Technical Writer - Defense Hardware & Systems

*** THIS ROLE IS 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 Technical Writer, your mission is to partner with our numerous 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 engineers, operations, and various subject matter experts to understand our products, identify user workflows, and use documentation to close the gap. As such, the 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 hardware and software systems as easy and seamless as possible, with exceptionally well-written and presented artifacts. 

You will identify relevant stakeholders and lead them through a documentation roadmap with established key milestones and targets. You will engage subject matter experts at the right time, and you will guide them towards 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 right format. 

Written content artifacts under this charter may include things like: 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. 

Along with our commercial offerings outlined above, Anduril is pursuing programs with the government, which require documentation in standards such as MIL-STD-40051D and S1000D, delivered via IETMs / IETDs. Familiarity with these standards and delivery methods is highly desired. 

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Generate, review, and edit documentation that is user-focused. Work with engineering and operations to deliver task, conditions, and standard-centric documentation.
• Evaluate and prioritize tasks required to successfully support product documentation efforts and keep them on track. Help drive the best decision for the company by using a data-driven approach and considering input from stakeholders to ensure well-informed decisions.
• Communicate and help manage expectations. Ensure risks are noted with adequate time and shared with leadership.
• Help build a culture of technical documentation by contributing to the living documentation process, ensuring that those who come after you learn from your acquired Anduril experience.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• 4+ years of demonstrated excellence generating technical documentation for complex hardware, software, or aerospace systems.
• Experience writing technical, user-facing documentation.
• Experience reading and interpreting engineering documentation (e.g., schematics, CAD, or software specs).
• Experience building content in a variety of formats (Word, XML, DITA, etc.).
• Strong written/verbal communication and interpersonal skills, with an emphasis on explaining highly technical subjects simply.
• Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. security clearance.
• 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 (MIL-STD-40051, S1000D, etc.).
• Passion for excellent documentation and user experience.
• Previous experience creating technical documentation in Aerospace and Defense (for DoD).
• Experience delivering content on fast-paced, complex projects with multiple stakeholders.

US Salary Range 117000 - 154000 USD