Director,Head of Technical Writing

Director, Head of Technical Writing

Location:Palo Alto,CA (Hybrid)

ABOUT THE TEAM:

We are a multiple-award-winning design team of 55 talented designers, UX writers, tech writers, and UX researchers distributed worldwide from Israel and India, to the US. As our company and our products grow rapidly, it is crucial to scale the user experience of our product, design, and tech writing in the right way and with the right people. 

We are seeking a core hire: a California-based Director to lead our global Technical Writing team located in the US and in Bangalore, managing a total of over 23 writers, editors and managers. In this role, you will help us scale the team, processes, and output, to meet the demands of a growing SaaS product. You will partner closely with design, product, and engineering leadership to redefine how Rubrik can provide industry-leading documentation support to its customers, both from within the product, as well as with a best-in-breed documentation site.

Learn more about Our Product and Team - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sohPrgI1eZU 

ABOUT THE ROLE:

• Drive the creation of consistent state-of-the art documentation that will enable our users to maximize the value of our award winning product in an easy and effective way.
• Partner closely with the PM, Engineering, and design team to ensure work and goals are executed within given timelines and by best-of-breed writing standards.
• Coordinate with program management and product teams to ensure technical writers are brought in early in the process and are well informed.
• Set the strategy for the redesign and release of an industry-leading documentation site.
• Raise and maintain a high bar of quality for documentation and ensure a standardized format is used across the team. Refactor legacy documentation to bring it up to new and improved standards.
• Partner with the UX Research team to verify that documentation is serving customer needs.
• Evaluate and make changes to ensure that the team process aligns with the needs of a SaaS delivery model.
• Identify practical applications for AI to streamline workflow and improve output, and operationalise across the team.
• Help translate leadership strategy into actual outcomes.
• Identify team needs with regards to process, tools, documentation, asset management, etc.
• Balance multiple inputs of priorities and needs, making sure inter-dependencies are understood and planned for effectively.
• Work with program management to ensure the team JIRA board is well managed,workloads are equitable, and projects are aligned with product roadmaps.
• Build and maintain a strong relationship between Product and Tech Writing teams by ensuring clear ongoing communication and expectation setting. 
• Coach junior and senior team managers to develop talent on their teams, proactively identify and address friction in collaboration and process, balance team workloads, and deliver clear, actionable, ongoing feedback to their teams.
• Ensure  hiring meets business needs. Provide comprehensive onboarding support that sets new team members on a path to success. 

What you’ll bring to the team:

• 10-15 years of relevant experience in Technical Writing.
• 5+ years of people management experience.
• Strong strategic thinker with a foundation of  technical acumen, leadership capabilities & cross-functional collaboration.
• Demonstrated experience owning and leading multiple initiatives at the same time.
• Passion for getting things done.
• Not afraid to challenge norms, tools and processes.
• Comfortable with ambiguity; you enjoy figuring out what needs to be done—and then doing it.
• Approach problems with curiosity, and excitement to learn and grow your skills.
• Strong verbal, presentation, and written communication skills.
• Strong conflict resolution and negotiation skills.
• Ability to manage in an environment of ambiguity with diverse partners.
• Prior experience leading a team of technical writers
• Prior experience as a senior or principal IC technical writer
• Knowledge of JIRA - is a plus

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