What are the responsibilities and job description for the Copy QA Specialist position at The J.M. Smucker Co.?
Your Opportunity as the Copy QA Specialist
If you can find what's grammatically wrong with this job posting, you might be the person we're looking for.
We're seeking a detail-obsessed critical thinker to join our in-house agency, Seed Creative, and help execute stellar marketing content for iconic brands. Why the unusual job title, you ask? Because "Proofreader" would only begin to cover it.
With a deep focus on quality assurance (QA), this expert will be the primary steward of nuanced and ever-evolving copy guidelines, a hands-on copy editor and, potentially, the person entering content into its final destination, ensuring it shows up as intended. The ideal candidate is a technician by nature, with the writing and reasoning skills to fill certain tactical copy needs when given guidance. They have the cognitive agility to navigate content of varying complexity, and enough comparable experience to dive right into the role with confidence.
The Copy QA Specialist will support corporate communications as well as our individual brands, including frozen handheld foods, spreads, coffee, sweet baked snacks and pet food/snacks. As a part of Seed Creative & Design, they will help shape and protect the world's perceptions of these brands.
The content reviewed will span a variety of forms. These may include (but are not limited to) digital ads, ecommerce product descriptions, social media content, website content, signage and in-store displays, print ads, sell sheets, brochures and other collateral.
Location: Orrville, Corporate Offices
Work Arrangements: Hybrid - onsite a minimum of 9 days a month primarily during core weeks as determined by the Company; maybe more as business need requires
In This Role, You Will
We are bold, kind, strive to do the right thing, we play to win, and we believe in a strong community that thrives together. Our culture is rooted in our Basic Beliefs, and we believe in supporting every employee by meeting their physical, emotional, and financial needs.
Minimum Requirements
What we are looking for:
If you can find what's grammatically wrong with this job posting, you might be the person we're looking for.
We're seeking a detail-obsessed critical thinker to join our in-house agency, Seed Creative, and help execute stellar marketing content for iconic brands. Why the unusual job title, you ask? Because "Proofreader" would only begin to cover it.
With a deep focus on quality assurance (QA), this expert will be the primary steward of nuanced and ever-evolving copy guidelines, a hands-on copy editor and, potentially, the person entering content into its final destination, ensuring it shows up as intended. The ideal candidate is a technician by nature, with the writing and reasoning skills to fill certain tactical copy needs when given guidance. They have the cognitive agility to navigate content of varying complexity, and enough comparable experience to dive right into the role with confidence.
The Copy QA Specialist will support corporate communications as well as our individual brands, including frozen handheld foods, spreads, coffee, sweet baked snacks and pet food/snacks. As a part of Seed Creative & Design, they will help shape and protect the world's perceptions of these brands.
The content reviewed will span a variety of forms. These may include (but are not limited to) digital ads, ecommerce product descriptions, social media content, website content, signage and in-store displays, print ads, sell sheets, brochures and other collateral.
Location: Orrville, Corporate Offices
Work Arrangements: Hybrid - onsite a minimum of 9 days a month primarily during core weeks as determined by the Company; maybe more as business need requires
In This Role, You Will
- Collaborate regularly with project managers, copywriters, designers, external partners and potentially vendors
- Actively maintain records of continually changing copy rules, specifications and guidelines by brand and medium, keeping documentation organized and the copy team informed of changes
- Help maintain templates for frequently executed media tactics, both optimizing and adapting templates to specification changes
- Review creative content for compliance with rules/specs/guidelines and legal guidance; general accuracy and consistency; alignment to the creative brief; and potential clarity or user experience (UX) concerns
- Select and adapt/combine/augment previously approved lines of copy to fulfill low-complexity content requests
- Edit long-form copy provided by partners and/or adapt it for a given context
- Implement simple, clear-cut copy changes as directed (e.g., addressing low-complexity client feedback)
- Create and organize additional versions of copy from a provided base version in order to support different product sizes, flavors, offer details, etc.
- Transfer content from Word documents into PowerPoint presentation templates and ensure proper formatting
- Potentially enter copy directly into retailer ad/page builders, syndication platforms and/or brand websites' content management systems (CMS)
- Maintain awareness of ongoing developments in industry tools, including artificial intelligence, and consider how they can be utilized to create efficiencies
- Collaborate with managers and others to identify new ways of enhancing efficiency and quality — always evaluating, testing, and learning
We are bold, kind, strive to do the right thing, we play to win, and we believe in a strong community that thrives together. Our culture is rooted in our Basic Beliefs, and we believe in supporting every employee by meeting their physical, emotional, and financial needs.
Minimum Requirements
What we are looking for:
- Bachelor's degree
- 4 years of professional experience in roles with transferrable skills (such as proofreader, English teacher, librarian, journalist, technical writer, editorial assistant, administrative assistant, paralegal or legal assistant, etc.)
- Exceptional grammar, spelling and punctuation
- Outstanding attention to detail
- Strong organizational skills and the agility to track and implement evolving guidelines
- Excellent written and oral communication skills
- Capacity to consider details as well as context, viewing each piece of content holistically
- Critical thinking skills and a willingness to "poke holes" and raise questions
- Strong sense of urgency and ability to maintain excellence while meeting fast-paced deadlines
- Self-starter with proven ability to balance multiple projects at once
- Ability to review/edit content and provide feedback exclusively via digital formats (without physical printouts)
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office programs (Word, PowerPoint, Outlook and some Excel) or ability to learn quickly
- Ability and willingness to learn additional programs, such as retailer ad builders, as needed
- Degree in English, Communications, Teaching or another relevant field
- Prior ad/marketing agency experience
- Experience using Monday.com or similar project management software
- Experience entering content into ad builders and/or content management systems (CMS)
- Foundational knowledge of digital user experience (UX) best practices
- Familiarity with consumer-packaged goods, especially food, beverage and pet brands
- Helping our Employees Thrive
- Delivering on Our Purpose
- Our Continued Commitment to Ensuring a Workplace for All
