Senior Technical Editor

Position Overview

Location: Hybrid; McLean, VA and Washington, DC

Travel: Limited local travel and occasional CONUS travel as required

Background Investigation: Must be eligible to obtain and maintain required USDOT facility and network access

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday during standard business hours with flexibility to support accelerated publication schedules and priority deliverables

Employment Type: Full-Time

Key Responsibilities

• Lead editorial operations supporting FHWA research publications, reports, articles, manuals, newsletters, web content, and communications products.
• Provide oversight and mentorship to Technical Editors and Technical Writer-Editors.
• Manage editorial workflows, production schedules, and quality review processes.
• Perform substantive editing, copyediting, proofreading, fact-checking, and final quality reviews of technical and non-technical content.
• Ensure compliance with the GPO Style Manual, Chicago Manual of Style, FHWA communication standards, and other applicable publishing requirements.
• Verify technical accuracy, consistency, readability, grammar, formatting, and logical flow across communications products.
• Coordinate with researchers, engineers, authors, reviewers, graphic designers, web specialists, and Government stakeholders throughout the publication process.
• Review references, citations, permissions, trademarks, copyrights, and supporting documentation.
• Support public release approvals and publication review workflows.
• Establish and maintain editorial quality standards and quality assurance procedures.
• Ensure publications and communications products meet Section 508 accessibility requirements.
• Manage multiple concurrent projects and support compressed deadlines when required.
• Identify opportunities to improve editorial processes, consistency, and production efficiency.
• Maintain version control and document management throughout all stages of production.

Required Qualifications

• Master's degree in English, Journalism, Communications, Technical Writing, or a related field.
• Minimum 10 years of professional experience in technical editing, publication management, or editorial services.
• Demonstrated experience leading editorial teams and managing publication workflows.
• Expert knowledge of the GPO Style Manual and Chicago Manual of Style.
• Experience editing complex technical, scientific, engineering, research, or policy-related publications.
• Strong knowledge of grammar, punctuation, proofreading, formatting, and content quality standards.
• Experience managing projects through multiple review cycles and stakeholder approval processes.
• Experience supporting both print and digital publication environments.
• Strong organizational, analytical, and communication skills.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and document collaboration tools.

Preferred Qualifications

• FHWA, USDOT, or other Federal civilian agency publication experience.
• Transportation, infrastructure, engineering, or research communications experience.
• Advanced experience supporting Section 508 accessibility compliance and Federal publishing requirements.