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Job outlook for senior content managers in the United States
Are senior content manager jobs in demand?
Senior content manager job and salary trends over time
Senior content manager jobs over time
Senior content manager job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2,664 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 2,582 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 2,520 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 2,298 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 2,093 | 0.00% |
Average senior content manager salary over time
Senior content manager salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $120,669 | $58.01 | +3.9% |
| 2025 | $116,154 | $55.84 | +1.9% |
| 2024 | $113,981 | $54.80 | +1.6% |
| 2023 | $112,232 | $53.96 | +0.8% |
| 2022 | $111,341 | $53.53 | +1.9% |
Senior content manager jobs by state
Most common states for senior content managers
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 317 | 46% |
| 2 | Washington | 7,405,743 | 1,793 | 24% |
| 3 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 1,374 | 20% |
| 4 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 731 | 18% |
| 5 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 172 | 16% |
| 6 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 472 | 15% |
| 7 | California | 39,536,653 | 5,705 | 14% |
| 8 | Vermont | 623,657 | 86 | 14% |
| 9 | Illinois | 12,802,023 | 1,503 | 12% |
| 10 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 981 | 12% |
| 11 | New York | 19,849,399 | 2,239 | 11% |
| 12 | New Jersey | 9,005,644 | 1,027 | 11% |
| 13 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 620 | 11% |
| 14 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 602 | 11% |
| 15 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 135 | 10% |
| 16 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 110 | 10% |
| 17 | Georgia | 10,429,379 | 931 | 9% |
| 18 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 545 | 9% |
| 19 | Connecticut | 3,588,184 | 312 | 9% |
| 20 | North Carolina | 10,273,419 | 823 | 8% |
Most common cities for senior content managers
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Culver City | 2 | 5% | $132,629 |
| 2 | Eagle | 1 | 4% | $112,404 |
| 3 | Atlanta | 3 | 1% | $82,578 |
| 4 | Glendale | 2 | 1% | $132,684 |
| 5 | Burbank | 1 | 1% | $132,834 |
| 6 | Lake Forest | 1 | 1% | $130,823 |
| 7 | Mountain View | 1 | 1% | $140,630 |
| 8 | San Leandro | 1 | 1% | $140,494 |
| 9 | Santa Monica | 1 | 1% | $132,786 |
| 10 | Stamford | 1 | 1% | $119,212 |
| 11 | Chicago | 3 | 0% | $97,154 |
| 12 | New York | 2 | 0% | $115,574 |
| 13 | Baltimore | 1 | 0% | $99,103 |
| 14 | Irvine | 1 | 0% | $131,021 |
| 15 | Los Angeles | 1 | 0% | $132,676 |
| 16 | San Diego | 1 | 0% | $128,301 |
| 17 | San Francisco | 1 | 0% | $140,786 |
| 18 | Tucson | 1 | 0% | $113,572 |
Senior Content Manager job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of senior content manager experts
Cabrini University
Truman State University
University of South Alabama
University of Cincinnati
University of Kentucky
The City College of New York
National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS)
Dragonfly Editorial
Association for Talent Development
Professor Cheryl Pilchik
Marketing at Cabrini U.Cabrini University
Business Administration, Management And Operations
What Senior Content Manager skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Professor Cheryl Pilchik: Look at all the benefits offered by the company, such as medical, holidays, 401K, etc. Also, consider using the position as a steppingstone in your field to a second job in the near future.
What will help Senior Content Managers increase their earning potential?
Dr. Adam Davis: Work with emergent media; learn how to work words beyond writing: podcasts & video, web design, social media, blogging. These are skills easily acquired through YouTube and of great interest to employers. AI is not to be feared, but to be understood and used, and employers are going to be interested when you tell them you know how to make it work for them.
What Senior Content Manager skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Doris Frye: Employers consistently tell us that effective communication is both a skill in high demand and one that is often lacking in employees. English majors enter the workforce with exceptional communication and critical thinking skills that are already valued. With the explosion of A.I., these skills will become even more important; English majors' facility with language will become all the more essential. The ability to adapt and respond to A.I. tools will be essential going forward for those with English degrees.
What will help Senior Content Managers increase their earning potential?
