After years of struggling to maintain up, content material groups face a brand new problem: deciding what to publish.
Writers, editors, and designers type the spine of a content material staff. Content material calendars get constructed across the staff’s manufacturing capability, and since time is at all times tight, AI has turn into the plain path to quicker output.
AI permits any advertising and marketing staff with a bank card and a immediate library to fill subsequent quarter’s calendar in simply days. HubSpot’s 2026 State of Advertising and marketing report discovered that 86.4% of selling groups use AI, with 42.5% reporting in depth use for content material creation. AI can be utilized for duties like drafting, outlining, summarizing, and modifying—all in minutes.
The result’s that groups have extra drafts than they’ll overview. Extra items are prepared for approval. Groups now have extra content material than they’ll handle. However who has the time to verify each piece doesn’t sound like each different AI-generated draft on the market?
The one that decides what will get printed and what stays hidden controls your entire course of. This position is usually referred to as a content material supervisor or editorial lead in lots of organizations. These roles have historically been employed to maintain the calendar full, handle freelancers, and transfer items via overview. These job descriptions concentrate on throughput: how a lot content material is produced, how briskly, and for which channel.
However many organizations nonetheless write the job descriptions for these roles as if it have been 2016. What most groups want now could be a managing editor—a task outlined by high quality and style, not throughput.
Quicker Work Nonetheless Wants Higher Judgment
With AI, what as soon as required per week from a staff can now be completed in a day. However there isn’t a easy plug-and-play answer for content material creation as a result of each group does it in another way. For instance, Klarna efficiently lowered gross sales and advertising and marketing company bills whereas boosting marketing campaign output. However these enhancements weren’t solely as a consequence of AI. They stemmed from revamping picture manufacturing, copywriting, and company workflows first. AI grew to become efficient solely after the encircling system was enhanced.
In different phrases, AI must be built-in into efficient human processes, reasonably than the reverse. At Constitution’s AI Summit, Microsoft’s Katy George famous a shift: “We used to concentrate to adoption, now we simply take note of efficiency.” The angle on AI adoption technique is related for content material operations, as elevated pace results in increased quantity. However this shift creates extra strain on these answerable for high quality. With every extra draft, danger is launched. And each piece that falls wanting the usual anticipated by customers can decrease how a model performs or is perceived.
The basic questions behind every bit stay unchanged.
- Is it value publishing? Does it mirror our voice?
- Does it add worth or detract from our work?
- Is the argument compelling or merely simple to digest?
- Will we be happy with it a 12 months from now?
For content material groups, AI is being deployed quicker than it’s being ruled. EY’s newest survey discovered that greater than half of AI tasks in departments are occurring with out correct supervision, and virtually 4 out of 5 leaders say they’ll’t sustain with the enterprise dangers that come from utilizing AI too shortly. What usually outcomes is an inconsistent voice and weakened editorial judgment and model requirements.
At Contently, the managing editor position is what closes that hole for our purchasers, holding work on-brand and on-standard as output scales. Six features outline the position. The managing editor:
- Units the publishing bar. Defines what “good” seems like for every asset kind, channel, and viewers, establishing the rubric towards which the whole lot else is measured.
- Stewards the model voice. Voice—the one factor a competitor can’t copy—is usually one of many first issues to float with AI. That drift must be caught early, earlier than it turns into a sample.
- Attracts the authorship line. Decides the place and when AI drafts are applicable and the place it by no means touches the web page. These selections are stay judgment calls that evolve alongside the instruments, reasonably than a static coverage filed away in a wiki.
- Carries institutional reminiscence. Is aware of what’s been stated, what didn’t land, what’s already been tried. Solely a human can maintain that type of data through the years.
- Interprets requirements into briefs that writers and instruments can truly execute. That is the operational bridge between style and manufacturing.
What You Don’t Publish Is Doing the Actual Work
Right here’s a lesson many groups have discovered as AI adoption continues in content material operations: when manufacturing is reasonable, items that by no means see the sunshine of day do the true work. Why? As a result of it offers these items which are most on-brand the highlight. A publication that ships much less however with a transparent standpoint builds a powerful readership over time. In distinction, a publication that releases extra to fill a calendar loses belief with each forgettable submit. Readers shortly discover the distinction.
Voice consistency is a beneficial asset. What a model shares defines it, multiplied throughout many touchpoints. Groups that really feel this most are those that’ve seen a powerful voice fade as a consequence of excessive quantity. Over a 12 months or two, readers might cease recognizing it.
The managing editor focuses on decision-making, not simply manufacturing. They select what the publication will endorse and, equally vital, what it gained’t.
What to Rent For
Seven traits to search for:
- Voice stewardship. Hears drift early, earlier than it turns into a sample.
- AI fluency for triage. Is aware of which drafts to belief, which to ship again, and which to scrap, and might clarify why in every case.
- Temporary translation. Turns editorial requirements into operational standards that writers and instruments can run towards.
- Institutional persistence. Treats the publication as a long-term mission reasonably than a quarterly marketing campaign.
- Cross-functional authority. Holds the road with advertising and marketing, product, authorized, and management with out relitigating each piece.
- A reader’s ear. Can inform when a sentence is fluent however hole, or technically appropriate however off-key.
- Willingness to be unpopular internally. The job requires saying no to individuals with extra organizational weight than the editor has, so rent somebody who’s carried out it earlier than.
What This Appears Like in Observe
Contently has been serving purchasers for years, even earlier than the present quantity difficulty. Managing editors work carefully with in-house groups. They ask for pitches, assign briefs, and edit every bit to suit the model’s voice and technique.
The effectiveness of this setup lies in its construction. One particular person makes the ultimate name, guaranteeing every bit aligns with the shopper’s technique.
Right this moment, anybody can create content material. What is going to outline a model in 5 years is a novel standpoint that endures via the AI period. That endurance will separate one publication from one other as quantity turns into free and high quality stays uncommon.
Nonetheless, survival isn’t assured. It depends on somebody within the group who’s paid, trusted, and empowered to resolve what will get printed. Most content material groups have writers and instruments. What they lack is a devoted decision-maker, as a result of judgment would be the key constraint in 2026 and past.
Often Requested Questions
What does a managing editor truly do {that a} content material supervisor doesn’t?
A content material supervisor is normally measured by throughput—items shipped, deadlines hit, calendar crammed. A managing editor is measured by judgment: what made the lower, what didn’t, and whether or not the publication nonetheless appears like itself a 12 months in. The 2 roles overlap in operations however diverge in authority.
Why does this position matter extra now than it did 5 years in the past?
As a result of manufacturing is not the bottleneck. When any staff can generate a month of drafts in a day, the constraint shifts to deciding what’s value publishing. That call is the place model voice lives or dies.
Can AI change a managing editor?
No. AI can draft, define, and summarize, however it will possibly’t maintain years of context about what a publication has stated, what’s landed, and what sounds off-brand. That type of institutional reminiscence continues to be a human job.
What’s the one most vital trait to rent for?
A reader’s ear—the power to inform when a sentence is fluent however hole or technically appropriate however off-key. Many of the different traits might be taught.
