Senior Technical Author

Salary: £45,000-£55,000 DOE

Full Time

Permanent

Who we are: SubSea Craft is a fast growing, privately-funded, UK-based innovative maritime technology company specialising in next-generation, high-performance watercraft and systems. We operate at the intersection of advanced engineering, cutting-edge design, and user-centric innovation, delivering safe, effective, and enabling solutions for both commercial and defence applications.

What we offer:

Annual Leave – Entitlement to 25 days of annual leave plus bank holidays

Wellbeing Day - An additional Wellbeing Day each year to focus on personal health and wellbeing.

Private Healthcare – Access to comprehensive private healthcare coverage to support your physical and mental wellbeing.

Life Assurance and Critical Illness Cover – Comprehensive protection including Life Assurance (4x salary) and Critical Illness Cover for added financial security.

Family Leave – Enhanced maternity and paternity pay

Christmas Leave – A Christmas shutdown is typically observed.

Professional Development – Commitment to ongoing learning and career growth, supported by training programmes and access to LinkedIn Learning.

Pension Contribution – pension scheme with the option to contribute via salary sacrifice

Flexible Working – Opportunities for flexible working arrangements to promote work–life balance.

Inclusive Culture – A professional environment that values diversity, innovation, and collaboration.

Job Summary: We are seeking a Senior Technical Author to take a leading role in the creation and delivery of high-quality, user-focused technical publications that support the operation and maintenance of our maritime defence products. As a digital-first organisation, we are committed to advanced tools and methods including structured XML authoring, PLM and CAD integration, S1000D, multi-channel publishing, with a strong emphasis on content reuse and user experience.

This is a hands-on role for someone who can produce accurate and consistent content across a range of publication types, including operator and maintainer documentation, while also helping to define the scope, structure and production workflows for our technical publication sets across our product range.

Responsibilities will include:

As a Senior Technical Author, you will be responsible for the efficient creation, management, and delivery of high-quality technical information to support the operation and maintenance of our defence products. Your day-to-day will include:

Authoring and publishing technical content (such as operator manuals, maintenance procedures, and parts catalogues) in structured XML in accordance with S1000D and other content standards, using a Common Source Database (CSDB).

Applying content reuse strategies and modular authoring principles to maximise efficiency, consistency, and maintainability of documentation.

Championing user experience by ensuring content is logically structured, easily navigable, and accessible via multiple channels including web and Interactive Electronic Technical Publications (IETPs).

Collaborating closely with engineering, supportability, and programme teams to capture, validate, and convert technical inputs into accurate and compliant publications.

Coordinating and liaising with internal resources and external suppliers for additional technical authoring and digital media creation.

Developing business rules, templates, and style guides aligned with ASD S1000D and applicable military standards.

Managing end-to-end documentation tasks, ensuring on-time, high-quality delivery to internal and external stakeholders.

Advising on digital publication delivery formats and technologies, including the use of 3D assets, multimedia, and interactive content.

Qualifications and Experience:

To thrive in this role, you’ll bring a mix of hands-on expertise, broad content production and technology experience and domain knowledge. Specifically, we’re looking for:

Essential:

Strong working knowledge of ASD S1000D, including data module creation, applicability constructs, CIRs (Common Information Repositories), business rules, and structured XML authoring across a range of document types.

Demonstrable experience creating and managing technical documentation for defence, aerospace, or similarly complex technical domains.

Experience authoring in a CSDB environment and publishing to IETP formats.

Proficiency in XML authoring tools.

Ability to interpret CAD models, engineering drawings, system descriptions, equipment specifications, engineering change orders, and vendor documentation and translate them into clear, accurate user documentation.

Proven ability to deliver documentation to military and industry standards.

Experience developing and implementing content reuse strategies and digital delivery processes.

Comfortable working independently in a build-phase environment and taking ownership of both delivery and capability development.

Strong organisational, analytical, and communication skills.

Desirable:

Experience leading or mentoring small teams and scaling documentation functions.

Familiarity with S2000M, S3000L, or other ASD specifications.

Working knowledge of ERP or PLM systems, and integration with technical documentation workflows.

Note: Due to the nature of work undertaken at SubSea Craft, the selected candidate must be capable of meeting the security requirements of the position, which would include as a minimum existing right to live and work in the UK, Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), with UK National security clearance required for certain roles.*

Values: Our people are our greatest asset, we continually strive to provide an excellent working environment to enable our team to do their best work. We have an agile professional workforce: we are founded on the belief that our people are valued and our business is trusted, inclusive and commercially-adept.

What we expect from you:

Teamwork, mutual respect and collaboration

Initiative and independent working

Honesty and integrity

Business and commercial awareness

Agility, adaptability and continuous development

We are committed to building an inclusive, diverse workplace where everyone can thrive. If you require any support or adjustments to interact with us, please let us know.

*Please note that all offers of employment are conditional and subject to satisfactory DBS, driving licence and reference checks. A criminal record will not automatically disqualify candidates from employment. We will consider criminal record information alongside the wider range of evidence gathered at the application, interview, and pre-employment checking stages.

Due to the high volume of applications, we are unable to respond to everyone. If you are shortlisted, we will aim to contact you within 14 days of your application or the closing date (if stated). We may retain your details for future suitable roles unless you advise us otherwise.

For details of how we process your personal data, please refer to our Privacy Notice.