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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Written Word Technician

💰 $ - $

WritingContentEditorialTechnical Communication

🎯 Role Definition

The Written Word Technician is a specialist who transforms complex ideas into concise, accurate, and user-focused written content across product interfaces, help centers, marketing collateral, and internal knowledge systems. This role blends editorial craft with content engineering—applying style guides, metadata, structured content formats (Markdown/HTML/DITA), and SEO/accessibility best practices to ensure content is discoverable, consistent, trustworthy, and measurable. The role partners with product, design, engineering, legal, localization, and analytics teams to create copy that supports user tasks, reduces support load, and aligns with brand voice.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Junior Technical Writer / Content Writer
  • Copy Editor or Proofreader
  • Customer Support Knowledge Specialist

Advancement To:

  • Senior Technical Writer / Senior Content Strategist
  • Documentation Manager / Head of Content Operations
  • Product Content Lead or UX Writing Lead

Lateral Moves:

  • UX Writer
  • Product Marketing Manager
  • Localization Program Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Produce clear, concise, and accurate user-facing content (UI copy, tooltips, error messages, onboarding flows, help articles, API docs, and release notes) that reduces user friction and supports measurable product outcomes.
  • Edit and copyedit content for grammar, tone, clarity, consistency, and brand voice across all channels, applying AP/Chicago or company style guide rules and documenting exceptions for cross-functional reference.
  • Create and maintain structured content using Markdown, HTML, or DITA, including templates, componentized copy, and content models to enable reuse and automated publishing across product and support systems.
  • Own content lifecycle management for assigned documentation and knowledge-base areas: plan, draft, review, publish, audit, and retire content with version control and change logs.
  • Collaborate with product managers, UX designers, engineers, and customer support to gather requirements, conduct SMEs interviews, and translate technical specifications into user-centered copy and examples.
  • Optimize content for search and discovery by applying SEO best practices: keyword research, metadata, headings, internal linking, and performance monitoring to improve organic and in-app findability.
  • Implement and enforce accessibility and plain-language standards (WCAG, readability levels, inclusive language), ensuring content is usable for diverse audiences and assistive technologies.
  • Build and maintain editorial workflows and approval processes in the CMS (Contentful, WordPress, Confluence, or similar), including content staging, review cycles, and release coordination.
  • Define and update style guides, glossaries, and terminology databases to ensure consistent usage of product names, technical terms, and brand language across teams and locales.
  • Conduct content audits and gap analyses to identify redundant, outdated, or missing content; prioritize and execute remediation projects to improve coverage and accuracy.
  • Tag and structure content with taxonomy and metadata to enable filtering, personalization, and analytics-driven improvements in self-service help and product documentation.
  • Translate complex technical concepts into step-by-step procedures, examples, diagrams, and code snippets that are accurate, reproducible, and versioned with the product.
  • Collaborate with localization teams to prepare source content for translation (pseudo-localization, character limits, context notes) and verify localized deliverables for quality and tone.
  • Run content QA and usability checks across platforms and devices—verifying formatting, markup integrity, links, screenshots, and in-context copy in staging builds.
  • Develop and maintain sample libraries, component copy banks, and reusable phrase collections to accelerate content production and maintain voice consistency across product surfaces.
  • Use analytics (search logs, pageviews, time-on-page, help center deflection metrics) and user feedback to continuously iterate on content and measure impact on support load and product KPIs.
  • Mentor and review work of junior writers, onboarding new contributors to editorial processes, content tools, and style conventions.
  • Collaborate with legal and compliance to ensure that content meets regulatory, privacy, and security disclosure requirements and that legal-approved phrasing is implemented correctly across touchpoints.
  • Design and run A/B tests on headings, CTAs, and article structures to optimize engagement and task completion; document findings and scale successful variants.
  • Maintain release notes and canonical documentation for API changes, ensuring accurate versioning, deprecation notices, and migration guidance for developer audiences.
  • Support cross-functional initiatives such as knowledge transfer, internal enablement content, playbooks, and training materials to improve organizational content literacy.
  • Develop prompts and guardrails for AI-assisted writing workflows, review and refine LLM-generated drafts for factual accuracy, style conformity, and safety, and define monitoring for automated content suggestions.
  • Manage editorial calendars and content projects—setting milestones, coordinating stakeholders, and delivering high-quality content on schedule for product launches and campaigns.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
  • Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
  • Provide editorial support for cross-functional proposals, whitepapers, and customer-facing briefs.
  • Maintain a library of source research, citations, and subject-matter references to substantiate technical content.
  • Participate in customer interviews, support ticket reviews, and community forums to surface recurring pain points and content opportunities.
  • Assist localization QA by reviewing translations in-context and providing feedback to linguists and vendors.
  • Facilitate cross-team alignment workshops around content taxonomy, voice, and content reuse principles.
  • Prepare internal dashboards and monthly reports summarizing documentation coverage, content health scores, and customer impact metrics.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Advanced copyediting and proofreading: expert command of grammar, punctuation, tone, and consistency checks across long- and short-form content.
  • Structured authoring: experience with Markdown, HTML, DITA, or XML-based documentation and componentized content models.
  • Content management systems: hands-on experience with CMS platforms such as Contentful, Confluence, WordPress, Zendesk Guide, or Help Scout.
  • SEO and content analytics: familiarity with on-page SEO, keyword research tools (e.g., SEMrush, Ahrefs), and analytics platforms (Google Analytics, Looker, or equivalent).
  • Accessibility and plain-language standards: practical application of WCAG guidelines, readability scoring tools (Flesch–Kincaid), and inclusive language checks.
  • Localization and internationalization workflows: experience preparing source content for translation and working with translation management systems (Smartling, Transifex, Lokalise).
  • Documentation tooling and version control: experience with Git, static site generators (Jekyll, Docusaurus), and CI/CD pipelines for docs publishing.
  • Knowledge of APIs and developer docs: ability to document endpoints, code samples, SDK usage, and authentication flows clearly for technical audiences.
  • Analytics and experimentation: ability to use search analytics, A/B testing tools, and data to prioritize and validate content changes.
  • Prompt engineering and AI oversight: experience crafting prompts, reviewing LLM outputs, and applying guardrails to AI-assisted writing workflows.
  • Basic front-end literacy: familiarity with HTML/CSS and UI patterns to ensure copy fits within layout constraints and component systems.
  • Documentation design and information architecture: ability to define hierarchies, taxonomy, and navigation to improve discoverability and findability.

