Technical Writer, Sofar Ocean
Contract
3+ days a week in office
Ocean data monitoring
Be an early applicant
Ocean data monitoring
101-200 employees
Be an early applicant
3+ days a week in office
101-200 employees
Company mission
To connect the world's oceans to the people who depend on them (all of us).
Role
Who you are
- 3+ years of experience writing technical documentation for software products, APIs, or hardware platforms, with a portfolio demonstrating ability to explain complex technical concepts clearly
- Strong technical writing skills with experience documenting APIs, SDKs, or data platforms, including ability to work directly with engineering teams to understand and accurately convey technical specifications
- Proficiency with modern documentation tools such as GitBook, Confluence, Notion, or similar platforms, plus familiarity with version control systems like Git for collaborative content development
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills with proven ability to work cross-functionally with engineering, product management, and customer-facing teams in fast-paced environments
- Self-directed problem-solving approach with ability to identify documentation needs proactively and manage multiple projects simultaneously while maintaining high quality standards
- Experience with markup languages (Markdown, HTML) and basic understanding of software development workflows to effectively integrate with engineering documentation processes
- Bachelor's degree in Technical Communication, English, Engineering, Computer Science, or related field, or equivalent professional experience in technical writing roles
- It is the responsibility of every employee to contribute to a positive work environment through cooperative and professional interactions with co-workers, customers, and vendors
What the job involves
- We're seeking a Technical Writer to join our Product team and serve as the bridge between complex ocean technology and the users who depend on it
- You'll be responsible for creating clear, comprehensive documentation for our marine sensor platforms, weather APIs, and data visualization tools that power critical decision-making for maritime operations, renewable energy, and climate research
- This role offers the unique opportunity to translate cutting-edge oceanographic technology into accessible content that helps customers harness the power of ocean data to reduce emissions and improve operational efficiency
- You'll work closely with our engineering, product, and customer success teams to ensure our documentation evolves with our rapidly expanding sensor network and serves users ranging from individual sailors to enterprise fleet operators and government agencies. Please note this will be a 4-6 month contract with option to extend
- Create and maintain comprehensive technical documentation for Sofar's marine sensor APIs, data platforms, and hardware integration guides that enable customers to successfully deploy and utilize ocean intelligence solutions
- Collaborate with engineering teams to document new features and product releases, ensuring technical accuracy while making complex oceanographic data concepts accessible to diverse user audiences
- Develop user-friendly tutorials, quick-start guides, and troubleshooting resources that reduce customer support tickets and accelerate time-to-value for new platform users
- Establish and maintain documentation standards and style guides that ensure consistency across all technical communications as the product suite scales globally
- Work with customer success and sales teams to identify documentation gaps based on user feedback and support trends, then prioritize and address these needs to improve customer experience
- Build and optimize documentation workflows and toolchains that enable scalable content creation and maintenance across multiple products and user personas
Our take
Drastically changing weather and climate is one of the foremost issues of our time. And as we work to limit the impact of the climate crisis, we need trustworthy banks of data on how these changes have manifested, and what trajectory our world is on. This is where Solar Ocean comes in, with its global network of ocean-monitoring buoys.
It is the largest network of its kind, with thousands of solar-powered ‘spotters’ across the world’s oceans delivering over 200,000 updates every day. Its product is used primarily by climate scientists, but also has important applications in shipping, weather forecasting and maritime research as well.
Sofar is the largest network of its kind, and even though its spotters aren’t as sophisticated as similar government-funded ones, the sheer scale of its data collection makes its forecasts far more accurate. The funding it has raised is supporting the further extension of its network and development of its data services.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
5% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 4 rounds)
Aug 2022
$39.4m
LATE VC
Nov 2021
$39m
SERIES B
Total funding: $85.7m
Company benefits
- Comprehensive health, vision, dental plan
- Volunteering program
- Home office stipend
- Hybrid work schedule (for most roles)
- Flexible time off (including World Oceans Day!)
- A strong internal community of ocean-lovers!
Company HQ
Mission District, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Evan Shapiro
(Co-Founder & CTO)Previously Co-founded Bad Rabbit Consulting, Spoondrift and Knit Health. At Knit Health they were also CTO, and at Spoondrift they worked as a Technical Architect.
Tim Janssen
(Co-Founder & CEO)Former Assistant Professor of Oceanography at San Francisco State University. They were a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Naval Postgraduate School, and also worked as an Independent Research Scientist and Principal Investigator.
Salary benchmarks
We don't have enough data yet to provide salary benchmarks for this role.
Submit your salary to help other candidates with crowdsourced salary estimates.
Share this job
View 5 more jobs at Sofar Ocean