How To Become A Lead Editor: What It Is and Career Path

What is a lead editor and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Bradley Shreve

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a lead editor. For example, did you know that they make an average of $33.08 an hour? That's $68,799 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 lead editor?

Bradley Shreve

Editor, Tribal College Journal

Be flexible. An undergraduate degree in history offers a solid liberal arts background, but not a skill set that is finely tuned for most jobs. Think outside the box, and understand that the job you land probably won't be in the history profession.

ScoreLead EditorUS Average

Salary

5.4

Avg. Salary $68,799

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 7.05%

Black or African American 3.49%

Hispanic or Latino 7.88%

Unknown 4.55%

White 76.76%

Gender

female 34.63%

male 65.37%

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 lead editor

Explore lead editor education requirements

Most common lead editor degrees

Bachelor's

73.1 %

Master's

11.1 %

Associate

9.8 %

Start to develop specific lead editor skills

Skills	Percentages
Music Videos	14.70%
Photography	7.84%
Web Content	7.75%
Digital Content	7.04%
Proofread	5.06%

Complete relevant lead editor training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New lead editors 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 lead editor based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real lead editor resumes.

Research lead editor duties and responsibilities

Manage and resolve editorial disagreements across relevant departmental staff to join up an organizational narrative on each output.
Edit dailies for YouTube, Facebook, and syndicate platforms.
Facilitate instruction to encourage professional development of writers covering topic, tone, and SEO.
Leverage meticulous attention to detail in technical editing and proofreading all content from project inception to completion.

Get lead editor experience

Generally, it takes 2-4 years to become a lead editor. The most common roles before becoming a lead editor include editor, internship team lead and assistant editor.

Prepare your lead editor resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your lead editor 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 lead editor resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable lead editor resume templates

Build a professional lead editor 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 lead editor resume.