Strategic Content Editor (Contract-to-Hire)

The situation, honestly Our content department head is going on a planned leave in the near future. Before that happens, we need a senior editor in place who can hold the line on strategy and quality while she's out, then keep raising the bar when she's back. This starts as a contract role with a clear path to a full-time hire based on performance. We're not being coy about it: the leave is the reason for the speed, and the contract period is a working trial on both sides. If you do well, there's a permanent senior seat here with a benefits package. Because of that timeline, we need someone who can ramp fast and operate independently. You'll get a real onboarding, documented strategy, and a team that knows what it's doing. You will not get six months to find your footing. Who we are RGX is a digital marketing agency built for home service businesses: HVAC, pest control, plumbing, electrical, and the trades that keep homes running. Our clients are not hobby businesses. They’re doing $1.5M+ in annual revenue, investing in growth. We help serious service businesses get clearer about what they offer, sharper about who they serve, and more direct about why a customer should choose them. Strategy first. Every sentence accountable to the business it serves. What you'll actually do Review strategy before content exists. You'll read content briefs, keyword strategies, and funnel plans before writing starts, and pressure-test them. If the targeting is off, the search intent is misread, or the funnel logic doesn't hold, you catch it at the brief stage, not the draft stage. Edit for strategic alignment. Every draft gets checked against the strategy it was written to serve. You'll verify the copy matches the persona, the CTA fits the funnel stage, and the content actually satisfies the search intent we're targeting. Create editing standards where they don't exist. If you notice a recurring writing problem, a missing tone of voice guide, or a gap in our editorial process, you build the fix. You don't wait to be asked, and you don't file it as someone else's problem. You do pause long enough to get leadership and team buy-in, because a standard only works if the people using it helped shape it. Fix what's broken, and fix it with the team rather than around them. Spot ranking opportunities the brief missed. You read SERPs, not just drafts. If a piece could capture a featured snippet with a structural change, or a related keyword cluster is sitting there unclaimed, you flag it and adjust. Run quality control. You're the last set of eyes before content ships. Clarity, flow, tone, accuracy, brand voice, and the unglamorous stuff like internal links, metadata, and formatting. You'll help formalize our QA process so quality doesn't depend on any one person being in the room. Give writers feedback that makes them better. Direct, specific, actionable notes that explain the strategic reasoning, not just the correction. Our writers are good. Your job is to make them sharper. Where this goes This role exists because our content department is growing faster than one director can quality-control. The interim coverage is the immediate need. The real opportunity is what comes after. The person who succeeds here will help build the editorial function itself: the standards, the QA program, the feedback systems that let a team scale without quality slipping. As the department grows, this seat is positioned to grow into a leadership role, including mentoring and eventually managing editors. You'll be learning team leadership directly from the content director, with real responsibility from week one rather than a title and a waiting period. If you're a senior editor who has hit the ceiling at your current job, this is the next rung. Who does well in this role 5+ years editing strategic marketing content (SEO content, landing pages, email, PPC assets) in an agency or similar fast-moving environment. You've edited for performance outcomes, not just polish. You can read an SEO strategy document and find its weak points. Keyword selection, intent mapping, funnel logic, content architecture. This is fluency, not familiarity. You work independently by default. During the leave period, you'll be making editorial calls without a director to escalate to. You need the judgment to make those calls and the documentation habits to make them defensible. You're a genuine team player. Independent doesn't mean lone wolf. You'll be collaborating daily with writers, strategists, and PMs, and your feedback style needs to build trust fast. You're direct and kind in the same sentence. Writers should leave your edits better at their jobs, not deflated. You want more responsibility than your current role gives you. You've probably already been doing unofficial leadership work: mentoring writers, building processes nobody asked for, being the person the team actually goes to. You want a seat where that's the job description instead of the extra credit. How the role works Contract engagement to start, with conversion to full-time based on performance during the contract period. Fully remote. We'll need meaningful overlap with US Eastern Time business hours for collaboration. Competitive contract rate commensurate with experience ($3,000-$5,000 a month). Full-time conversion includes salary, benefits, PTO, and professional development budget.