Soft Skills

  • Exceptional attention to detail and a relentless quality mindset when producing and reviewing content.
  • Strong stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration—able to negotiate scope, schedule, and technical accuracy with engineers and product managers.
  • Clear, empathetic communication focused on user tasks and outcomes.
  • Strong time management and prioritization skills in high-velocity product environments.
  • Critical thinking and data-informed decision-making to assess content effectiveness and prioritize improvements.
  • Curiosity and continuous learning—staying current on writing best practices, tooling, and domain knowledge.
  • Coaching and mentorship—providing constructive editorial feedback to peers and junior contributors.
  • Adaptability and resilience—managing changing product requirements and ambiguous documentation needs.
  • Problem solving with a user-first mindset—anticipating user confusion and preemptively clarifying content.
  • Ethical judgment and attention to compliance, privacy, and security implications of published content.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in English, Journalism, Technical Communication, Communication, Computer Science with strong writing experience, Linguistics, or equivalent professional writing experience.

Preferred Education:

  • Master's degree in Technical Communication, Rhetoric & Composition, or related field, OR professional certifications in technical writing, UX writing, or content strategy.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • English, Journalism, or Communications
  • Technical Writing / Technical Communication
  • Computer Science, Information Science, or Human-Computer Interaction
  • Linguistics or Applied Linguistics
  • Marketing or Digital Content Strategy

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 2–5 years for mid-level Written Word Technician roles; 5+ years for senior roles, or equivalent mix of freelance and in-house documentation experience.

Preferred:

  • Demonstrated track record documenting products or services in SaaS, developer tools, fintech, healthcare, or regulated industries.
  • Experience contributing to product launches, maintaining versioned docs, and reducing support volume through self-service content.
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