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

What is a senior writer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Experts

Allison Harl Ph.D.,

Gayle Rogers

If you are the Head Designer, you will design the creative vision for a company. You will work for the design team and the entire organization. You will provide the vision for the company and set the bar for quality. As the Head Designer, you will handle projects by being creative, have managerial, operations, and good communication skills.

You will contribute to the development of brand definition and ensure that the team follows directions. You will need at least a bachelor's degree in design, computer graphics, or art. Experience as an assistant designer or senior designer is also good. You can make a median salary of $118,000 as a Head Designer.

What general advice would you give to a Senior Writer?

Allison Harl Ph.D.

Associate Professor of English English Program Coordinator, Ferrum College

Develop as many multimedia skills as possible. Writing in the 21st century is about visual rhetoric as well as just words on a page.

ScoreSenior WriterUS Average

Salary

6.3

Avg. Salary $80,145

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.2

Growth Rate 4%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.36%

Asian 4.94%

Black or African American 5.96%

Hispanic or Latino 7.66%

Unknown 5.60%

White 75.48%

Gender

female 44.20%

male 55.80%

Age - 41

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 - 41

Stress Level

6.2

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.5

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

5.5

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a senior writer

Explore senior writer education requirements

Most common senior writer degrees

Bachelor's

78.7 %

Master's

14.1 %

Associate

3.8 %

Start to develop specific senior writer skills

Skills	Percentages
Project Management	8.16%
Web Content	7.61%
WordPress	7.04%
PowerPoint	5.36%
Content Strategy	4.87%

Complete relevant senior writer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New senior writers 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 writer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real senior writer resumes.

Research senior writer duties and responsibilities

Manage agency's web site and Facebook page.
Volunteer to manage the company s intranet content, learning basic HTML coding.
Manage staff & contract writers, editors & proofreaders on large content and copywriting projects.
Manage publication review process, including technical and editorial review by in-house and outside reviewers.

Get senior writer experience

Generally, it takes 1-2 years to become a senior writer. The most common roles before becoming a senior writer include writer and editor, reporter team lead and editor.

Prepare your senior writer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your senior writer 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 writer 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 Writer Resume templates

Build a professional Senior Writer 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 Writer resume.

Apply for senior writer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a senior writer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do senior writers rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

Senior Writer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on May 2019

Pros

Creative freedom (in the right company) to conceptualise ideas and craft clever word pairings.