Job Description

The Senior Technical Editor will oversee the editorial process for high-stakes technical documentation, research publications, manuals, reports, magazine content, web content, and related communications products supporting FHWA RD&T and TFHRC. This role is responsible for ensuring technical accuracy, stylistic consistency, editorial quality, reference integrity, accessibility compliance, copyright compliance, and publication readiness across a large portfolio of products.

The Senior Technical Editor will provide senior editorial leadership, mentor junior editorial staff, and help transform complex research, engineering, policy, and technical information into clear, authoritative, accessible documents for diverse audiences.

Key Responsibilities

• Oversee the editorial lifecycle for technical documents, research reports, manuals, Public Roads magazine content, marketing materials, web content, and related products.
• Provide substantive editing, copyediting, proofreading, rephrasing, rewriting, formatting, and quality control support.
• Ensure documents demonstrate strong organization, clarity, logical flow, grammar, punctuation, consistency, and technical accuracy.
• Transform raw data, engineering language, research findings, and technical source material into clear, polished, authoritative content.
• Verify technical accuracy through source review, SME coordination, interviews, reference checks, and fact-checking.
• Review citations, references, copyrights, product names, trademarks, permissions, and attribution requirements.
• Ensure documents comply with the GPO Style Manual, Chicago Manual of Style, TFHRC RD&T Communication Reference Guide, and applicable FHWA style requirements.
• Ensure publications and documents comply with Section 508 accessibility requirements.
• Direct or mentor technical writers, editors, and editorial support staff.
• Coordinate with authors, researchers, technical reviewers, designers, web specialists, public affairs, legal reviewers, and project managers.
• Manage multiple edit cycles and maintain version control throughout document development and production.
• Support final publication, online publishing, web release, and archival handoff processes.
• Review final deliverables for editorial quality before submission to Government stakeholders.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in English, Journalism, Technical Writing, Communications, a technical field, or a related discipline.
• 10+ years of senior-level technical editing, technical writing, publication editing, or editorial management experience.
• Supervisory, mentoring, or project management experience within an editorial or publications environment.
• Expert-level command of the GPO Style Manual.
• Strong knowledge of Chicago Manual of Style and federal publishing standards.
• Experience editing complex technical documents, research reports, manuals, magazine content, or engineering/scientific materials.
• Experience performing substantive editing, technical accuracy review, reference checking, fact-checking, and copyright compliance review.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to manage complex editorial workflows independently.