Lead Technical Writer, Sift
$120-180k
$40.00 – $50.00 per hour + Equity
More information about location
2 days a week in office (El Segundo, CA)
Unified observability for modern hardware
Be an early applicant
Unified observability for modern hardware
1-20 employees
Be an early applicant
$120-180k
$40.00 – $50.00 per hour + Equity
More information about location
2 days a week in office (El Segundo, CA)
1-20 employees
Company mission
To provide the tools that engineering teams need to efficiently manage hardware data and build the machines of the future.
Role
Who you are
- 5–10+ years of experience in technical writing, developer documentation, or documentation leadership roles
- Experience building or modernizing docs-as-code environments (e.g., MkDocs, Docusaurus, Sphinx, Storybook, Swagger/OpenAPI, etc.)
- Strong technical depth: familiarity with Python, APIs, gRPC, event-driven architectures, cloud infrastructure, and modern software workflows
- Experience mentoring or leading other writers—setting standards, reviewing work, and coaching to improve quality
- A track record of raising documentation quality, reducing support volume, and increasing product adoption
- Expertise with documentation frameworks such as Diátaxis and the Google style guide
- Strong project management skills—able to run multiple doc projects, prioritize effectively, and coordinate cross-functionally
- A bias for clarity, organization, and creating systems that scale
What the job involves
- Sift is hiring a senior-level Technical Writer who can own, lead, and scale our documentation function
- This role is ideal for someone who loves building systems, elevating doc quality, and coaching other writers—while still rolling up their sleeves and producing world-class technical content
- You will architect the entire documentation ecosystem at Sift: docs-as-code workflows, information architecture, content strategy, writing standards, review processes, and mentoring junior writers
- You'll collaborate closely with engineering, product, and go-to-market teams to translate deeply technical systems into clear, accurate, and highly usable documentation for advanced engineering teams in aerospace, defense, and manufacturing
- This is our first senior documentation hire
- You will shape the discipline, define best practices, and help grow a small team (2–3 writers) over time while remaining a strong individual contributor
- Lead Sift’s documentation strategy, structure, and roadmap—owning docs end-to-end across product areas
- Build documentation standards, style guides, review processes, and quality controls
- Mentor and coach 1–3 technical writers as we grow the team (player-coach model)
- Implement and optimize docs-as-code tooling, CI/CD pipelines, linting systems (e.g., Vale), and publishing workflows
- Write and maintain high-quality technical documentation:
- API references
- GRPC service docs
- Tutorials and onboarding guides
- Conceptual docs and architecture explanations
- Release notes, migration guides, and integration patterns
- Partner directly with engineers and PMs to document complex workflows involving real-time telemetry, distributed systems, and advanced data pipelines
- Own information architecture and content discoverability across the docs site
- Manage documentation repositories using Git/GitHub and industry-standard docs tooling (MkDocs, Docusaurus, Mintlify, etc.)
- Establish a docs taxonomy and navigation structure aligned with best-practice frameworks like Diátaxis
- Ensure all documentation meets accessibility, clarity, technical accuracy, and consistency standards
- Partner with Engineering and Product to ensure accurate and timely documentation releases
- Work with Developer Experience, Field Engineering, and Marketing on technical content that supports onboarding, adoption, and customer success
- Act as the documentation representative to key customers as needed
Our take
Sift develops tools to accelerate and ensure the reliability of complex machines. Its platform processes hardware sensor data, providing automated analysis and detailed reports to identify and explain potential issues. This enables users in aviation, defense, energy and transportation to enhance system reliability and comply with regulatory requirements more efficiently.
The platform automates manual data review, which both enhances reliability and speeds up development. Customers like Astranis and Parallel Systems use Sift's observability stack to turn sensor data into actionable insights, which would have likely remained undiscovered when using other systems.
With funding to its name, Sift is ready to broaden its manufacturing automation suite to link sensor data with manufacturing information. This will mean it can help with anomaly detection and performance analysis. It is also making advancements with AI integration for regulatory compliance, which sets it up as a key innovator in the space.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Company
Funding (2 rounds)
Jun 2024
$17.5m
SERIES A
Nov 2023
$7.5m
EARLY VC
Total funding: $25m
Company benefits
- Unlimited PTO
- Free lunch, snacks, & coffee
- Top-tier health insurance: Medical, Vision, & Dental
Company HQ
El Segundo, CA
Leadership
Karthik Gollapudi
(CEO)Previously a Dragon Flight Software Lead at Spacex and a Full-Stack Engineer at Information Sciences Institute.
Austin Spiegel
(CTO)Previously a Software Engineering Manager at Riot Games. Prior to that, they worked at SpaceX in various Software Engineering roles.
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