How To Become A Copy Chief: What It Is and Career Path

What is a copy chief and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Catherine Wilbur

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a copy chief. For example, did you know that they make an average of $31.17 an hour? That's $64,830 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -5% and produce -5,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a copy chief?

Catherine Wilbur

English Professor, Website

The best way to maximize salary earnings is to complete the highest level of education in your chosen field. The average salary for someone with a bachelor's degree in English is around $59,124 per year, while someone with a master's degree in English can expect to earn around $69,732 per year.

ScoreCopy ChiefUS Average

Salary

5.1

Avg. Salary $64,830

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.7

Growth rate -5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.27%

Asian 6.64%

Black or African American 3.57%

Hispanic or Latino 8.09%

Unknown 4.58%

White 76.84%

Gender

female 61.06%

male 38.94%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

6.7

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.3

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a copy chief

Explore copy chief education requirements

Most common copy chief degrees

Bachelor's

89.1 %

Master's

6.9 %

Associate

2.5 %

Start to develop specific copy chief skills

Skills	Percentages
Web Content	14.15%
Adobe Indesign	10.65%
Style Guides	9.63%
House Style	7.36%
SEO	5.96%

Complete relevant copy chief training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New copy chiefs learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a copy chief based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real copy chief resumes.

Research copy chief duties and responsibilities

Manage copywriting staff for broadcast and print advertising.
Manage creative copywriting and copyediting staff.
Manage copy editing and proofreading responsibilities of weekly business newspaper and special supplements.
Create an in-house style guide; write internal HTML guides.

Prepare your copy chief resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your copy chief resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a copy chief resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable copy chief resume templates

Build a professional copy chief resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your copy chief resume.