Content Writer

Overview:

At ACT Your Work Makes a Difference

Education has power – a power that changes lives forever. It creates opportunities that lift up individuals, their families, and sparks societal change that echoes through generations to come. From our grassroots we have fought the good fight for equity in education, and we remain devoted to helping anyone who struggles to access that power. This is what matters to us and we must do better -- we’ve never been more sure of our purpose.

ACT Education Corp. team members are part of an organization dedicated to an important mission:  Helping people achieve education and workplace success.  Advancing the mission internally, by helping team members achieve education and workplace success of their own, is core to our values. ACT values a diverse workplace and is committed to fostering an inclusive, equitable environment in which every team member has an opportunity to grow.

We are seeking a Content Writer to help us fulfill that mission. The Content Writer facilitates the development of cross-product content and content-implementation strategies, working extensively with product leadership, product managers, and operations delivery teams to develop operational content plans, test administration materials, web pages, emails, and training resources. Strong writing and editorial skills, experience with various publishing platforms, and project management competencies are significant components of this role. This role also requires a deep understanding of the similarities and differences of all ACT products to plan and roll out content that meets ACT’s complex product and audience needs, using appropriate communication platforms.

The finalist will be hired at the salary and level commensurate with their qualifications.  We anticipate offering a market competitive annual salary in the range of $65,000 to $75,000 depending on experience.  ACT manages salaries within the range based on relevant factors including, skills, experience, and internal equity.  The position is/is not incentive eligible.

We want our team members to have the well-being and confidence they need to do their best work, in an environment where both they and the company thrive.  To support this, our total rewards include company paid life insurance, medical, dental, vision, flexible spending accounts, 401(k) with company contributions, paid holidays, paid time off, and so much more.  You can find a comprehensive list of our benefits here.  

***This is a Project Based/Fixed-Term position that has an end date of August 31, 2026***

Location: Remote (can also be onsite or hybrid if in Iowa City, Iowa area)

A Day in the Life (What you’ll be doing):

• Developing and organizing content for customers implementing one or more ACT products.
• Ensuring assigned content is appropriately developed, edited, reviewed, and approved.
• Creating content that meets customer expectations and needs for quality and accuracy.
• Developing, managing, and prioritizing deliverables during content production.
• Publishing or posting content within identified timelines to various communication channels.
• Engaging key stakeholders in planning for enhancements to content during optimization phases, including the determining the impact of deliverables, making recommendations on platform(s) to use, working with stakeholders to ensure awareness and/or buy-in as needed, and creating documents that meet accessibility requirements for structure (tagging) and alternative text.
• Maintaining content in and/or manages migration efforts into the component content management system and ensures content is distributed to various communication channels as appropriate.
• Translating high-level product requirements, communications schedules, and frameworks into detailed, executable content plans.
• Applying project management principles to maintain timely and efficient content development cycles.

Role Progression:

• Within 1 month you will feel comfortable as a member of the writing team, begin to understand the work we do, start to develop relationships with individuals across the organization, and have a high-level understanding of ACT's products and customers. You will begin producing content under the supervision of a senior team member.

• Within 3 months you will have a solid understanding of what ACT does and how your work supports the ACT mission. You will start to develop content more independently, with less intervention, and you will begin supporting the work of the team scrum master.

• Within 6 months you will have a clearer picture of how to work in various content platforms and the different content types that are produced in them. You will be producing content independently, with support when needed, and the team and the individuals you interact with across the organization will see you as a valued member.

About You:

• A minimum of three years of experience developing operational communications required.
• Excellent proofreading ability and strong attention to detail.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Adobe Acrobat.
• Ability to edit and create content that adheres to accessibility standards.
• Capability to turn around high volume of work with focus on quality and timeliness.
• Communicates effectively in oral and written formats; strong working knowledge of graphic design and visual presentation.
• Collaborates and contributes in a fast-paced environment with diverse perspectives; is a strong team player who possesses excellent interpersonal skills.
• Takes responsibility and follows through on commitments; acknowledges and learns from mistakes without blaming others; recognizes the impact of one's behavior.
• Understands and protects intellectual property.
• Self-development. Remains current in area of expertise; seeks opportunities to expand and grow skills.
• Information literacy. Uses subject matter knowledge and skills to effectively acquire and apply information.
• Project management. Manages projects and navigates positively in an environment experiencing change at a fast pace.
• Uses self-starter approach; ability to multi-task; proactively anticipates and acts on information and details needed; willingness and ability to learn.
• Organization. Effectively organizes and prioritizes to meet business needs on established timelines.  
• Applies continuous improvement methodologies to existing processes and programs; strong problem-solving and critical thinking skills.
• Skills and knowledge required for success in this position attained through experience and education (Bachelor’s Degree in English, Communications, Journalism, or a related field elated field of study), or a combination of both

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in a successful educational organization.
• Working knowledge of SharePoint and Salesforce platforms.
• Experience using Adobe Pro reviewing and accessibility tools.
• Experience with Adobe Creative Suite (including InDesign).
• Experience working with markup languages (for example, XML, HTML).
• Experience working in an Agile development environment.
• Working knowledge of Jira and Confluence.
• Knowledge of web and pdf accessibility tools, formatting, and requirements.
• Skills in accessibility testing and remediation strategies.

When ACT was founded in 1959, it disrupted the assessment industry with a new approach to helping students better understand their readiness so they could take steps to improve it.  By leveraging our expertise and authority in assessment and research, we will again disrupt the industry—helping more people learn, better measure their progress, and improve their navigation through life’s transitions. 

More than ever before, ACT is fulfilling its mission of helping people achieve education and workplace success. We’re doing it by pushing the boundaries of learning innovation through the work of our people, who we call team members because we’re all in this together.

We know transformation does not come without challenge. That’s why ACT invests in a variety of experiences for team members to strengthen their connections, explore ideas, learn from customers, and celebrate success.

Learn more about working at ACT at act.org!

ACT is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. ACT values diversity in people and ideas and participates in E-verify. ACT's online position announcements are intended only to provide general descriptions of employment opportunities; none of the information provided for any position should be interpreted as a commitment by ACT to specific terms and conditions for employment.

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