Technical Author (multiple roles and seniority levels) - remote job

Canonical is hiring a Technical Author (multiple roles and seniority levels). The role sits in Other jobs and is fully remote. The company places no restriction on where the candidate lives, so you can apply from anywhere.

The employer did not publish a figure; that is settled at interview. The advert sets no condition on working hours.

This vacancy passed an automated check: the list excludes any advert requiring a foreign work permit, visa sponsorship, a particular citizenship, or residence in a specific country.

At Canonical, we aim to establish a benchmark of excellence in technical documentation and practices. Join us as a Technical Author and be part of this endeavor.

We are expanding our documentation capabilities at a large scale, with numerous positions available across various teams and products, from entry-level to senior roles.

All applications are processed through a single application point.

To increase your chances of success, review our guidance on applying for a position at Canonical.

These roles are distinct from conventional technical writer positions. As a Technical Author, you will guide documentation efforts within a Canonical team, possibly in engineering, business operations, or another part of the organization. Even the least experienced Technical Authors can develop and showcase their technical expertise, contributing to the documentation as a professional engineering and business discipline.

You will collaborate with the Diátaxis documentation approach to enhance the standard of technical writing through a focus on theory and practice.

The role of a Technical Author A Technical Author with a product focus is integrated into a product engineering team, usually concentrating on a specific product or group of products. In this role, you assist the team in creating documentation that caters to the product's users. You are responsible for the quality of the user experience with the product and contribute to the project's long-term success.

A Technical Author focused on customer support works within teams such as Field Engineering, Customer Success, or Support, where you deal with users of Canonical's complex software suites, often in custom configurations. Here, you will adopt a responsive approach to documentation challenges and gain a deep understanding of how products function in real-world scenarios.

An operations-focused Technical Author is part of a business team, such as Legal, HR, or Talent. A significant part of your work involves maintaining internal documentation, like employee handbooks. You will help develop and refine materials that hundreds of colleagues rely on daily, and assist in defining patterns of business communication for a rapidly expanding organization.

Some available Technical Author positions at Canonical You will have the opportunity to express your preferred focus area, and we will collaborate to find the appropriate seniority level and team for you. Regardless of your focus, you will also be part of Canonical's documentation practice team, which includes all the company's Technical Authors. Here, you will collaborate with other documentation experts to define and advance documentation excellence, driving the development of documentation practices and theories across the company and in the open-source community.

Location: These roles are fully remote, open to candidates globally. As a Technical Author, you will:

- Create, maintain, and improve software and other documentation - Collaborate with team members to enhance their documentation contributions - Influence the development of Canonical products and services as an expert user, offering insights on functionality and design - Engage with user communities to ensure that our documentation meets their needs - Encourage and support community engagement in and contributions to documentation - Standardize the structure, presentation, style, and language of content across products - Work with peers to advance the state of documentation at Canonical - Challenge and advance documentation understanding and best practices as part of a specialized team

A strong candidate will:

- Be an outstanding collaborator and communicator - Show a deep passion for functional written communication - Be a technical writer with a programmer's mindset, or a programmer with a history of producing excellent documentation - Have experience in community engagement, particularly in open-source software, documentation, research, or related fields - Show empathy towards the needs and challenges of open-source software and its communities - Demonstrate technical curiosity and a fascination with software technology and its complexities - Possess strong documentation skills, insights, and enthusiasm - Have experience in software development contexts - Be familiar with: Linux, command-line operations, Git, Sphinx, and reStructuredText - Hold a BSc/BA degree or equivalent - Be willing to travel twice a year for up to two weeks for company events

Nice-to-have skills:

- Deep technical domain knowledge - Leadership and management in open-source communities - User experience, interaction, or visual design expertise

What we offer:

- A global perspective in shaping compensation based on location, experience, and performance - Annual performance-based bonuses or commissions - A range of benefits that align with our values and local needs - Twice-yearly in-person team sprints - A personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000 annually - Regular annual compensation reviews - Recognition programs - Generous annual leave - Maternity and paternity leave - Employee Assistance Programme - Opportunities to travel to new locations to meet colleagues - Priority Pass and travel upgrades for long haul company events

About Canonical: Canonical is a leading technology company at the forefront of the global shift towards open source. As the publisher of Ubuntu, one of the most significant open-source projects, we are transforming the software landscape. We hire on a global scale and maintain very high standards for our employees. To succeed, we must be the best in our field. Most of our colleagues have worked remotely since the company's inception in 2004. Working at Canonical means stepping into the future, challenging you to think differently, work smarter, acquire new skills, and elevate your performance.

Canonical is committed to diversity and inclusion.

We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and identities, ensuring fair consideration of every application.

Originally posted on Himalayas