Senior Technical Writer

About Ably Ably is the world’s fastest Data Stream Network (DSN) spread over 14 data centers and 175 points of presence. Each day we stream billions of realtime messages to millions of end-users for thousands of developers around the world. Some of the things our platform powers: HubSpot’s chat and collaboration products, live score updates for millions of Australian Open tennis fans, live transit updates for three million Chicagoans. Working at Ably means helping to build the infrastructure that will power and shape the future of the internet. To see what life’s like at Ably, check out our careers page at  www.ably.io/careers . What we do Ably’s engineering team is deeply technical, collectively bringing a wealth of experience and broad technology skills across infrastructure, security, distributed systems, and much more. The calibre of the code we produce is what excites and motivates us each day. If you enjoy solving hard distributed system problems that are mostly platform agnostic and theoretical in nature, then you'll love working at Ably. You’ll work in a team that is small enough to be truly agile, delivering APIs that power some of the biggest tech, businesses and consumer brands in the world. In this role Ably is an engineering company at its heart. Our audience ranges from software engineers to CIOs and it’s our job to make sure the world knows about Ably. You will take complex information and communicate it clearly, concisely and accurately without relying on technical jargon to explain what you’re trying to say. You will be the key link between our engineers, marketing team, developer advocates and our developer customers. As a Technical Writer, you will be juggling many projects, from reading and writing example code, to reviewing 3rd party technical content commissioned, to updating FAQs, UX interfaces, API documentation and tutorials, to supporting product launches. In addition, you will be writing in-depth articles for our blog about data streaming, software infrastructure, and software design for a highly technical audience of software developers. You will be successful if you: Like and have a special interest in web technologies, RESTful APIs, coding and teaching others about these topics. Enjoy best practice and creating documentation that helps customers to make optimal decision to achieve their requirements. Can analyze documentation usage, support data, and user feedback to continuously improve documentation and inform documentation roadmap. Love writing code, working with APIs, and building prototypes as a polyglot developer. Care about the experience developers have and find it rewarding to positively influence how quickly they can learn concepts and features and ultimately build apps and services more quickly. Would like to pitch your own ideas for blog articles that deep dive into existing technologies, explore new technologies, or simply are interesting to our developer community. The skills needed: Can maintain, develop, and improve sites such as  https://github.com/ably/docs  (which creates  https://www.ably.io/documentation/ ). You should be comfortable enough in code to be able to create, edit, and test documentation-related websites. Ability to create prototype implementations (including lightweight API integrations) to test documentation accuracy and effectiveness. Aptitude for organizing information and clearly describing complex business workflow, data management, and Internet networking concepts. Strong written skills are necessary. 3 years of experience as a technical writer, preferably documenting cloud-based software products and/or APIs. Proven track record in understanding the challenges of keeping documentation up to date with improvements in fast-changing, in-development code, and how to write enough documentation to be helpful without overloading the reader. Ability to build strong working relationships with the Product, Engineering, and Customer Success teams. Experience producing training and learning materials that help developers understand how to use an API product. You are proficient in Javascript, and ideally one other widely used general-purpose programming language (Javascript, Python, Java, Ruby, etc.). Comfortable with HTML, CSS and Markdown. Nice to have skills: Experience managing your own documentation projects. Working knowledge of Swagger, Markdown, Textile and Github or other code repository. Familiarity with web standards, APIs, and other internet technologies. A good understanding of realtime technologies, pub/sub, event-driven architectures or streaming services. Ability to work well independently and in a collaborative team environment. Know the SaaS and API business model and have experience documenting solutions for developers. Have a technical background and/or demonstrated fluency in distributed computing systems or other technical concepts relevant to our work What’s it like to work at Ably? Ably is entering a new phase of growth led by an experienced senior team from the likes of Econsultancy and ThoughtWorks. You’ll be part of a successful, highly motivated, and extremely collaborative team. To provide the infrastructure required for the next generation of the internet, to tell the world about it, and to support everyone inside Ably to do so we hire people who are ready and capable of taking on challenging problems in a high-growth environment. We want to work in a company of inclusive people who treat each other well. We’re building a company with a diverse set of people who value: Ownership and impact of work.  You have real autonomy and ownership over your work with a visible impact inside Ably, and externally on products powered by Ably that you use in your daily life. An environment to thrive.  Modern, comfy office in the heart of Old Street. Excellent transport links, lots of great food, bars and restaurants nearby, and multiple work spaces to match your working style. Truly flexible working and not just lip service.  We like people to be in the office most of the time, but work should also fit around life and individual ways of working so you’re free to mold hours and environment to your needs. Work is varied and challenging  as we’re solving hard, complex problems that push the limits of what’s possible with today’s software and infrastructure. What's in it for you? A good, competitive salary Flexibility: work from home for up to two days per week Health insurance ClassPass membership Cycle to work Regular company away days and social events Weekly team breakfast or lunch Free drinks and snacks in the office Ongoing professional development (training, events, conferences), including an assigned budget 25 days of paid annual leave (33 days including bank holidays) Company contributions towards your pension Your choice of high quality tech kit to work on Ably has a culture that values employee freedom and responsibility. Apply to talk to us to see if this role on an impactful and collaborative team is right for you.