Technical Writer II (NWS 00843)

Job Title: Technical Writer II (NWS 00843)

THIS POSITION IS SHORT TERM, MAX 1000 HOURS PER CALENDAR YEAR

North Wind Services is actively seeking individuals who can contribute to national security within the science, technology, and engineering fields as part of our supplemental labor team at vital federal research and development installations supporting the Department of Energy. NWS has an established history of contributing to the success of their customer’s mission. Available employment opportunities may range from administrative and logistical support to advanced technical positions.

Qualified applicants must be a US citizen, at least 18 years of age, and able to meet pre-employment requirements including any required physical, drug screen, and/or background investigation to satisfy clearance requirements from the Department of Energy.

Successful candidates will be employees of NWS, a premier government contractor charged with employing highly motivated and well-qualified personnel who can advance the missions of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, CA. Though employed by NWS, the employee will take day-to-day direction from technical personnel employed directly by the research laboratories. Pay, benefits, Human Resource, and Employment Management functions are provided by NWS.

The Technical Information Department (TID) has an opening for a Technical Writer to support the Laboratory’s Physical and Life Sciences (PLS) Directorate. PLS is a vibrant organization that performs wide-ranging fundamental and applied science in support of the Laboratory’s missions. The directorate has roughly 1500 employees and 5 key research areas: atmosphere, earth, and energy; biology and biotechnology; materials science; nuclear and chemical science; and physics. This position may require the successful candidate have the flexibility to work overtime and/or weekends to accomplish goals. Hybrid and/or remote work arrangements are possible for this assignment. The successful candidate will be required to pass various training modules to pursue work assignments.

The PLS communications team—consisting of 4 editors/writers and 1 designer—supports all of these research areas and the PLS Directorate Office by producing a wide range of communications products, including websites, internal and external news articles, newsletters, presentations, reports, posters, and brochures. The successful candidate will be writing science highlights for and assembling the weekly PLS employee newsletter.

Essential Duties
- Write and edit scientific, technical, and administrative materials, including internal and external news stories and feature articles, web-based content and intranet pages, presentations, reports, and other directorate communications.
- Serve as a primary writer and editor for the weekly PLS employee newsletter by identifying and researching story ideas.
- Write clear, concise, and engaging journalistic articles for internal audiences.
- Manage production schedules and deadlines in coordination with other team members.
- Apply professional editorial judgment to improve clarity, coherence, and effectiveness of content for a variety of internal and external audiences.
- Work closely with other communicators, scientists, and managers to ensure projects meet cost, schedule, and quality commitments.
- Work closely with the PLS Communications Director and peers to prioritize and balance workload across multiple concurrent assignments.
- Perform other additional tasks as assigned.

Essential Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities
- Bachelor’s degree in English, communications, journalism, engineering, or a technical area, or the equivalent combination of education and experience in the area of technical communication.
- Broad-based professional editing and writing skills, including the ability to revise documents for clarity, consistency, structure, and style for target audiences.
- Experience planning, developing, organizing, and writing content effectively across different platforms (newsletters, web, reports, presentations).
- Ability to plan and execute projects to meet specified scope, schedule, and quality, including managing recurring communication products on tight deadlines.
- Openness to having work edited and integrating editorial feedback, while maintaining high standards and meeting deadlines.
- Ability to recognize edits/requests outside the scope of the project or in conflict with organizational style and tone guidelines and tactfully work with reviewer to address the edits.
- Experience working independently on assignments with minimal guidance, including making decisions about project parameters, priorities, and approaches within established goals.
- Ability to successfully manage multiple tasks concurrently in a rapidly changing environment.
- Ability to handle sensitive and confidential information with tact, diplomacy and discretion.

Desired Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities
- Experience with developing and refining scientific and/or technical content for various audiences.
- Significant journalistic writing experience, such as, reporting and feature writing for newsletters, news sites, or organizational communications.
- Significant journalistic writing experience, such as conducting interviews and distilling complex information into clear, engaging stories for diverse audiences.
- Familiarity with Adobe Creative Cloud tools (for example, InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, or Dreamweaver) or equivalent tools used for layout and graphics.
- Familiarity with content management systems for web publishing, such as WordPress, Drupal, and Liferay.
- Familiarity with best practices for writing and publishing web content, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

Special Requirements
Pre-Placement Medical Exam: A job-related pre-placement medical examination may be required.
Pre-employment drug test: External applicants selected for this position will be required to pass a post offer, pre-employment drug test.
Anticipated Government Clearance Level: P (position will be cleared to this level). Applicants selected will be subject to a federal background investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information or matter. In addition, all L or Q cleared employees are subject to random drug testing. Q-level clearance requires U.S. citizenship. If you hold multiple citizenships (U.S. and another country), you may be required to renounce your non-U.S. citizenship before a DOE L or Q clearance will be processed/granted.

North Wind offers a competitive pay and benefits package to include health, life, and disability insurance benefits, 401(k) with company match, generous paid leave, and tuition reimbursement for eligible employees. As a company, we are committed to employee wellness, professional development, and work-life balance. We value safety, reliability, and commitment to our people! For more information about our benefits or hiring philosophy, visit the North Wind Career Opportunities Page.

Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The nature of those accommodations will be determined on a case-by-case basis. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process or are limited in the ability or unable to access or use this online application process and need an alternative method for applying, you may contact our Helpline 1-208-528-8714 for assistance.

North Wind is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer and welcomes all qualified applicants. Applicants will receive fair and impartial consideration without regard to race, sex, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic data, religion or other legally protected status. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to their protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.

Salary : $52