After completing an MA in creative writing, Charlie worked as a freelance writer and editor for several years, and from 2004 to 2015 was the editorial director of East Publishing. During this time he worked on many contract publications and was the editor of two international titles: Saab Magazine (2002–4), a customer automotive-and-lifestyle title produced three times a year in up to 20 language editions, and RasGas Magazine (2006–15), a dual-language (English and Arabic) quarterly distributed from Qatar to the international oil and gas sector. The list of clients Charlie has worked with includes Alcatel, Alstom, Bayer CropScience, Chamber Orchestra Anglia, English Heritage, Ericsson, Hogg Robinson, Jarrolds, Maersk Oil, Music for Youth, Norfolk Museums Service, Norfolk & Norwich Festival, Norwich & Peterborough Building Society, Norwich Business School, Norwich HEART, Norwich Research Park, Norwich School, Norwich Union (Aviva), Océ, Saab Automobiles, RasGas, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, Scottish Power, Teenage Cancer Trust, Towergate Insurance, United Business Media, and the World Gold Council.

Several books and magazines created for these clients won awards, including:

– SHP (Safety & Health Practitioner) – Best Monthly Business and Professional Magazine, PPA Awards 2007

– Norfolk & Norwich Festival – Best Creative Campaign (PR Marketing, Communications), Creative East Awards 2007

– Norwich 12 – Best Factual Publication, Creative East Awards 2009, and Winner (Guidebooks and Travel category), East Anglian Book Awards 2009

– The Medieval Churches of the City of Norwich – Winner (History and Tradition category), East Anglian Book Awards 2010

– Norwich Magazine – Highly Commended, Launch of the Year, British Society of Magazine Editors Awards 2011

– Masterpieces: Art and East Anglia – Book of the Year, East Anglian Book Awards 2013

Charlie is also the author of two books: Explorers, a historical atlas for children, and Seahenge: An Archaeological Conundrum, an account of the controversial excavation of a Bronze Age timber circle in Norfolk in 1999, published by English Heritage.