Doris Frye: An English degree is exceptionally versatile. While some will go into education, many fields value this degree. When looking for jobs, focus on searching based on employers looking for potential employees with skills in communication, research, and critical thinking rather than just those seeking an English degree. The opportunities are extremely wide: the government, advertising companies, law firms, and almost any industry that requires technical writing skills will all value a degree in English.
What general advice would you give to a Senior Content Manager?
Chris Carter: I would recommend playing up their value as critical analysts and researchers who can synthesize information in accessible ways. I would tell them to be open to all kinds of writing opportunities, whether technical, journalistic, or editorial, watching for possibilities in online and print venues alike. English majors' detective skills suit them well to museums and libraries, but also to private and governmental organizations that need shrewd investigators. Turning interpretive savvy into pithy prose and presentations can be great for public relations, and a penchant for lucid communication can set graduates up for podcasting and social media management. Some people might turn those talents toward careers in law or marketing. Others might continue their paths as creative writers and cultural critics, though it's worth noting that full-time, tenure-track jobs in English Departments are hard to come by.
What Senior Content Manager skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Chris Carter: With the rise of ChatGPT and large language models, English majors will need to clarify how human writers, editors, and analysts can enrich machine-generated content. They do well to practice prompt engineering and gradual conditioning of machine responses, but they also need to be diligent readers who can spot bad AI syntheses. This means correcting faulty information stemming from data aggregation, for sure, but also spotting cultural biases that machines replicate when drawing on preexisting texts. Those texts carry with them the values and assumptions of the people who initially produced them, with ChatGPT reflecting and potentially amplifying the inequities that plague human cultures. The need for ethical intervention is quite urgent, then, and that's where English majors tend to excel. Such intervention will concern not only the accuracy and political tilt of information, but the question of whose language and style count as standard. Writing technologies have always been bound up with power relations. DEI-oriented humanists and English majors will have plenty of opportunities to address those problems as AI becomes more embedded in workplaces and public institutions.
What will help Senior Content Managers increase their earning potential?
Chris Carter: First, I would say cast a wide net. Be willing to move places where your skillset can serve flourishing organizations and companies. Keep up with trends in the tech industry and frame your writing, design, and research skills in ways that highlight your versatility. Use your storytelling gifts to emphasize your resourcefulness and ability to complete complex tasks. Also think of those skills as relevant to the work of marketing, entertainment, talent development, legal services, business administration, and patient care. More important than any of that, remember to maintain a marathon mentality as you enter the workforce. Other pursuits may garner better pay right out of the gate, but Humanities graduates see their earning potential grow considerably over the course of a career, frequently outdistancing majors in other fields.
Joshua Abboud Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Director of Bachelor of Liberal StudiesUniversity of Kentucky
Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies
What hard/technical skills are most important for Senior Content Managers?
Joshua Abboud Ph.D.: I mentioned developing unique research skills as an important part of your resume, but to me, it is the single most important hard skill for a content writer. You often won't have a lot of time and will have to start a project from scratch. Moving from general information to more specific sources and knowing how and when to do this will make you stand out as a writer who has important things to say. You have to think of your writing as always persuasive, no matter what you are working on. You are telling a story, and you have a specific audience that needs to hear that story. The more specific you can make that story, the better your information and the more unique your approach to the topic will be. Make your writing stand out.
The second is probably the ability to edit your work. I teach many students who tell me they aren't very good at editing their own work. Most likely, it is because they don't like to read their own work. Become a fan of writing; what I mean by that is read writing for the writing itself. Develop a sense for the style of other writers, but most of all, enjoy your own writing. Read your own writing, silently and out loud. Listen to how it sounds, your word choices, your rhythm, the cadence. When something sounds off, you will be able to revise it. Editing does not just mean typos or grammar mechanics (although, it is definitely that as well). This all leads back to developing your own style and brand of writing.
What skills will help Senior Content Managers earn the most?
