Publications Specialist Level 2 — Magazine Editor

SSI-Venesco JV LLC • Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, McLean, VA / FHWA Headquarters, Washington, DC • Full-time • Contingent upon contract award

About the Role

You will run a Federal agency's flagship full-color quarterly magazine — a publication read by transportation professionals worldwide, including State and local transportation officials, researchers, industry leaders, academia, and members of Congress.

This is a senior role that combines the logistics of a quarterly publication cycle with high-level editorial judgment. Multiple issues run concurrently, so you will be closing one issue, producing another, and planning a third at the same time. You own the production schedule, the approval chain, and the final quality of what goes out the door.

You are also the connective tissue of the program: between authors and designers, between technical reviewers and legal counsel, between the editorial calendar and the marketing calendar.

Responsibilities:

Lifecycle and production management

• Oversee the complete magazine lifecycle for four issues per year — feature articles, regular departments, and special thematic issues.
• Establish and hold production schedules, manage the publication cycle, and systematically track article versions through the full approval chain.
• Coordinate and manage resources so each issue delivers by its due date while multiple issues run concurrently.

Editorial and writing

• Provide high-level editorial support at all stages of production, assisting with content development and promotional materials.
• Develop and write or edit feature articles, department content, announcements, summaries, and associated communications products.
• Apply strict version control and quality assurance throughout editing and document production.

Story development and coordination

• Gather and track story ideas, conduct interviews to verify or gather information, and organize stories across issues.
• Compile a summary of proposed featured stories for Editorial Board review. Work with authors to ensure all necessary materials are received, arrange technical reviews, and validate that review feedback was incorporated.
• Coordinate with printing specialists, copyright liaisons, Section 508 compliance officers, public affairs specialists, writers, editors, visual designers, and web developers.

Compliance and quality control

• Ensure every article and the complete magazine adhere to the GPO Style Manual, the Chicago Manual of Style, the TFHRC RD&T Communication Reference Guide, and Section 508 accessibility requirements.
• Confirm all necessary sign-offs and approvals are secured before public release, including management, legal counsel, and public affairs.
• Manage complex review processes involving multiple stakeholders with competing timelines.

Distribution and archive

• Manage the administrative aspects of distribution and formatting specifications.
• Support posting the magazine to the web and distributing it through the agency's subscription platform.
• Deliver an archive package of digital files for each issue — a web file, a file copy, and any additional archive copies including layout files, fonts, and images.
• Monitor mailboxes and customer feedback mechanisms, respond to inquiries, and maintain project spreadsheets and reviewer contact lists.

 Required Qualifications

Education: 

• Bachelor's degree in Communications, English, Journalism, or a closely related field. A Master's degree or an equivalent advanced professional certification is highly desirable.

Experience: 

• A minimum of 7 to 10 years of progressively responsible experience in editorial and publication management.
• A proven track record of overseeing the production of a periodical, preferably a technical or specialty publication such as a transportation or research journal.
• Demonstrated experience managing a recurring publication cycle end to end, including production scheduling and version tracking through a multi-stakeholder approval chain.
• Demonstrated Section 508 compliance experience in published content.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with a Federal or Government-sponsored publication.
• Experience in transportation, especially highway and surface transportation research.
• Experience coordinating with a design and layout team working in Adobe InDesign.
• Experience conducting author and subject matter expert interviews to develop feature content.

Technical Skills and Competencies

• Expertise in project management for recurring publication cycles.
• Advanced proficiency in substantive editing, copyediting, and proofreading.
• Deep understanding of Section 508 compliance and Federal publishing standards.
• Ability to manage complex approval workflows and coordinate between technical and creative teams.
• Comfort with editorial tracking systems, spreadsheets, and database reporting.

Location, Schedule, and Credentialing

• Onsite at TFHRC in McLean, VA and/or FHWA Headquarters in Washington, DC, with offsite work permitted subject to client approval.
• Business hours fall between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, with a one-half hour unpaid lunch. Full-time baseline is 1,880 productive hours per year.
• Unclassified position. A USDOT badge is required, which means a favorable HSPD-12 / PIV background check at the low risk / non-sensitive level — a National Agency Check with Inquiries including fingerprinting, covering the past five years. Work cannot begin until FHWA Personnel Security authorizes the candidate to report.

How to Apply

• Submit a résumé of no more than two pages that clearly states your education, your years of relevant experience, and the specific programs and products you worked on.
• Include a portfolio or work samples — publications, layouts, articles, campaigns, videos, or live web pages you personally produced. Redact anything not cleared for public release.
• Be prepared to sign a letter of intent to accept employment contingent upon contract award, and to undergo a Federal background investigation.