Lead Writer-Editor
Department: Legislative Branch
Location(s): Washington, District of Columbia
Salary Range: $121785 - $158322 Per Year
Job Summary: This position is located in the Publishing Office, Center for Exhibits and Interpretation, Chief of Staff, Office Of The Librarian. The position description number for this position is 377756. The salary range indicated reflects the locality pay adjustments for the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan area. The incumbent of this position will work a flexitime work schedule. This is a non-supervisory, non-bargaining unit position.
Major Duties:
- The position is located in the Publishing Office of the Center for Exhibits and Interpretation in the Office of the Librarian. The incumbent will report to the Director of Publishing. The incumbent serves as a Team Lead and works closely with the Director of Publishing and ensures that the editorial operation of the Library of Congress Publishing Office follows best practices in research, scholarship, writing and publishing. The incumbent oversees the editorial work of staff writer-editors, editorial assistants, freelancers, temporary employees, interns and fellows, guiding their projects and professional interactions with authors, co-publishers, Library staff and other stakeholders in the Library's cooperative publishing program. The incumbent oversees editorial content for a diverse portfolio of publishing projects that include books written by Publishing Office writer-editors, books written by other Library Staff, and books written by authors who do not work for the Library. The portfolio also includes nonbook items with significant editorial content. These items are known within the publishing industry as “sidelines,” these products include calendars, note cards, flash cards, puzzles, posters and other products that feature images of Library collections with accurate interpretive captions. The incumbent plays an essential role in coordinating and balancing a challenging workload among a small staff of experienced writer-editors to meet the Publishing Office's mission of showcasing the collections and services of the Library of Congress with creativity, innovation, accuracy and the highest levels of integrity in scholarship and editorial practice. Serves as a Team Leader. Articulates and communicates to the team the assignment, project, problem to be solved, actionable events, milestones, and/or program issues under review, and deadlines and time frames for completion. Identifies, distributes, and balances workload and tasks among employees in accord with established workflow, skill level, and/or occupational specialization. Makes adjustments to accomplish the workload in accord with established priorities to ensure timely accomplishment of assigned team tasks. Monitors and reports to the supervisor on the status and progress of work, checking on work in progress and reviewing completed work to ensure instructions on work priorities, methods, deadlines, and quality have been met. Answers questions from team members on procedures, policies, regulations, etc. Prepares reports and maintains records of work accomplishments and administrative information, as required, and coordinates the preparation, presentation, and communication of work-related information. Estimates and reports to the team on progress in meeting established milestones and deadlines for completing assignments, projects, and tasks. Ensures all team members are aware of and participate in planning for achievement of team goals and objectives. Manages a diverse portfolio of projects assigned to a small staff of writer-editors, editorial assistants, freelancers, occasional employees, interns, and fellows. Consults routinely with the Director of Publishing and editorial staff to ensure that editorial projects are assigned appropriately, managed efficiently, and delivered within established deadlines. Serves as lead editor for select publications and handles writing assignments as necessary. Works with Director of Publishing, editorial staff, and Administrative specialist to help ensure that print and digital project files include essential records and archives of essential components, including final manuscript, final print-ready PDFs, art logs, permission grants, citation records and other essential research notes, and copies of high-resolution art files. Works with Editorial Assistant to gather and organize files near the completion of each project and with the Administrative Specialist to periodically review/cull files and transfer appropriate documents to Records Management. Oversees the Publishing Office project database, archives, and library. Works with Editorial Assistant, Administrative Specialist, warehouse, and the Library Shop to monitor inventory of active titles and ensure adequate quantities are on hand for use by the Librarian's Office, the Development Office, Exhibitions, and other stakeholders. Works with Administrative Specialist and others as needed to initiate the purchase of additional inventory. Assists Director of Publishing with the development, negotiation, and successful execution of co- publishing agreements. Works with the Office of General Counsel to ensure that agreements reflect appropriate deadlines for the submission and review of content. Works with administrative specialist to ensure that all contracts are properly distributed and filed. Performs other duties as assigned. Relocation expenses will not be authorized for the person(s) selected under this vacancy announcement.
Qualifications: Applicants must have had progressively responsible experience and training sufficient in scope and quality to furnish them with an acceptable level of the following knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the duties of the position without more than normal supervision. Ability to interact collaboratively with others and provide consultation or liaison services to complete publishing projects.** Ability to lead a team of excellence effectively** Ability to prepare materials for publication.** Ability to apply editorial style guidelines. Ability to communicate effectively in writing. Ability to use information technology to perform writing duties. Ability to communicate effectively other than in writing.
How to Apply: Please carefully follow all instructions under the How to Apply tab to ensure you are considered for the position. Please note, there is no page restriction to your resume, and you are allowed to upload a resume longer than two pages in the resume section within the application process. When the application system prompts, please proceed to the agency site to complete your application. You are required to apply online for this announcement. We are unable to accept mailed or emailed documents. You must complete the entire application process, including submission of all documents BEFORE this announcement closes. To do so, complete the following steps. Step 1: If you do not already have one, create a resume and upload it to your profile in the "Resume" section. Although you must enter your Social Security Number for USAJOBS, this information will not be provided to the Library of Congress. Step 2: Review the Job Announcement. We recommend you go to the end of the Qualification and Evaluation section of the job announcement to preview the online questions that you will answer in Step 4. You may wish to customize your resume to ensure that it supports your responses to these questions. Step 3: Click on the "APPLY ONLINE" button to the right of this announcement. Follow USAJOBS' instructions to access your account. You will be redirected to the Hiring Management website to complete the application process. If this is your first time in Hiring Management, you will be asked to answer questions related to your eligibility for Federal employment. You will be able to update this information and save it to our account for future announcements. Step 4: Once you have completed the eligibility questions, you will be taken directly to the vacancy application questions. Answer all questions honestly and thoroughly. Step 5: Hiring Management offers one option that will electronically attach your documentation to your online application once you finish answering the questions in the job announcement. You may electronically upload a document directly from your computer to your application. Be certain to review your complete application for confirmation of the document uploaded and click on "Finished" to be returned to USAJOBS. IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have multiple documents of the same kind, e.g. 2 undergraduate transcripts from different schools or 2 SF-50s, etc., be sure that they are all in the same file on your computer. If you try uploading them individually, only the last one sent will be visible in our system. If you have any questions about this information, please contact the person on this announcement BEFORE the closing date. Step 6: Click on "Finish" after you have completed your application. Once you have submitted your application, you can check your status online through your Hiring Management or MY USAJOBS account. Your complete online application and any required supplemental documentation (e.g., SF-50, etc.) must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the closing date of the announcement. It is your responsibility to ensure that all documents are received on time and that the materials are readable. Failure to do so will result in your application being excluded from consideration for this announcement. If you are experiencing any technical difficulty with the online process, you MUST CONTACT THE POINT OF CONTACT FOR THIS ANNOUNCEMENT BEFORE THE CLOSING DATE. For all technical issues please contact jobhelp@loc.gov , no later than 4:00pm EST of the Closing Date. REQUESTS FOR EXTENSIONS WILL NOT BE GRANTED.
Application Deadline: 2026-05-15