Web Content Specialist

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 write, edit, and publish the web content for a Federal highway research program — public-facing research websites, internal SharePoint and Google Sites, project databases, and the user documentation that goes with them.

This is a content and editorial role, not a programming role. You work through content management system interfaces, not code. But you need real web fluency: SEO, accessibility, image handling, content structure, link integrity, and the discipline to keep hundreds of pages current and certified.

You will also train other people. Part of this job is writing effective training materials and delivering outreach training to staff on web standards, processes, and content quality — so the ability to explain things clearly to non-web people matters as much as the ability to do the work yourself.

Two positions are available. 

Responsibilities:

Education: Bachelor's degree in English, Communications, Marketing, Business, or a related discipline.

Experience: 5 to 7 years of experience in web content management, at least 3 years of which must fall within the last 5 years.

• Demonstrated experience writing and editing web content and web documentation.
• Demonstrated experience writing and editing training materials and delivering training to staff, using a presentation application.
• Demonstrated experience providing quality control over data and content.
• Demonstrated Section 508 accessibility compliance experience for web pages and documents.
• Web experience is required — this position cannot be filled by a writer without hands-on content management system experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Expertise in Drupal.
• Experience with SharePoint and Google Sites content administration.
• Experience in transportation, especially highway and surface transportation.
• Experience in a Federal web environment, including agency web governance and certification processes.
• Database content coordination experience.

Technical Skills and Competencies

• Hands-on content management system proficiency, Drupal in particular.
• Ability to use graphics applications to crop, recolor, resize, and manipulate web images.
• Working knowledge of search engine optimization for public-sector content.
• Accessibility testing and remediation for web pages and documents.
• Clear instructional writing and confident presentation delivery, in person and online.

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. 

Required Qualifications

Education: Master's degree in English, Journalism, or a technical field.

Experience: 

• 10 or more years of professional editorial experience, including supervisory and project management experience.
• Expert-level command of the U.S. Government Publishing Office Style Manual.
• Demonstrated experience editing complex technical documentation — research reports, technical manuals, or scientific publications.
• Demonstrated experience ensuring Section 508 accessibility compliance in published content.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in transportation, especially highway and surface transportation research.
• Experience in a Federal publishing environment or with a scientific or technical society press.
• Experience with the Chicago Manual of Style as a secondary authority.
• Experience mentoring or supervising a team of editors.

Technical Skills and Competencies

• Superior mastery of English grammar, punctuation, and typography.
• Proven ability to translate engineering and research language into content suitable for both technical audiences and public transparency.
• Meticulous attention to formatting, referencing, and copyright compliance.
• Working knowledge of online and web publishing workflows and content management systems.

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.