Senior Technical Editor

Level: Senior Location: Mc. Lean, VA / Washington, DC (onsite and offsite support as authorized by the customer). Clearance: No Clearance Required . However the agency will conduct a National Agency Check and Inquiries (with fingerprinting), which consists of searches of records covering specific areas of a person's background during the past five (5) years.

Those inquiries are sent to current and past employers, schools attended, references, and local law enforcement authorities.

Education

Master’s degree in English, Journalism, or a technical field Outcomes: The successful candidate is expected to accomplish the following outcomes in the first year on the position:

• Deliver accurate, high-quality, accessible, and timely products and services that meet FHWA requirements and support positive Government performance feedback.
• Identify and resolve quality, coordination, schedule, or technical issues early enough to prevent customer or mission impact.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the entire editorial process for high-stakes technical documentation, ensuring stylistic consistency across large-scale programs and mentoring junior staff.
• Transform raw data and engineering jargon into authoritative documents that meet the stringent requirements of the agency, including reference checking, fact checking, and ensuring copyright compliance.
• Conduct substantive editing, verify technical accuracy, and ensure compliance with agency style guides for all documents, reports, and manuals.
• Apply and enforce the GPO Style Manual, Chicago Manual of Style, FHWA guidance, Section 508 accessibility requirements, and copyright/permission requirements.
• Review complex schematics, tables, figures, references, and supporting content for integration, consistency, accuracy, and readability.
• Manage the full lifecycle of a document from outline to final publication including online and web publishing.
• Mentor and provide quality oversight to junior editors and writers and assign editorial work based on schedule and complexity.
• Coordinate with authors, researchers, technical SMEs, designers, project managers, Public Affairs, legal reviewers, and other stakeholders Qualifications:
• 10+ years of progressively responsible professional experience in technical editing, writing, publishing, or related editorial work.
• Supervisory and project management experience supporting complex editorial and publication workflows.
• Expert-level command of English grammar, substantive editing, copyediting, proofreading, and Federal publishing standards.
• Expert knowledge of the GPO Style Manual and ability to apply Section 508 accessibility requirements to online and web products.
• Ability to work independently and manage high-stakes documents from initial development through final publication. The following qualifications are desired:
• Transportation experience, especially highway or surface transportation research.
• Federal technical publishing experience.
• Experience editing large technical reports, manuals, and complex engineering content. Travel: Continental U.S. (CONUS) travel may be required to attend customer meetings, program reviews, stakeholder engagements, training events, conferences, production activities, or mission-related activities as directed.