Technical Author (multiple roles and seniority levels)

Canonical; Remote; SGD 89,000 - 116,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading tech firm is seeking a Technical Author in Singapore for fully remote positions. The role involves creating documentation for software, collaborating with engineering teams, and engaging with user communities. Candidates should have strong technical writing skills, experience in open-source software, and a BSc/BA degree. This role offers a distributed work environment with learning budgets and competitive reviews.

Benefits

Personal learning and development budget

Annual compensation review

Twice-yearly team sprints

Maternity and paternity leave

Qualifications

• Demonstrates technical excellent in documentation.
• Has experience working in open-source software contexts.
• Engages with user communities to gather feedback.

Responsibilities

• Create and improve software documentation.
• Work with engineering teams to enhance documentation.
• Engage with user communities for documentation feedback.

Skills

Technical writing

Community engagement

Software development

Excellent communication skills

Technical curiosity

Education

BSc/BA degree or equivalent

Tools

Linux

Git

Job description

Technical Author (multiple roles and seniority levels)

Our ambition is to set a standard of excellence in the industry for technical documentation and documentation practice. This is your chance to be a part of that, as a Technical Author at Canonical.

We are building documentation capacity at scale. We have dozens of positions available, for products and teams across the organisation, at all levels from Graduate to Senior Staff.

All applications and candidates are handled through this one entry-point. We'll be able to discuss seniority levels, suitable teams and more later in the process, to help place you in the most suitable role for you.

Technical Author role overview: A Technical Author leads the documentation efforts of an engineering team, typically focused on a product or family of products. You'll help the team develop documentation that serves the needs of the product’s users, embracing the principles of the Diátaxis documentation framework. You will have a broad impact on and responsibility for the quality of the user experience with the product, and will contribute towards the long‑term success of the project itself.

These are not traditional technical writer roles. As a Technical Author, you will participate in development of product strategy, have input into product design and user experience, and combine technical expertise with leadership in documentation. Even the most junior Technical Authors will have the opportunity to develop and demonstrate technical authority.

As part of Canonical’s documentation practice team, you’ll collaborate with other experts to define documentation excellence and drive the development of practice and theory across the company and in the open‑source community.

Location: These are fully remote roles, open to candidates across the globe.

The role entails

• Create, maintain and improve software documentation
• Work with engineering team members to help them make effective documentation contributions
• Influence the development of the product as an expert user with important opinions about its function and design
• Engage with user communities to ensure that our documentation meets their needs
• Encourage and support community engagement in and contribution to documentation
• Help standardise the structure, presentation, style and language of content across products
• Collaborate with documentation peers to advance the state of the art in documentation at Canonical
• Challenge and advance documentation understanding and best‑practice, as part of a disciplinary team

What we are looking for in you

• Cares deeply about functional written communication
• Is a technical writer with a programmer’s mindset, or a programmer with a record of producing excellent documentation
• Has a record of community engagement in open‑source software, documentation, research or other disciplines
• Is sympathetic to the needs and challenges of open‑source software and its communities
• Demonstrates technical curiosity, and is fascinated by software technology and its challenges
• Has demonstrable documentation skills, insight and enthusiasm
• Has experience of software development contexts; familiar with Linux, command line, application deployment, system operations, infrastructure management, Git, documentation markup languages
• Has excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Holds a BSc/BA degree or equivalent
• Is able to travel twice a year for up to two weeks for events

Nice‑to‑have skills

• Deep technical domain knowledge
• Open‑source community leadership and management
• User‑experience, interaction or visual design

What we offer you

• Distributed work environment with twice‑yearly team sprints in person
• Personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000 per year
• Annual compensation review
• Recognition rewards
• Annual holiday leave
• Maternity and paternity leave
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues
• Priority Pass, and travel upgrades for long‑haul company events

About Canonical

Canonical is a pioneering tech firm at the forefront of the global move to open source. As the company that publishes Ubuntu, one of the most important open‑source projects and the platform for AI, IoT and the cloud, we are changing the world of software. We recruit on a global basis and set a very high standard for people joining the company. We expect excellence - in order to succeed, we need to be the best at what we do. Most colleagues at Canonical have worked from home since its inception in 2004. Working here is a step into the future, and will challenge you to think differently, work smarter, learn new skills, and raise your game.

Canonical is an equal opportunity employer

We are proud to foster a workplace free from discrimination. Diversity of experience, perspectives, and background create a better work environment and better products. Whatever your identity, we will give your application fair consideration.

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