Documentation Lead

At Elastic, we see endless possibility in a world of endless data. And we use the power of search to help people and organizations turn that possibility into results. Elastic is the leading platform for search– powered solutions. With solutions in Enterprise Search, Observability, and Security, we help improve customer and employee search experiences, keep critical applications running smoothly, and protect against cyber threats. Elastic enables organizations worldwide to use the power of Elastic, including Netflix, Uber, BBC, Microsoft, and thousands of others.

Elastic was built on a foundation of being free and open, which trickles down to how we work. We’re a distributed organization and have been from the beginning. Being distributed isn’t just a way of doing business—it’s a mentality that is at the core of our culture.

The role

As the team lead for a passionate, talented writing team, you will play a crucial role in helping to build a platform and environment where technical writers can do their best work. Your main focus will be on providing the support your writing team needs to develop new documentation, improve existing content, and ensure effective user assistance across our products. We need someone who can form great working relationships with international colleagues across Elastic and help deliver the right content to our users when and where they need it most.

We’re looking for someone who can become a leader and focal point for Platform documentation, engage with cross– functional teams within the Platform organization to understand their needs and organize, plan, and deliver documentation and technical content for our products. You will also join a newly formed documentation leadership team within a growing UX organization, and represent and advocate for your team and products while collaborating closely with UX leadership peers and contributing to shared initiatives in areas such as user research, tooling, information architecture, and career development. It’s a great time to join Elastic — you’ll have a unique opportunity to help shape the user and authoring experience.

You’ll be an experienced manager with deep technical experience as a writer, used to working within demanding software development environments, and adept at absorbing and understanding technical concepts and procedures, identifying what the user needs to know and distilling this knowledge into concise, usable documentation that empowers them to get the most out of our products. Technically competent, you’re comfortable working with a variety of development and documentation tools and techniques — and perhaps bring a new trick or two to the team; we want to learn from you too! You don’t always need to be the person with the answer or the person making the decisions, but you should be able to guide discussions to help the team make decisions together.

What You’ll Do

• Manage, mentor, and lead a globally distributed documentation team within a growing UX organization
• Work closely with developers, designers, product managers, support, and other colleagues to collect, plan, and publish quality documentation and technical content to a global audience
• Support, develop, and nurture technical writers by helping to prioritize writing tasks, providing editorial and technical guidance where needed, and contributing as a writer where possible
• Lead and contribute to important team and company– wide projects focussed on improving overall documentation quality, processes, and user experiences
• Communicate and collaborate daily using tools such as GitHub, Zoom, Slack, and Jira
• Stand up for the user and champion the importance of good documentation and user– centric content internally and externally

What We’re Looking For

• Experience leading teams of technical writers and deep craft knowledge
• A compassionate approach to communication, a good sense of humour, and a genuine interest in the success and growth of the people you work with
• Impeccable writing and editing skills, and an open approach to peer reviews
• Technical interest and aptitude — you like learning new things and enjoy simplifying complexity
• Ability to collaborate and communicate well with individuals and groups to accomplish a common set of goals
• Proven experience delivering quality documentation within a fast– paced software development environment
• Passion and drive, with a strong desire to make things better for users
• A great attitude towards collaboration and teamwork — the best docs are produced by great teams

Bonus points

• Experience working on complex products or systems, preferably in a SaaS or enterprise environment — any industry or Elastic knowledge would be a double bonus
• Interest and/or experience helping to improve documentation workflows, tooling, and content
• Passion for user research and/or designing delightful user experiences
• Enthusiasm for contributing to open source projects or communities

Additional Information – We Take Care Of Our People

As a distributed company, diversity drives our identity. Whether you’re looking to launch a new career or grow an existing one, Elastic is the type of company where you can balance great work with great life. Your age is only a number. It doesn’t matter if you’re just out of college or your children are; we need you for what you can do.

We strive to have parity of benefits across regions and while regulations differ from place to place, we believe taking care of our people is the right thing to do.

• Competitive pay based on the work you do here and not your previous salary
• Health coverage for you and your family in many locations
• Ability to craft your calendar with flexible locations and schedules for many roles
• Generous number of vacation days each year
• Double your charitable giving – We match donations 1:1 up to $1500 USD (or local currency equivalent)
• Up to 40 hours each year to use toward volunteer projects you love.
• Embracing parenthood with minimum of 16 weeks of parental leave

Different people approach problems differently. We need that. Elastic is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender perception or identity, national origin, age, marital status, protected veteran status, disability status, or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law, ordinance or regulation.

We welcome individuals with disabilities and strive to create an accessible and inclusive experience for all individuals. To request an accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please email candidate_accessibility@elastic.co We will reply to your request within 24 business hours of submission.

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Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Poster; Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Poster; and Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) Poster.

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