About the role
A Managing Editor job description covers leading an editorial team, running the publishing calendar, and guiding content strategy. The role keeps content accurate, consistent, and on schedule, in line with the organization’s standards for style, tone, and audience fit. Hiring managers should assess editing and copywriting, people management, content strategy, and AI fluency.
Managing Editors lead writers, photographers, and designers, and keep online or print publishing cycles on track. They shape content strategy around the company's brand identity and target audience, and they check finished copy for policy, style, and tone.
Develop and manage the editorial calendar.
Set publication standards and establish goals and expectations.
Oversee proofreading procedures and edit copy when necessary.
What are the essential Managing Editor skills?
The essential Managing Editor skills are editing and copywriting in English, team leadership, editorial planning, content strategy, and AI fluency.
Skill | Why it matters | Bryq assessment and level |
|---|---|---|
Editing and copywriting in English | Sets and enforces publication standards and edits copy when needed | English (Advanced User) (advanced) |
Team leadership and people management | Guides writers, photographers, and designers | People Management (intermediate) |
Editorial planning and deadline management | Keeps the editorial calendar and deadlines on track | Time Management (intermediate) |
Content strategy and audience insight | Ties content to audience preferences | Strategic Communication (intermediate) |
AI Fluency | AI now affects drafting, editing, and headline work | AI Fluency Assessment (functional) |
The core work is turning a content strategy into a steady flow of polished articles. The editor plans the calendar, guides contributors, and edits copy to the set standards, with AI tools supporting drafting, editing, and headline work.
Levels are a starting point. Bryq lets you set the level each role needs.
Which nice-to-have skills help a Managing Editor stand out?
Project coordination, online publishing platforms and SEO, editorial judgment, and creative ideation add value but are not needed on day one.
Project coordination across writers, photographers, and designers. Keeps many contributors moving together. Tested with Project Management.
Online publishing platforms and SEO. Helps content reach its audience online.
Editorial judgment and compliance with policies. Supports sound calls on policy and standards. Tested with Ethical Judgment.
Creative story and headline ideation. Brings fresh ideas that fit audience preferences. Tested with Creative Thinking.
Use these skills as tie-breakers between candidates who are equally strong on the essentials. Never screen out candidates who can learn them on the job.
Which competencies predict success as a Managing Editor?
The essential competencies for a Managing Editor are Leadership Potential and Communication.
Leadership Potential. Sets goals, guides the team, and enforces deadlines.
Communication. Gives editorial feedback, aligns contributors, and shapes tone and style.
Empathy and Learning Agility are optional: Empathy adds support for contributors, and Learning Agility adds quick adaptation to new platforms and audience trends.
What AI skills does a Managing Editor need?
A Managing Editor should use AI fluency to speed up editorial work while keeping quality and accuracy under human control.
AI tools now assist with drafting, editing, headline testing, and SEO, so editors need to prompt well and verify outputs for accuracy and tone. Daily use with careful checking matters more than building automated systems. Using AI output without checking it risks errors in accuracy and tone.
Generate and test headline and story ideas matched to audience preferences, then select and refine the best options.
Assist with initial proofreading and style consistency checks before final human editing.
Summarize audience analytics and SEO data to inform the editorial calendar and content priorities.
How do you assess Managing Editor candidates with Bryq?
Bryq measures all the essential skills and traits for a Managing Editor in one integrated candidate profile: cognitive ability, personality traits, soft and hard skills, including AI fluency. Bryq builds an ideal profile for the role and matches candidates against it.
Profile Fit measures cognitive ability and personality traits, matched against the ideal profile for the role.
English (Advanced User) measures editing and copywriting in English.
People Management measures team leadership and people management.
Time Management measures editorial planning and deadline management.
Strategic Communication measures content strategy and audience insight.
AI Fluency Assessment measures how well candidates use and verify AI in editorial work.
Optional add-ons: Project Management, Ethical Judgment, and Creative Thinking assessments for the nice-to-have skills, plus interview guides and competency mapping.
Competency profile: Leadership Potential and Communication are essential, with Empathy and Learning Agility as optional additions.
All Bryq assessments are validated by I/O psychologists. Profile Fit is independently bias-audited under New York City Local Law 144 (code4thought, April 2026). The AI Fluency Assessment is built on peer-reviewed and subject-matter expert research. A person makes every hiring decision.
Managing Editor job description template
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Managing Editor |
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About [Company name][Add a short description of your company.] About the roleWe are looking for an experienced Managing Editor to lead our editorial team and run our publishing process. You will guide our content strategy based on our needs, brand identity, and target audience. Your work keeps our content consistent, accurate, and on schedule. Responsibilities
Qualifications
Skills and competencies we look for
Working with AI
What we offer
Equal opportunity[Add your equal opportunity statement.] |
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Author
The Bryq I/O Team
Bryq’s I/O Psychology Team is a group of industrial-organizational psychologists who design and validate the science behind our assessments. They write about what research says on hiring, skills, personality, and performance, and how HR leaders can apply it to make fairer, evidence-based decisions.
