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Separate editors are better. If you can't hire separate editors, have peer reviews. Same person writing and reviewing their own work is not ideal. Best to have these folks on payroll because most content deadlines are ASAP, which you wont be able to fulfil with contractual employees especially if they're non-exclusive.

I second whatever Aniruddh said about the writer being editor. Lot of unconscious/conscious biases and blind spots can hamper the editing process and quality of content if writer themselves edit their work. w.r.t to payroll or contract, i have seen both work, I have personally preferred inhouse and on payroll always. som points to consider: 1. If you plan to scale the process and onboard a team of writers, better to keep editors also on payroll and inhouse. their relationship can make or break the process/goals. 2. if there is a predictable/repeatable content calendar which you can give good headway for and handover dates can plan well in advance, on-contract editors work well as well 3. if on contract, do not compromise on onboarding to culture/communication principles and product; don’t stop at onboarding only on content guidelines/brand guidelines.

In consensus with Aniruddh. If you plan to scale your content as well as the team that produces it - it's best to have at least one editor as a part of the in-house production team. While writers are expected to possess editing skills, it isn't wise to expect them to spend hours editing drafts. Editors can do what they do best , enabling consistency in messaging and positioning. Simply put, editing is super important and having an editor aboard always benefits. Glad that you're considering this as a founder.

I believe the problem Richie here is facing is to convince his decision makers/founders that external editors are an essential part of the content team and that editing one’s own work would mean a lot of bias, workload overload and inefficiencies would occur.

Wow! Super helpful and straight feedback. Problem that I am trying to solve is quality of writing, structuring and feedback loops. Now for editor: 1. How do you interview for an editor? 2. From my limited worldview - am I looking for ex-journalists editors? 3. What are their titles? Content editor? 4. Any use of looking for ex-SaaS experience in an editor? @Rohit Gupta - I am the founder and DM.

Agree with everyone here. I've recently set up our first content marketing team and it includes one FT creator, freelance writers, and a content manager. To your question @Richie Khandelwal about titles - I started with “editorial manager” which somehow only brought me candidates from publishing etc with little understanding of digital content. We changed the title to “content manager” without changing the JD (primary job role is to brief writers and edit their work) and suddenly the candidate pool increased. I use an assessment and ask to see a portfolio of earlier work. Ex SaaS exp may not be crucial but having worked in a tech or digital company will help.