As a Senior Technical Writer for our Technical Documentation team, your primary goals will be (1) to lead technical writing projects for new and sustaining work and (2) to be the primary authoring and publishing tools expert to help us improve the way we deliver documentation to our customers. As a lead tech writer for one of our product lines, you will define the documentation deliverables for our highly complex hardware, software, and reagent systems and create user-friendly documentation that makes our new, complex technology easy to understand. As our publishing tools lead, you will implement and continuously improve our tools and process to ensure efficient production of documentation. You will also be an active member of the department, helping to establish and refine other processes, tools, and standards.

Responsibilities:

• Work with program managers, product marketing managers, scientists, engineers, and service and support to produce and maintain high-quality technical documentation (such as user manuals) for product launches and sustaining work.
• Manage the end-to-end process for suites of documents including creating document plans, writing and editing documents, managing the review and approval process, submitting documents for release via change order, and archiving.
• Adhere to style and content standards, FrameMaker template standards, and follow procedures for the overall writing workflow. Work with team members to establish and improve standards and processes to enable the efficient creation of user-friendly documentation.
• Develop an in-depth understanding of our products and the end-user perspective by interviewing subject matter experts (SMEs), researching written material, attending training and demonstrations, using products, and observing users. Translate that information into documentation that is easy to understand and follow.
• Act as the lead on our authoring and publishing tools. This includes maintaining templates (currently FrameMaker), establishing publishing standards, managing our source control, and developing a long-term plan for improving the delivery of documentation to customers via PDF and Help.Leverage customer and end-user feedback to improve materials and delivery.
• Complete other training project tasks as assigned.
• Use word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software to create reports and presentations.

Required Skills:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Highly organized with meticulous attention to detail
• Able to handle multiple projects simultaneously and prioritize accordingly
• Ability to work well within a team and across functions in a fast-paced environment
• Proven knowledge of authoring and publishing tools

Qualifications:

• 7+ years of technical writing experience
• Proficiency with Adobe FrameMaker or similar authoring tool
• Experience owning an end-to-end document creation process, including planning, authoring, and managing technical reviews
• Experience writing for software, hardware, and/or reagent products
• Proficiency with Help publishing tools

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in biotechnology or a related field 
• Bachelor’s degree (technical writing, communications, English, or biology preferred)
• Proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite
• Experience working in Agile software development
• Experience in organized adoption of or changing new authoring and/or publishing tools
• Managing and architecting a portfolio of documents for a suite of products

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