Joshua Abboud Ph.D.: This is a difficult question to answer in terms of writing, and specifically content writing. More than skills, the amount of money you make will be determined by the projects you are offered. And the projects you are offered will be determined by the kind of writing ethos you develop. You have some control over that with your own approaches to the craft of writing: what kinds of hardened soft skills can you acquire and make your own? For example, can you learn how to use Adobe Indesign? You may not use it for every job, but it might come in handy to create something that other writers may not have thought of just using Microsoft Word. This can give you a creative and innovative way to complete a job that helps form your unique style as a writer. How can you use your understanding of Search engine optimization to help you do research in a way that leads you to sources that are little used or even forgotten, perhaps? The more you can demonstrate that unique approach and show it off on social media and even underscore it in your past projects, the more likely you will build a reputation in demand. And you will definitely meet other writers along the way who could help you in the future. Don't underestimate the power of networking, in-person and online.
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Senior Content Manager job market given the pandemic?
Nancy Tag: I think it's a bit early to identify clear trends, but it's obvious that working remotely has introduced technology that will be adapted into the workplace once we're back on solid ground. Students who were suddenly forced to take their studies online will be able to leverage the remote experience in the real world. For example, our graduate students in the BIC program have learned how to pitch projects to actual clients in the same ways explored by their agency partners. In some ways, they've been able to be more nimble. At the very least, they will be able to hit the ground running.
What general advice would you give to a Senior Content Manager?
Nancy Tag: Keep learning. Add certificates to your resume. Go to as many industry conferences as you can for advanced learning and networking. Right now, more conferences and panels are online and free than ever before. Watch them - and take notes! As we say in the BIC program: stay curious. The communications industry evolves so rapidly that the ability to absorb and apply new information is critical to being successful and making an impact.
What Senior Content Manager skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Nancy Tag: Not sure what you mean by this. Do you mean a gap year following undergraduate before applying to grad school? Or taking time off during their program of study? In some ways, the tight job market might make it advisable for unemployed students to consider staying in school or applying for a master's degree earlier than planned. If they can afford it, this is a better use of time for advanced learning, networking, and career support than simply being unemployed or underemployed.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Senior Content Managers?
Montez King: There will definitely be an enduring impact on graduates. As the leader of an organization, I have been challenged with overhauling our products and services to be scalable and sustainable in a coronavirus and post-coronavirus economy. We have had to figure out quickly how we need to pivot in the delivery of our services to operate successfully in a contactless marketplace.
These solutions can be in favor of our future workforce, as this generation is comfortable with using technology. However, contactless environments can also have an extremely negative impact on individuals that rely on a face-to-face work environment and work-place socialization for stability. This is not necessarily realized until one is faced with contactless interaction for extended time. Young graduates must find ways to maintain stability, engage with their colleagues, network with peers, and learn to be productive regardless of their environment, as confidence in face-to-face work environments will take years to fully recover.
What type of skills will young Senior Content Managers need?
Montez King: Young graduates must first realize the new economy and distinguish between the old. This is key for recognizing needed skills beyond what counselors or parents may suggest.
The new economy reveals that more than 50 percent of the jobs in the US workforce will require performance validating credentials, something less than a four-year degree but more than a high school diploma. These needed credentials are skill-related rather than typical learning degrees (four-year degrees). This is due to an economy that relies heavily on practical and technical skills to remain or become competitive.
Despite an overwhelming demand for a skilled workforce, young graduates are choosing a path of learning credentials due to pressures from peers, family, and career counselors. The perception in the majority of our communities that a four-year degree holds an upper class distinction pushes our future workforce against the real needs of the new economy. In this new economy, "Cs" get degrees, but they do not necessarily get jobs.
Another existing challenge that must be explored to better understand the true skills needed to enter the workforce is tunnel learning. This is when someone focuses too heavily on a traditional occupation and does not acquire related skills. The new economy has shown that occupations are meshing together. This creates gray lines between occupations. Consequently, young graduates must be able to identify and understand the connectivity between occupations within their industry. Successful companies thrive by having a workforce that operates with seamless connectivity between needed skill sets.
In regard to actual skills needed, young graduates should attain skills (at some level) in technology, regardless of their occupation. This is because technology is or is becoming the cornerstone of everything. See below for technology duties associated with most occupations:
-Writing scripts to add additional functionality to most technology devices that support a business's operations
-Programming devices such as robots, machine tools, etc.
