The Congressional Budget Office is a small nonpartisan agency that provides economic and budgetary analysis to the Congress to aid in policy decisions. The Management, Business, and Information Services division, which provides editorial and publishing services for the agency, seeks an editor with extraordinary talent—someone who can see both the forest and the trees, who can transform drafts if necessary and can catch small errors that others miss. The job involves making analytical and technical reports clear and accessible to a broad audience, including Members of Congress, Congressional staff, researchers, and other members of the public. The work routinely entails substantive editing, copyediting, and proofreading but also includes reviewing and reorganizing drafts, providing writing assistance, and rewriting portions of drafts.
Qualifications
Candidates must have at least four years of experience in editing professional publications and a bachelor’s or advanced degree, preferably in English or another field within the humanities. They must have broad editorial skills––ranging from being able to reliably guide authors in writing and organizing drafts, to making complex and difficult drafts clear and graceful, to proofreading with a superior eye for detail. They must thoroughly understand English grammar and syntax and should be sensitive to style and to nuances of tone and meaning in writing and editing. Experience with technical subjects and quantitative information presented in tables and graphs is required.
Strong interpersonal skills are important. So is the ability to be comfortable and effective in a process for composition and review that involves suggestions and changes from many people. Candidates must able to work comfortably within a desktop publishing system, they must be able to handle pressing tasks under deadlines, and they must have the flexibility to work some evenings and weekends, as necessary.
Salary and Benefits
Salary is competitive and will be commensurate with experience, education, and other qualifications. CBO offers excellent benefits and a collegial, respectful work environment.
How to Apply
Please submit a cover letter, résumé, salary history, at least one editing sample (see the FAQs on CBO’s website for a description), and contact information for three references at www.cbo.gov/careers. This position is covered by the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 as made applicable to CBO by the Congressional Accountability Act, as amended.
Contact
Angela Smart or Nancy Fahey, Washington, DC, 202-226-2628, careers@cbo.gov