A content editor shapes, checks and publishes an organisation’s content and keeps it in good order once it’s live. In a typical week that might mean editing drafts from colleagues across the organisation, writing and updating pages themselves, building them in the CMS with the right metadata, links and images, checking accessibility and retiring pages that have outlived their purpose.
Editing is the practice at the centre of the job; the role adds publishing, upkeep and a working knowledge of the systems involved. A good content editor has a clear sense of structure and hierarchy: what the reader needs first, which details belong together and what can be cut. Their remit includes reshaping content as well as polishing it; proofreading is the final check for errors.
The title stretches a long way. In publishing and journalism it can mean a commissioning or desk editor; in many charities, universities and public bodies it means the person who looks after the website. Web editor and digital editor often describe the same job, and some employers advertise content design roles under it. A content editor usually works within priorities and standards set by a content manager or senior content editor, alongside writers, content designers and subject experts.
Many CMSs also have an “editor” permission level, which is an access right rather than a job, so describe the remit you need rather than trusting the title.
Why an organisation needs a content editor
When many people can publish, nobody sees the whole. Departments add pages for their own purposes, terminology drifts, three versions of the same guidance appear and old pages linger because deleting them is nobody’s job. A content editor reads across those boundaries: they notice the duplicate before it goes live, keep a consistent voice across contributions and know which pages depend on each other.
Collaboration with subject matter experts is central to the role. Through questions, shared drafts and pair writing, a content editor helps colleagues turn specialist knowledge into content readers can use. Subject experts can contribute their knowledge without having to master the CMS, the style guide and accessibility requirements.
The role needs clear authority to send work back, query claims and decline to publish what doesn’t meet the standard, with a route to escalate to a senior editor or content owner. It can’t resolve conflicting priorities between departments or make up for a missing strategy, and one content editor reviewing every page for a large organisation will soon become a bottleneck. Scale the role to the volume, or pair it with good guidance and training for contributors.
How AI changes the role
Much of what reaches a content editor has now been drafted or polished with AI, often without anyone saying so. That moves the job towards verification. A fluent submission no longer signals that the contributor understood the subject, so content editors need to be ready to ask where a claim came from, and need the authority to send back a page whose source nobody can name. A job description might now include checking AI-assisted drafts against source material and applying the organisation’s AI use policy to submissions.
The CMS is changing too. Many platforms now offer generated summaries, suggested alt text, automatic tagging and translation, so some of what appears on a page was written by the system rather than a person. Someone has to decide which of those features to switch on, review their output and answer for the result, and the content editor is usually closest to it. Eileen Webb argued in 2014 that field labels and help text belong inside the CMS, where authors need them; where a platform’s assistants draw on the same guidance, that writing now steers machines as well as people. A content editor who can write it clearly, test what it produces and explain problems to developers is worth more than one who only operates the interface.
Routine formatting and tagging may take less of the week, but accountability for what gets published stays where it was.
Questions people ask
- Is a content editor the same as a content designer?
The titles overlap and some employers use them interchangeably. Content design usually starts from research into user needs and decides what content should exist and in what form, often within a product or service team. A content editor more often works on material that colleagues have drafted, and on publishing and maintaining it. Plenty of people do both; the job description should say which matters most.
- Should our content editor also write?
Most content editors write or rewrite a good share of what they publish, and writing keeps their editing practical. If writing takes over, though, the reviewing and upkeep that justified the role tend to slip.
- Where should a content editor sit?
Somewhere they can see across the organisation’s publishing, commonly a central digital, communications or content team reporting to a content manager or senior content editor. Close working relationships with subject experts and developers matter as much as the reporting line.
- What should we look for when hiring?
Strong editing and writing, a clear sense of structure and hierarchy, comfort with a CMS and the ability to work closely with subject matter experts, plus the tact to tell a senior colleague that their page isn’t ready. Journalism, publishing, communications and web production all lead into the role. A short editing test using one of your own pages will tell you more than a portfolio of polished articles; ask candidates to explain changes to its structure and emphasis as well as its wording.
Learn more
- Training the CMS – Eileen Webb’s A List Apart article on putting editorial guidance into CMS field labels and help text; written for the people who set up a CMS, it’s also a revealing picture of what content editors need from one.
- Web content editor – the National Careers Service job profile for England, a useful snapshot of the role’s typical tasks, entry routes and progression, and of how far the title overlaps with content designer and digital editor.