-Programming PLCs
-Networking devices
-Creating visual tools
-Data collection
-Contextualizing data
-Analyzing
-Writing queries
-Reporting
What experience really stands out on Senior Content Manager resumes?
Montez King: A resume stands out to an employer when a candidate is able to show that they can create an experience when they do not have actual experience on-the-job. This is when someone reverse engineers a product for better understanding and is able to gain practical experience and clearly explain that on their resume. Young graduates will not likely have enough real world experience, if any, so they need to create their own and highlight it on their resumes. This reveals true potential to their prospective employers.
What type of skills will young Senior Content Managers need?
Samantha Enslen: The biggest talent gap I see in my industry (B2B communications) is good writing skills. We can find good copy editors. But it's very difficult to find talented writers who have the brainpower to understand a complex IT, finance, or healthcare solution -- and then explain it clearly and succinctly. And explain it in a way that resonates with a sophisticated B2B customer. In the future, people who can do this will be worth their weight in gold.
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Senior Content Managers to find work opportunities?
Samantha Enslen: I'm not sure that writing and editing skills are limited to geography anymore. For example, all our B2B copywriting and editing work is done remotely. All our staff works remotely, from home offices in 8 different states. And most of our customers work from home, too. Moving forward, I think where editors and writers live will matter less and less.
How do you envision technology impacting Senior Content Managers in the next 5 years?
Samantha Enslen: Several technologies are making editing work more efficient. For example, some of our customers work in Google Docs rather than Microsoft Word. Docs have a "track changes" feature similar to Word's; it maintains multiple versions of a document, and it allows multiple people to review a document at the same time. We've also started using Adobe InCopy to proofread designed files, rather than marking up a PDF using Adobe Acrobat sticky notes. InCopy gives editors access to the text portions of a document while locking down the design elements. The increase in efficiency InCopy generates is astounding. Then there are consistency checkers like PerfectIt and Lingofy. They automate a lot of the mundane work involved in editing -- like checking for consistent hyphenation -- so editors can focus on higher-value tasks like increasing clarity and flow. I don't think technology will ever take the place of editors, but we can use it to make our work more efficient and more reliable.
What type of skills will young Senior Content Managers need?
Paula Ketter: According to the Association for Talent Development whitepaper, Bridging the Skills Gap: Workforce Development, the biggest current and future workplace skills gaps noted are in communication, critical thinking, and managerial and supervisory skills. Employees also must be able to understand and work with different technologies and have skills in problem solving, critical thinking, interpreting data, and strategically using digital information.
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Senior Content Manager job market given the pandemic?
Paula Ketter: There is momentum in the job market for skills-based training and skills-based hiring. Studies show that almost 70 percent of professionals think verified skills are more important than college education when job-seeking, and more than three quarters of hirers agree they are investing more toward hiring based on applicants' skills or competencies. That is increasing the need for certificates of achievement and badges to verify an employee's knowledge and skills.
This pandemic has put a strain on workers. Many have been laid off and furloughed, and that will force workers to reskill to different careers, or find more temporary, gig work to pay the bills. A lot of companies are reskilling their employees into different assignments to keep them or partnering with colleges or workforce development programs to train workers to fill open positions.
What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Senior Content Managers in the next 3-5 years?
Paula Ketter: According to ATD's Future of Work: Technology, Predictions, and Preparing the Workforce research report, the adoption of new technologies such as automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things will affect how employees perform their jobs. Technologies such as these may take over a few tasks employees perform as part of their jobs-and, in some cases, jobs may be replaced entirely.
E-learning's use in organizations is on the rise. It currently makes up between 21 and 40 percent of the median organization's learning portfolio, compared to between 1 and 20 percent five years ago, according to Association for Talent Development research. The COVID-19 pandemic is driving organizations to rethink how they provide learning to their employees.
And with that rise in e-learning comes the increase in use of podcasts, video, simulations, games, and virtual platforms.
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Senior Content Managers to find work opportunities?
Paula Ketter: Given that many organizations are re-evaluating whether employees will return to full-time office work, it is difficult to answer where in the United States graduates would find work in TD. From that lens, developing expertise in delivering virtual or hybrid learning solutions will be a critical component for future success in the field.