Senior Technical Writer (IC3)

What we are looking for:

The Cloud Software Group Information Development team invites candidates to apply for a Senior Technical Writer post, associated with producing technical content for its various products. A Senior Technical Writer is responsible for producing customer-facing product documentation using Agile documentation processes and adhering to the defined writing and style standards.

Position Overview:

We are looking for a technical writer who can handle assignments of medium to large scope where analysis requires review of a variety of factors and oftentimes collaborating, interacting, and communicating with senior team members within and outside of the department. A Senior Technical Writer spends a majority of their time developing content for product releases, including terminology and UI labelling. As such, editorial proficiency and attention to detail are of utmost importance. There are also opportunities to support blogging technical support notes and other content streams.

Roles and Responsibilities:
• Perform various levels of writing and editing, including crafting original copy, substantive editing, copyediting, and proofreading
• Produce UI content for a variety of audiences, from end-user to highly technical
• Produce content for products, wireframes, storyboards, detailed specifications, and other assets with guidance from an editorial lead
• Attentive to detail – style, terminology, voice and tone
• Able to iterate rapidly and create multiple solutions
• Creates documentation plans to align with engineering sprints and product release schedules. The plan requires little, if any, review by Managers/more senior Technical Writers.
• Research — participates in requirements review to ensure a thorough understanding of each technology/component/release. Reads and assimilates information from other documentation such as technical specifications.
• Owns the technical accuracy of content whilst gaining a broader understanding of Cloud Software Group technologies.
• Be the first customer. Try out features on your own before documenting it for the customer.
• Should be able to learn new products and technologies quickly and have the versatility to move between projects.
• Manages own schedule effectively and meets agreed upon deadlines consistently.
• Participates in schedule commitment. Expected to create and maintain a project schedule, when appropriate. Communicates schedule status and pending issues with release lead and documentation manager. Able to identify and escalate when schedule moves off track. Starts to propose solutions to issues as they arise.
• Receives little instruction on day-to-day work, beyond general instructions on new assignments.
• Provides feedback to other authors regarding content.
• Performs work relatively independently, attending meetings, proposing plans and schedules, and gathering information.
• Expansion of professional contacts to those outside of Product Documentation (e.g., Developers, Test, etc.), and deeper understanding of Cloud Software Group technologies, and overall socialization of the editing process.
• Successfully load balances workload across multiple assignments
• Continues to develop in a number of areas, including:

- Seeking out opportunities for global team impact.

- Actively helping others on the team.

- Representing local team at cross-departmental committees, councils, etc.

- With coaching, expected to propose options for solving issues as they arise.

Basic Qualifications (Education, Certification, Training, Experience):
• Bachelor’s degree in English, Engineering, journalism, technical writing, or a related field.
• Minimum of 5+ years technical writing experience.
• Aptitude or experience in information development/writing in cloud apps, server virtualization or related fields.

What are the key characteristics that would make you an ideal candidate:
• Requires strong written and verbal communication skills, attention to detail, and ability to adhere to agreed schedules.
• Demonstrated experience writing and editing desktop software, web applications, and/or mobile apps.
• Familiar with platform standards for UI text, best practices for collaborative writing and editing, and user-centric design and development processes.
• Requires strong written and verbal communication skills, attention to detail, and ability to adhere to agreed upon schedules.
• Subject matter expert using tools needed in the role.
• Solid understanding of writing and communication best practices (e.g., task-based authoring, structured authoring, chunking information, writing for reuse, etc.).
• Solid and repeatable understanding of project planning in an Agile environment as well as adherence to processes and guidelines.
• Able to set personal schedules and meet deadlines.
• Motivated and positive - Maintains an open and winning attitude.
• Works cooperatively and communicates effectively with others.
• Proactively seeks help from managers, leads, and domain experts when needed.
• Proactively identifies and solves problems, improves personal skills, and assists team members.
• Drive and willingness to go the extra mile with a strong work ethic.

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