WGS studio, Victoria Island, Lagos
Title
Narrative Manager
Workstream
Narrative Studio (client retainers and agency work), with oversight of Lone Wolf content execution
Reports to
Strategy and Delivery Lead
Manages
Narrative Associate and Junior Narrative Associate
Works closely with
Founder and Creative Director, Senior and Junior Designers, Operations Associate
Location
WGS studio, Victoria Island, Lagos
Engagement
TBC
Write Good Stories is a narrative studio in Lagos. We help organisations, foundations and brands find the story at their core and tell it with precision. Our work runs across five workstreams: the Narrative Studio, our physical space on Victoria Island, the Slate, the Fieldwriters Lab and the Lone Wolf podcast.
The Narrative Studio is our primary workstream, and it is growing. The Narrative Manager owns both the quality of its narrative work and its day-to-day delivery: shaping the response to client briefs, writing and editing key deliverables, keeping projects on schedule, and being the steady point of contact for clients.
This is a senior narrative and delivery role. You will manage the Narrative Associate and Junior Narrative Associate while remaining a hands-on writer and editor. You should be comfortable developing work from a blank page, sharpening the thinking behind a draft, and stepping in to rewrite when the work is not landing. You will take ownership of routine narrative decisions and delivery, freeing the Strategy and Delivery Lead to focus on new business, partnerships and studio strategy.
Translate client objectives, research and audience insight into a clear narrative direction: what the story is, who it needs to reach, and what it needs to achieve
Develop narrative architecture, messaging frameworks and tone of voice systems, with leadership input where the work involves major strategic decisions
Write key deliverables yourself, including positioning statements, brand stories, thought leadership and campaign or website copy
Set a clear direction for associate-led work through briefs, outlines and examples that establish the argument, structure and voice
Diagnose why a draft is not working—whether the issue is the thinking, structure, evidence or language—and write or reshape it into client-ready work
Explain and defend narrative choices to clients, connecting creative decisions to their objectives
Own the delivery plan for every active Narrative Studio engagement: scope, milestones, owners and deadlines
Break client briefs into clear tasks and assign them across the narrative team
Maintain project trackers to the status of every deliverable is visible at any time
Flag risks to timelines, scope or budget early, with a proposed fix
Manage scope: recognise when a client request sits outside the agreed retainer and escalate it
Act as the day-to-day point of contact for Narrative Studio clients
Lead routine client calls and check-ins; prepare agendas and circulate clear notes and next steps within 24 hours
Present work in progress and final deliverables, and handle feedback with confidence
Gather and consolidate client feedback into a single, actionable brief for the team
Build long-term relationships that lead to renewals and referrals; surface upsell opportunities to the Strategy and Delivery Lead
Review all narrative work before it reaches a client: research briefs, narrative architecture, messaging frameworks, brand bibles, tone of voice systems and copy
Hold every piece to the Story as Treasure method: specific, grounded in the client's actual story, and immediately usable
Give written, specific feedback that helps the team improve with each draft
Rewrite and edit where needed so that work meets the standard before sign-off
Deliver client-ready work that does not need final review from the Strategy and Delivery Lead or the Founder: you are the final sign-off on routine deliverables, and you take ownership of their quality
Know which deliverables do need leadership input (major strategic shifts, sensitive client issues) and bring those up early, with a recommendation
Line manage the Narrative Associate and Junior Narrative Associate: weekly one-to-ones, 30/90-day goals and performance reviews
Lead the live-work phase of onboarding for new narrative hires
Coach the team on research, writing and client handling, and develop the Narrative Associate towards leading client calls
Allocate workload fairly and protect the team's capacity
Run a weekly delivery meeting across all live narrative projects
Coordinate with the design team so that visual and narrative deliverables land together
Oversee narrative team contributions to Lone Wolf and WGS channels (newsletter, social, day-in-the-life content) so they run alongside client work without slipping
Report on delivery status, client health and team capacity to the Strategy and Delivery Lead each week
Improve studio processes, templates and documentation as the Narrative Studio grows
How the role compares
The Narrative Manager sits one level above the Narrative Associate and owns outcomes, where the associates own tasks.
Junior Narrative Associate | Narrative Associate | Narrative Manager | |
Research | Contextual and category research on assigned briefs, supervised | Leads research independently | Sets the research question and signs off findings |
Narrative strategy | Supports research and learns to identify relevant insights | Develops narrative recommendations within an agreed direction | Shapes narrative direction and translates client objectives into a clear story, audience approach and messaging |
Writing | First drafts under direction | Near-final drafts; owns a section of a deliverable | Reviews, edits and approves the full deliverable |
Client contact | Not client-facing | Second chair on client calls | Leads client relationships day to day |
Method | Learns Story as Treasure through application | Applies it fluently | Holds the team to it and teaches it |
Projects | Contributes to one or two | Contributes across several | Accountable for delivery across all Narrative Studio projects |
People | None | Supports the Junior | Line manages both associates |
5 or more years in communications, corporate communications, narrative strategy, brand strategy, editorial or a creative agency, with at least 2 years managing client accounts or projects
Experience managing or supervising junior team members
A record of producing finished, client-ready work independently, without relying on a senior reviewer to catch errors or close gaps
An excellent writer and a sharper editor: you can see what a draft is trying to say and make it say it
A track record of delivering several client projects at once, on time
Confidence in the room with senior clients, including handling difficult feedback
Strong organisation, with experience of project management tools
A good grasp of the Nigerian and wider African and international media, cultural and brand landscape
Demonstrable experience shaping narrative strategy and writing substantial client deliverables yourself, with work samples that show your contribution to the thinking, structure and final copy
Agency experience across foundations, government, cultural institutions, luxury or consumer brands
Experience with brand bibles, messaging frameworks or narrative architecture
Interest in film, podcasts or long-form storytelling
Comfort with data and research as a basis for narrative decisions
You notice the detail others miss, and you fix it before anyone asks
You give feedback that is honest, specific and kind
You stay calm when three deadlines land in the same week
You care about the craft of storytelling as much as the logistics of delivering it
Salary expectations:
800,000 - 1 Million Naira
Send a CV and a cover note of no more than 400 words to info@writegoodstories.com. In the cover note, describe one client project you managed from brief to delivery: what went wrong, and how you kept it on track. Shortlisted candidates will complete a written assessment before the interview.