Technical Writer

As a Technical Writer at the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER), you play a key role in our fast-moving Product Development team. Your research and expertise help you transform highly technical content from dry lecture to part of an approachable, engaging learning experience. You quickly build rapport, incorporate stakeholder input, and easily communicate your vision to a highly collaborative and supportive team. You can envision multiple paths to success given time and budget constraints.

NCCER is looking for a committed, smart, and creative writer who has designed and developed technically oriented materials, ideally in a mechanical or construction content area. As an NCCER technical writer, your work will be used around the world to train construction craft professionals at high schools, vocational schools, colleges, and construction training centers.

1. Completing core research and writing tasks - You research, write, and revise digital and print educational materials by collaborating closely with construction industry leaders and experts and conducting your own research. You will write performance-based training guides, storyboards for video and self-guided learning products, instructional resources, and more. In every case, you are creating content that communicates challenging technical information in a clear, logical way for the greatest learner understanding and engagement.

2. Creating content for digital delivery - You will not only write content for trainee guides – you also will create content to support our digital delivery. On any given day, you might be working closely with our project managers, instructional designers, technical illustrators, or video producers to ensure that assets created in support of the curriculum are technically accurate and educationally sound for our learners. A technical writer might even work as a subject matter expert and consultant on a video shoot!

3. Creating visually strong, engaging curriculum - You are incredibly detail-oriented, creative, and draw joy from making the complex simple. In addition to possessing excellent writing skills, a great technical writer can visually assess curriculum and other resources and adjust as required. This includes everything from breaking up long paragraphs for better readability to creating simple, easy-to-understand steps to working with our technical illustrators to create the perfect line art to support the written word.

4. Liaising and leading discussions with industry experts - On all of your projects, you will work with, present to, and have active engagement with industry subject matter expert committees to ensure the curriculum reflects the latest industry needs, trends, technology, and processes. A successful technical writer can translate thoughts and opinions from subject matter expert committees, make clear decisions about how to integrate that feedback into our curriculum, and work effectively under pressure in a deadline-driven environment.

5. Working at the center of a team - You are an individual contributor, but must also be a team player, who can work at the center of a project team that includes project managers, illustrators, subject matter experts, editorial, and production partners. We have a well-established development process that we expect the new technical writer to adopt and even help us improve, where appropriate.

This is a key role in helping us deliver our current projects in the immediate term – and to help drive meaningful impact in the market for the next 3 to 5 years. We will always have more than enough work for even the hungriest technical writer!

Qualifications

We do not expect applicants to check off every box! If you fit some of the qualifications below and are eager to learn and grow, please apply. We want to talk with you to see if it is a good fit.

• BS, BA, MS, or MA degree
• 2+ years of experience in teaching /training design and delivery, or technical writing
• Background in education, adult learning, training development, design, or delivery
• Experience in the construction or maintenance industry is desirable
• Ability to write effective content and instructional text; excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Exceptional research and time management skills
• Aesthetic and creative skills to generate ideas based on content and learner needs
• Excited, passionate, proactive, and self-motivated with an enthusiasm for learning
• Humble and hardworking, able to accept feedback from experts and execute on it
• Strong collaboration skills work in a highly cross-functional team
• Analytical and decision-making skills to make business judgments
• Ability to learn and adapt to new technologies
• Able to handle multiple projects at one time
• Able to work effectively in a detail-oriented, and deadline-driven environment
• Can work under pressure and adapt to shifting priorities and new workflows
• Able to travel, occasionally, to SME meetings and industry conferences