Senior Technical Writer / Information Architect

About Aerospike

At Aerospike, we dream big. Our focus is helping companies tackle seemingly insurmountable problems and doing what’s never been done before. That is why we developed the world's leading real-time data platform that powers mission-critical applications at the world's most innovative, category disrupting companies. Our customers have deployed extreme scale real-time applications to fight fraud, dramatically increase shopping cart size, enable global digital payments, and deliver hyper-personalized user experiences to tens of millions of customers.

 Customers like Airtel, Experian, Nielsen, PayPal, Snap, Verizon Media, Wayfair, and many others rely on Aerospike as the data foundation for the future to help them act in the microsecond moments that matter. Aerospike is headquartered in Mountain View, California and has a global presence with offices in London, Bangalore and Tel Aviv.

Job Description

We are looking for an experienced Technical Writer with demonstrable experience in Information Architecture. You should be confident and excited about working with highly scalable and distributed systems on the cutting-edge of technology.

The initial focus of this role is to evaluate and improve the overall information architecture that is implemented in Aerospike documentation. You will design and enhance the impact, understanding, and readability of our documentation layout and organization. To evolve from functional documentation to user-based documentation centered around roles and tasks, you will research and develop information layouts, prepare interactive and paper-based prototypes, solicit and analyze feedback from users, and update our current information layout according to modern UX trends and principles. You will also work to ensure that any new and significant additions to our documentation is designed for and adheres to the same information model that we build.

To ensure success as an information architect, you will need to have strong design and user experience skills as well as a flair for creating quality information flows and templates. A top-notch information architect will understand the final product from a customer perspective and be able to change informational architecture design.

After your initial efforts in information architecture have taken shape, you will shift your focus to your technical writing capabilities. As a Technical Writer, you will use and learn more about Aerospike’s cutting-edge technology, documenting various aspects of the core product and its components.

In this interesting and diverse role, you will play a key part in driving our content and its structure to support and enhance the success of our users.

Responsibilities

• Identify key areas of improvement in information architecture designs.
• Formulate prospective informational designs and templates for further development.
• Design prototypes for taxonomies, information architecture flows, and user experiences.   
• Evaluate the performance of information architecture through analysis and research. 
• Advocate for users in everything you write.
• Create easy-to-understand and in-depth technical content – documentation, code samples, tutorials, or multimedia content – that demonstrates the best and easiest way to use Aerospike products. 
• Take raw information and advice about product features and behaviors, try out the features as a user would, and use your experiences to develop content. 
• Proactively identify documentation needs and gaps, establish feedback loops to gather customer feedback, and then work closely with key stakeholders to prioritize and plan documentation updates.
• Edit, clarify, and proofread documents written by other staff and work with non-writers on ways to improve their contributions to documentation. 

Required Qualifications

• Two or more years of hands-on and direct experience designing and implementing successful content strategy for technical user documentation.
• At least five years of technical writing, copywriting, or design experience on software technologies.
• Proficiency in designing layouts from start to finish – wireframing, site maps, and user flows.
• Fluent in technical and common office software such as Jira, Confluence, and Google docs.
• Keen eye for detail and for the depth and breadth of information to provide users with exactly what they need. 
• Excellent verbal and written communication and design skills.
• Research and data analysis skills. 
• Experience driving documentation for key product features.
• Proficient with Git and GitHub.
• Knowledge of modular documentation practices, with experience writing in a lightweight mark-up language such as Markdown.