to diagnose content issues and recommend pragmatic solutions.
  • High degree of professionalism and discretion managing sensitive or confidential communications.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

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

Preferred Education:

  • Master's degree in Communications, Rhetoric, Public Relations, or an MBA with communications focus is a plus.
  • Professional certifications in content strategy, UX writing, SEO, or accessibility preferred.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Communications
  • English / Creative Writing
  • Journalism
  • Technical Communication
  • Marketing / Public Relations
  • Human-Computer Interaction / UX (for UX writing-focused consultancy)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3–8 years of progressively responsible experience in writing, editing, or content strategy roles; many roles seek 5+ years for senior consultant level.

Preferred:

  • 5+ years of experience in agency, consultancy, or in-house content/communications teams with demonstrated impact.
  • Proven portfolio showing a range of deliverables (web content, executive communications, policy docs, SEO copy, and editorial pieces).
  • Experience working cross-functionally with legal, product, design, and marketing teams.
  • Prior experience implementing content governance frameworks, editorial workflows, and measuring content ROI.
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