Technical Content Writer II

Technical Content Writer IIPosition title: Technical Content Developer (Technical Writer II)

Reports to: UX Manager

Location: Fort Collins, CO

Reports to: User Experience Manager

In-Situ® Inc. is a leading manufacturer of innovative environmental monitoring equipment that protects our global water resources. We create industry-leading products and solutions focusing on creative design, high reliability, and world-class manufacturing.

Do you love to teach people how to use technology?
Do you write well-designed, maintainable, and useful documentation?
Do you want your work to have a positive impact on the environment and the quality of life throughout the world?

If so, we should talk.

We are searching for an exceptional Technical Writer to join our UX team who can create helpful and usable documentation and manuals our industry-leading water monitoring and management solutions. Not only does In-Situ provide an attractive offering to our customers, we also place high value on engagement in our community, environmental projects, employee wellness and creating an open and fun work environment.

Position Description

As a member of the User Experience Group at In-Situ, the Technical Content Developer will play a critical role in the customer's experience with our products. The Technical Content Developer will create product instruction manuals and quick-start guides for new and existing products, as well as other technical and/or user-facing documentation for water monitoring instruments and systems.

Everything you produce needs to be done with the heart of a teacher, keeping our customers' needs, situation, and goals as top priorities. This customer-centric attitude will also impact the delivery methods (digital, text, etc. ). As such, you'll need to get involved with our customer base to discover their needs; what they need to know and how best to communicate with them. Users of our products range from entry-level field technicians to seasoned environmental scientists, so your communication style needs to be clear and simple, yet technically accurate and not condescending. And since our product line is scientific in nature, a technical/scientific background is a huge plus.

Because In-Situ's products are made with an extremely high level of quality and care, the expectations for our documentation and help content are similarly as high. Therefore, an attention to detail and willingness to push hard for the best thing for our users is important.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Create and update instruction manuals and other user-facing documents, technical guides, and help content using clear, understandable, and easy to follow instructions
• Work with internal stakeholders (mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, sales, product managers, chemists, and software engineers) to document official user procedures
• Coordinate with product managers and the larger UX team to meet business goals, product requirements, and user needs
• Research and understand technical information and translate it for less technical users
• Partner with UX designers to craft meaningful help content in software UIs
• Understand technical specifications and useful scientific reference material
• Coordinate with product managers and the UX team to meet business goals, product requirements, and user needs
• Work with other members of the UX team to ensure the right technical and help content is available when and where our users need it, and in a way that meets their needs

• Minimum 2 years in a technical communications role or similar position
• BS/BA in either a technical field, communication field, or equivalent experience
• Working familiarity with at least one standard documentation software (InDesign preferred)
• Ability to prioritize work, meet deadlines, and work effectively in a team environment where flexibility, collaboration, and adaptability are important
• A portfolio which demonstrates the following:
  1. Ability to understand and translate complex technical and scientific systems and processes and communicate them to non-technical people in a simple and clear manner
  2. Graphic design skills to create clean page layouts and work within a design system.
  3. Excellent writing skills
  4. Strong attention to detail
• Applicants must be eligible to work in the United States

• Familiarity with technical and scientific concepts and language
• Able to independently build complete documentation for a new product from start to finish
• Able to facilitate meetings with internal teams to understand and align on unknown or undefined information
• Resourcefulness to seek out unknown information efficiently
• Understands technical communication strategy and can contribute to its definition
• Can organize their work on technical communication projects based on business priorities
• Comfortable presenting and teaching user procedures to internal and external groups
• Willing to push for the best experience for the user, and wisdom to know when to stop pushing
• Strong computer skills and the ability to learn new software applications

• Instructional design and/or curriculum development
• Adobe CC, especially InDesign, Illustrator, Lightroom, Photoshop, and Premiere Pro
• Common CMS websites (e. g. , Magento, WordPress, etc. )
• Online knowledgebase tools
• Figma and FigJam
• Product photography
• 3D design and rendering tools (e. g. , Autodesk 360, SolidWorks, Blender, etc. )
• User research
• Agile development environment
• Teaching/training in a classroom
• Previous technical and/or scientific experience