Team Lead Copywriter

Team Lead Copywriter

Location: Onsite
Employment Type: Full-Time

About the Company

Our client is South Africa's #1 provider of brand product content solutions, delivering high-volume, high-quality content for leading retailers and consumer brands. They are seeking an experienced Team Lead Copywriter to oversee a team of copywriters while driving content excellence, operational efficiency, and continuous improvement.

Role Overview

The Team Lead Copywriter will be responsible for managing and developing a small team of copywriters, ensuring the delivery of accurate, engaging, and commercially effective content. This role requires a strong leader who remains hands-on with copy development while driving team performance, maintaining quality standards, and keeping the business ahead of industry trends and best practices.

Key Responsibilities

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead, mentor, and manage a team of copywriters.
• Provide ongoing coaching, feedback, and performance management.
• Foster a collaborative, accountable, and high-performing team culture.
• Ensure workloads are appropriately allocated and managed across the team.
• Support recruitment, onboarding, and development of copywriting talent.

Copywriting & Content Quality

• Oversee the creation, editing, and approval of content across multiple product categories and channels.
• Ensure all copy aligns with brand guidelines, tone of voice, and client requirements.
• Maintain exceptional standards of accuracy, consistency, and quality.
• Act as the final quality control point for key content deliverables.
• Provide hands-on support for complex or high-priority content projects.

Workflow & Project Management

• Manage content production schedules and team capacity.
• Ensure all deadlines, SLAs, and client commitments are consistently met.
• Monitor project progress and proactively resolve challenges.
• Implement and refine processes to improve efficiency and content output.
• Work closely with internal stakeholders to ensure smooth delivery of projects.

Industry & Content Leadership

• Stay abreast of industry developments, digital content trends, AI tools, SEO best practices, and evolving consumer behaviour.
• Drive innovation and continuous improvement within the copywriting function.
• Introduce new approaches, tools, and best practices to enhance content quality and team productivity.
• Serve as the subject matter expert for copywriting and content-related matters.

Requirements

Experience

• Minimum 2+ years' professional copywriting experience.
• Previous experience leading or supervising a copywriting, content, or editorial team.
• Experience working within retail, FMCG, e-commerce, publishing, agency, or content production environments.
• Proven track record of managing multiple projects and deadlines simultaneously.

Skills & Competencies

• Exceptional writing, editing, and proofreading skills.
• Strong leadership and people management ability.
• Excellent organisational and project management skills.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
• Strong attention to detail and quality control.
• Commercial understanding of brand and product content.
• Knowledge of SEO and digital content best practices is advantageous.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

Ideal Candidate

A highly capable copywriting leader who combines strong technical writing expertise with proven people management skills. They are proactive, commercially minded, and able to drive team performance while ensuring content quality, consistency, and on-time delivery in a fast-paced content production environment.