Lead Editor (Maternity cover until Dec 2025)

Lead Editor (Maternity cover until Dec 2025) Department: Communications Employment Type: Fixed Term Contract Location: Edinburgh Compensation: £56,000 – £60,000 / year Description Our Content Team FreeAgent’s Content team takes complex information and turns it into compelling writing for our customers. We’re focused on communicating in an engaging way but also the clearest possible, so our customers feel empowered, not confused. We\’re a creative bunch and often identify emergent issues to tell our customers about, whilst also flexing FreeAgent\’s tone of voice to bring our brand to life, and now and again a smile to our customers\’ faces. As Lead Editor in the Practices stream you will combine your writing and editing expertise and commercial acumen to expertly manage a team of writers, setting them up for success to create excellent, engaging content that supports FreeAgent’s business objectives. The role At FreeAgent, content is pivotal to our strategy for communicating with our key audiences of small business owners, accountants and bookkeepers at every stage of the marketing journey. As Lead Editor in the Practices stream, you will collaborate with key stakeholders in the Practice Marketing team to develop and execute content strategies to attract, acquire, engage and retain accountants and bookkeepers. You will be responsible for ensuring that all work produced in your stream delivers on its objectives and meets agreed standards. In collaboration with your direct reports and other stakeholders, you will plan, execute and measure company-wide projects in your specialist area. With expertise in editing and proofreading, as well as robust skills in creating high-impact content to meet marketing objectives, you\’ll be an excellent collaborator who can work effectively with senior stakeholders. Day to day your role will involve Writing, editing, and proofreading Draft, edit, proofread and sign off all content work produced by your stream, using your editing and proofreading skills to ensure that all content is accurate and of a high standard and that it meets brand guidelines and tone of voice Create and edit content to ensure it will meet specific marketing objectives, such as customer acquisition, engagement, conversion and retention, by prompting users to take specific actions Edit with laser-focused precision, removing ambiguity and creating clarity at every opportunity, while applying creative flair and maintaining the FreeAgent tone Deliver feedback to other members of the content team in a constructive and supportive way to help improve editorial skills in your specialist area Gain deep insight into the benefits, features and functionality of FreeAgent for your audience and ensure these are expertly articulated in our content; adapting tone, style and level of detail as appropriate Craft effective calls to action that deliver on strategic objectives by driving users to take desired actions Optimise the messages we craft to drive response from users based on performance data and insight Collaboration Work with direct reports and collaborate with stakeholders in your specialist area to plan and co-create content projects skilfully and strategically, taking into account commercial priorities, available resource in your content stream and existing project commitments Support the Practice Marketing team in delivering against marketing objectives. Share and coach best practice, highlight opportunities and maximise the role that content can play in a communications project or campaign Understand how factors such as audience, commercial objectives and wider contextual factors for a piece of content should influence the direction of messaging and copy choices Know which questions to ask to gain all information required in order to complete a piece of content work to the highest standard possible for your specialist audience Have an in-depth understanding of the interplay between content, comms and wider functions of FreeAgent, such as sales, support, comms design and product, to ensure that the content you create, commission or edit contributes to all relevant objectives and that all stakeholders are consulted Prepare briefs and other instructions for content work for freelancers, and for your direct reports to tackle with your support and feedback Understand risk management processes and regulatory guidelines and implement these in content work wherever appropriate, consulting with appropriate stakeholders Create, commission and edit content for wider comms projects for your specialist audience against detailed briefs produced by colleagues in the relevant area of the comms team, ensuring the content meets every objective identified in the brief Content strategy, measurement, and analysis Champion the role of content across the business, and understand business strategy so as to advise, support and shape strategic use of content in all areas, in conjunction with Managing Editor Contribute to the development of new content strategies and the evolution of existing strategies in your specialist area through data-driven insights and knowledge and experience of best practice Demonstrate a solid understanding of the metrics we aim to influence with our wider content strategy, report on them confidently for your specialist area and suggest ways to achieve greater impact Develop subject matter expertise in your specialist area, keeping a close eye on trends and using this expertise to add value to content plans, projects and strategies for your audience Line management Support the Managing Editor in the leadership of the content team and communicate a clear vision for your content stream, setting priorities that align with this vision Follow FreeAgent’s people management processes including conducting weekly 1:1 meetings, regular PDP reviews to discuss performance and growth and bi-annual salary/promotion reviews Provide regular feedback to your direct reports and support them when they encounter challenging situations Report effectively to Managing Editor following 1:1s and performance discussions with team members You Be a skilled, reliable and highly expert writer and editor, with extensive experience in professional content creation – including crafting content designed to elicit a response from the reader and/or deliver on a specific marketing objective Know how to effectively manage a team of writers – setting clear expectations, sharing insightful feedback, coaching and encouraging them Be confident with writing and editing to a brief and house style guidelines Have a rock-solid grasp of grammar Know how to make well-judged editorial decisions and how to position editorial feedback for other writers Be a skilled and strategic planner, working with direct reports and senior stakeholders to formulate effective content plans within a complex planning matrix Be a positive and effective problem-solver, working strategically and pragmatically with other stakeholders to find solutions Understand broad communications principles and the role of content within a complex communications team Work with briefs and collaborators in other teams to create a wide range of content types (e.g. email journeys, infographics, landing pages) Please also make sure you\’re familiar with the hiring process for this role so you can ensure your application contains all the information we need. Our work life We believe in a strong work-life balance, we don’t work long hours (35 hour working week), and we have a fabulous Edinburgh HQ expertly designed for collaboration including high-quality A/V equipment to provide a great experience for distributed teams. At FreeAgent, we support each other and operate a no-blame culture. Our mindset is: work hard, be nice to people, and the rest will sort itself out! Work pattern for this role This is a fixed term maternity cover contract, full-time role (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm) until the 31st December 2025. This role will be based in our Edinburgh office, however there will be an opportunity to adopt hybrid working, under an agreed pattern of 2 days (currently Tuesdays and Thursdays) from the office and 3 days at home each week. Working from home is second nature to us as we have been championing remote working for years. Perks Annual starting salary of £56,000 – £60,000 per annum depending on experience, with room to progress to £64,000 within the band. Our starting salaries typically leave some opportunity for growth within the band as salaries are linked to performance expectations to nurture our culture of fairness, learning and development . We pride ourselves on creating a fantastic place to work, with benefits and perks including (but not limited to!) the following: 33 days holiday (and an extra day for each year you\’re with us) Flexible/hybrid working Private health care Life assurance 5% matched pension contributions Summer 4 day weeks (giving you 8 additional days off!) Buy-as-you-earn share schemes Sabbatical leave (unpaid) Cycle to work scheme Wellness webinars Focused learning time and learning budgets Volunteering day Find out more about our benefits package here ! Tempted to apply? Read about the hiring process for this role so you know what to expect. #J-18808-Ljbffr