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

What is a senior technical editor and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Shane Tilton Ph.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a senior technical editor. For example, did you know that they make an average of $29.03 an hour? That's $60,374 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -5% and produce -5,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

What's a day at work look like for a senior technical editor?

Shane Tilton Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Multimedia Journalism, Ohio Northern University

This line of evidence is pointing to one central truth. Those that practiced multimedia journalism techniques before the pandemic will find success now. Also, organizations are looking for those graduates that can be a "one-stop-shop" for producing stories from home. I don't believe that trend will change. This trend also addresses the third question. Graduates are leaving colleges better prepared to use computer-mediated communication tools to complete their jobs' essential tasks. They understand how to be engaging and communicate effectively via their more contemporary communication tools.

ScoreSenior Technical EditorUS Average

Salary

4.7

Avg. Salary $60,374

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 7.04%

Black or African American 3.49%

Hispanic or Latino 7.86%

Unknown 4.55%

White 76.79%

Gender

female 55.18%

male 44.82%

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 senior technical editor

Explore senior technical editor education requirements

Most common senior technical editor degrees

Bachelor's

73.6 %

Master's

16.1 %

Associate

5.8 %

Start to develop specific senior technical editor skills

Skills	Percentages
Technical Documentation	7.84%
Technical Editing	6.73%
Subject Matter Experts	6.66%
Proofread	6.32%
Proofreading	5.29%

Complete relevant senior technical editor training and internships

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

Research senior technical editor duties and responsibilities

Identify and initiate wholesale computer upgrade to accommodate new CMS while allocating and managing staff resources devote to developing the software.
Create, maintain, and post documents to the Internet in HTML, SHTML, Wiki, and XML formats.
Maintain the release notes on the web, using HTML to provide ongoing/daily updates.
Assess XML authoring tools in preparation for migrating FrameMaker documents to a modular, reusable, structure authoring environment.

Get senior technical editor experience

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

Prepare your senior technical editor resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your senior technical 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 senior technical 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 senior technical editor resume templates

Build a professional senior technical 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 senior technical editor resume.