Lead Technical Writer, Maritime & Undersea Systems

Slope; Costa Mesa (CA); On-site; USD 146,000 - 194,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

Anduril Industries in Costa Mesa, CA is seeking a Lead Technical Writer to partner with Maritime Product and Operations teams to deliver accurate, updated documentation for complex defense systems. You will organize engineering and program delivery, working with engineers, operators, and SMEs to capture workflows and produce user guides, manuals, and release notes.

You will shape tone, voice, and quality across written artifacts, ensure contract deliverables are accurate and on time, and build

Qualifications

• 7+ years generating XML-based technical documentation, preferably in a DoD space (Navy/Maritime program experience preferred).
• Experience reading and interpreting engineering documentation (schematics, CAD, or engineering drawings).
• Experience building structured content in XML utilizing tools such as XMetal, Arbortext, or similar.
• Strong communication (written and verbal) and interpersonal skills, with an emphasis on explaining highly technical subjects simply.
• Autonomy with responsibility, managing competing priorities and tight deadlines with solid project-management skills.
• Passion for excellent documentation, technical accuracy, and user experience.
• Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. Secret security clearance.
• Ability to relocate onsite to Costa Mesa, CA.

Responsibilities

• Generate, review, and edit user-focused documentation with Engineering and Operations to deliver task-, condition-, and standard-centric manuals.
• Research Anduril products, scope deliverables for DoD programs, and write Data Modules in XML using RapidAuthor.
• Prioritize tasks for documentation efforts and manage risks to the roadmap through data-driven decisions.
• Communicate risks and manage stakeholder expectations with clear mitigations and resource planning.
• Help build a culture of technical documentation by creating processes and training others to contribute content.

Skills

XML documentation

DoD / Navy / Maritime experience

Engineering drawings interpretation

Structured XML content

Technical writing

Autonomy & prioritization

Security clearance eligible

Relocation to Costa Mesa

Tools

XMetal

Arbortext

Job description

Anduril Industries is a defense technology company with a mission to transform U.S. and allied military capabilities with advanced technology. By bringing the expertise, technology, and business model of the 21st century’s most innovative companies to the defense industry, Anduril is changing how military systems are designed, built and sold. Anduril’s family of systems is powered by Lattice OS, an AI‑powered operating system that turns thousands of data streams into a realtime, 3D command and control center. As the world enters an era of strategic competition, Anduril is committed to bringing cutting‑edge autonomy, AI, computer vision, sensor fusion, and networking technology to the military in months, not years.

On‑site in Costa Mesa, CA. Relocation assistance provided

About the team

Anduril’s Mission Success team is a cross‑functional group that partners with every business line and supports all products that Anduril builds. Our responsibilities include product operations, training and adoption, and user documentation. We are seeking an experienced Technical Writer to create and maintain user documentation across our diverse business lines. We believe that the quality of our documentation should reflect the quality of our products, which are world‑class.

About the job

As a Lead Technical Writer, your mission is to partner with our Maritime Product and Operations teams to deliver accurate, updated, and easy‑to‑understand documentation on how to use Anduril products. You will do whatever it takes to organize our engineering and program delivery functions in this mission. In this role, you will work closely with Engineering, Operations, and various subject‑matter experts to understand our products, identify user workflows, and use documentation to close the gap. As such, the Lead Technical Writer will play a foundational role in setting the bar for tone, voice, and quality across our written artifacts.

With Anduril’s focus on defense and national security, user documentation plays a critical role in ensuring front‑line operators know how to leverage the “Arsenal of Democracy.” Your mission is to make the process of learning how to operate complex systems as easy and seamless as possible, with exceptionally written and presented artifacts.

You will identify relevant stakeholders and lead them through a documentation roadmap with established key milestones and targets. This will require an in‑depth understanding of which teams are relevant to documentation, and what an organized effort toward collaboration entails. You will ensure that stakeholders are engaged at the right time, and you will guide them toward a finished user‑facing document that plainly meets customer needs. Finally, you will work with our account teams to ensure that contract deliverables are accurate, on‑time, and in the correct format.

Written content artifacts under this charter may include technical manuals, operational manuals, maintenance manuals, procedures, checklists, templates, user guides, troubleshooting guides, and release notes. You will partner with account, product, and engineering teams across all phases of product development to ensure users have the right documentation available.

What you’ll do

• Generate, review, and edit documentation that is user‑focused. Work with Engineering and Operations to deliver task, condition, and standard–centric documentation.
• Research Anduril products, scope Tech Data deliverables for Programs of Record with DoD customers, and write Data Modules in S1000D XML using RapidAuthor.
• Evaluate and prioritize tasks required to successfully support product documentation efforts and keep them on track. Help drive the best decisions for the company by using a data‑driven approach and considering input from stakeholders. You should be prepared to fill gaps that represent risks to the documentation roadmap.
• Communicate and help manage expectations. Ensure risks are noted with adequate time, mitigations are identified, and resources are allocated.
• Help build a culture of technical documentation by creating processes and training for others to contribute content. Refine our product maturity framework so that documentation is a meaningful step toward the productization of new systems.

Required qualifications

• 7+ years of demonstrated excellence generating XML‑based technical documentation, preferably in a DoD space (highly prefer Navy/Maritime program experience).
• Experience reading and interpreting engineering documentation (e.g., schematics, CAD, or engineering drawings).
• Experience building structured content in XML utilizing tools such as XMetal, Arbortext, or similar.
• Strong communication (written and verbal) and interpersonal skills, with an emphasis on explaining highly technical subjects simply.
• Must thrive with autonomy and responsibility, managing competing priorities and tight deadlines with impeccable project‑management skills.
• Passion for excellent documentation, technical accuracy, and user experience.
• Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. Secret security clearance (or higher).
• Ability to relocate, if not already local, to be onsite in Costa Mesa, CA.

Preferred qualifications

• Military exposure and experience, particularly with military technical documentation writing and formatting standards, guidelines, and verbiage (S1000D, MIL‑STD‑40051, etc.).
• Previous experience creating technical documentation for Naval or maritime hardware products (for DoD).
• Experience documenting software UIs in an Agile environment.

Salary Range

US Salary Range: $146,000 — $194,000 USD. The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offer may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are included in the majority of full‑time offers; and are considered part of Anduril's total compensation package. Additionally, Anduril offers top‑tier benefits for full‑time employees, including:

Benefits

At Anduril, we invest in our people. Our comprehensive, competitive benefits package (available at little to no cost to employees) ensures you’re supported in health, recovery, and whatever comes next.