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Editorial director vs senior editor

The differences between editorial directors and senior editors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an editorial director and a senior editor. Additionally, an editorial director has an average salary of $99,934, which is higher than the $90,094 average annual salary of a senior editor.

The top three skills for an editorial director include editorial content, web content and editorial strategy. The most important skills for a senior editor are edit content, video content, and SEO.

Editorial director vs senior editor overview

Editorial DirectorSenior Editor
Yearly salary$99,934$90,094
Hourly rate$48.05$43.31
Growth rate-5%-5%
Number of jobs11,14312,150
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 80%Bachelor's Degree, 79%
Average age4444
Years of experience44

What does an editorial director do?

An Editorial Director will plan, coordinate, and edit all written content for a publication or a website. As the Editorial Director, they are responsible for planning the company's vision for the publication, including its short- and long-term goals. They are also responsible for supervising other editors and developing the guidelines on the types of manuscripts they should seek. Other duties that Editorial Directors perform include planning the publication's contents, allocating work to editors-in-chief and editorial managers, and coordinating other departments' work as needed.

What does a senior editor do?

A Senior Editor determines the editorial content for a publication. They supervise the content creation process and manage junior editors.

Editorial director vs senior editor salary

Editorial directors and senior editors have different pay scales, as shown below.

Editorial DirectorSenior Editor
Average salary$99,934$90,094
Salary rangeBetween $68,000 And $144,000Between $66,000 And $121,000
Highest paying CityNew Haven, CTSan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateConnecticutConnecticut
Best paying companyMcKinsey & Company IncApple
Best paying industryProfessionalFinance

Differences between editorial director and senior editor education

There are a few differences between an editorial director and a senior editor in terms of educational background:

Editorial DirectorSenior Editor
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 80%Bachelor's Degree, 79%
Most common majorEnglishEnglish
Most common collegeNorthwestern UniversityNorthwestern University

Editorial director vs senior editor demographics

Here are the differences between editorial directors' and senior editors' demographics:

Editorial DirectorSenior Editor
Average age4444
Gender ratioMale, 48.3% Female, 51.7%Male, 51.7% Female, 48.3%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 3.6% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 8.1% Asian, 7.2% White, 76.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%Black or African American, 3.6% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 8.1% Asian, 7.2% White, 76.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage12%12%

Differences between editorial director and senior editor duties and responsibilities

Editorial director example responsibilities.

  • Lead triage of SEO issues.
  • Manage messaging priorities, and press comments for YouTube, Google, and Guggenheim.
  • Manage the reporting, video production, marketing, brand development and SEO of the brand s website and YouTube channel.
  • Manage the implementation of large-scale editorial systems at commercial publishing, legal publishing, and in-plant publishing organizations.
  • Manage research and editorial staff for production of print and on-line database-driven publications in the commercial real estate industry.
  • Prepare site for forthcoming CMS upgrade and site redesign.
  • Show more

Senior editor example responsibilities.

  • Contract and manage editorial freelancers and full-service vendors for successful high school Spanish and Latin textbook and ancillary programs.
  • Post video to the Fox17 website and youtube.
  • Complete several robust DVD authoring projects for clients.
  • Redesign the look and the style of lifestyle magazine.
  • Double traffic on the Instagram page with newly implement marketing plan.
  • Content editing for automobile DVD user manuals (English, French and Spanish).
  • Show more

Editorial director vs senior editor skills

Common editorial director skills
  • Editorial Content, 9%
  • Web Content, 8%
  • Editorial Strategy, 6%
  • Content Strategy, 6%
  • Content Development, 5%
  • Project Management, 5%
Common senior editor skills
  • Edit Content, 11%
  • Video Content, 7%
  • SEO, 7%
  • Digital Content, 6%
  • Project Management, 4%
  • Facebook, 3%

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