Manager Technical Writing

We’re a global team of over 400 people, working together to push the boundaries of open-source technology and multi-cloud solutions. Our vision is to become the trusted Data & AI Platform for everyone, leveraging the most popular open-source technologies like Apache Kafka®, Aiven for PostgreSQL®, Aiven for Clickhouse®, and Aiven for OpenSearch®. to help companies accelerate time-to-market, drive efficiency, and build innovative solutions across any cloud. Right now, we’re looking for a Technical Writing Manager to join our team who shares our passion for forward-thinking and innovative approaches. 

About this team

In our Product team at Aiven, we believe engineers can drive significant impact through coding and problem solving. Here, you'll have the opportunity to contribute to challenging projects that transcend the cloud provider limitations, work alongside exceptional engineers, and continuously expand your technical expertise. We strive to create an environment that encourages problem solving and results over following directions, so we make better decisions for our customers, our products and our employees.

Who we are

So, how do we become the trusted open source data platform for everyone? By listening closely to our customers and taking action to ensure they achieve their business goals. You see, the software we create is merely a means of delivering value. Our thinking is customer-first. That’s why our customers are at the front and center of all we do. And in the spirit of sideways thinking, we’re by their side as well. Actively helping them solve their challenges. Collaborating. Sharing. And innovating. In other words, it really isn’t just about who we are. It’s about who our customers are – and where they want to be.

Our Crabby Principles

Aiveners use the V2MOM framework to set and align on business goals. In order to achieve those business goals we live by our ‘Crabby Principles’ which unite us in our ways of working, globally. 

These principles are embedded in our business processes and support us in collaborating and role modelling positive and productive behaviours in our daily work, something you will have the opportunity to demonstrate throughout your interview journey with us. 

The Role:

We are looking for a hands-on, passionate, results-oriented, manager of technical writers to join our Developer Experience team to help build the next generation open source data platform for everyone. The manager will manage the 3 senior technical writers Aiven employs today, and help grow the team and the documentation platform based on Docusaurus hosted on our public repository. This role also includes driving information architecture improvements, writing documentation and providing guidance on API definition best practices, and ideally implementing technical upgrades to our tool chain.

We need someone who approaches challenges with creativity, curiosity and an analytical perspective. Someone who can build consensus, learn quickly, explore both technical and business topics and collaborate cross-functionally.

You will play a key role in shaping our in-product user guidance and developer experience. This requires you to work both from a tactical and strategic level.

What You'll Do:

Strategic:

• Establish and drive vision for the documentation.
• Manage and mentor the existing writing team.
• Play an active role in hiring as the company scales.
• Support the team’s planning and manage stakeholder requests.
• Promote a results and metrics-driven approach to the writing team and our critical documentation.
• Help set the direction and guidelines for the documentation platform and strategy.
• Own and drive cross-team projects from a product usage standpoint, not just a writing standpoint.
• Partner with engineering teams on the API design and API documentation to facilitate partners and developers to engage with the Aiven platform.
• Partner with our support engineering team to bridge any product documentation gaps.
• Unite content requests and data from multiple sources into cohesive content plans.
• Establish team practices, while continuously improving the product documentation policies and procedures, conforming to existing styles, policies, and procedures.

Tactical:

• Collaborate closely with engineers, product owners, developer advocates, support engineers, UX designers and product marketing to create user-focused product documentation for novice and experienced developers.
• Verify the technical functionality of the product features in progress and release-ready.
• Build content ranging from product overv