Technical Writer Senior

***********@*****.*** 954-***-****

https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-hays-a6271725/

Robert Edward Hays

Senior Technical Writer with extensive experience in high volume software houses, creating content for audiences of all technical levels. I specialize in leading teams of up to 20 Technical Writers (domestic and international), helping them raise the volume and quality of their content through the use of structured authoring tools and processes. My experience in companies both large and small enables me to be flexible and adapt to changing conditions. I am well experienced at working in a cross functional capacity with others to succeed in the content workspace.

SKILLSET

ROLES

TOOLS

CONTENT FOCUS

Senior Technical Writer

MadCap Flare/DITA

Product Documentation

Training Development Lead

MarkdownTutorials/Training Materials

Editor/Technical Editor

Git/Atlassian

Release Notes/FAQs

Facilitator

Jira/Confluence

Concept Documentation/White Papers

Project Manager

Photoshop/Snagit

API Documentation

SUCCESSES

Senior Technical Writer, USMC / Bowhead Government Support Services 2023 – 2024

I took a Senior Technical Writer position to help with the Information Technology Modernization effort with the US Marines. Working with a Program Manager and an Agile Development support team, I interfaced with Commissioned officers and NGOs to create content that supports the Marine’s Force Design 2030 effort. Shortly after I was hired, I was promoted to Deputy Program Manager, to ensure that the team provided stellar service for our client. At Bowhead, I was responsible for:

Leading content creation efforts, quality control, and vision lock for a team of nine agile coaches, software engineers and SharePoint developers.

Developing and maintaining a Style Guide, providing templates for all content, making recommendations for content tools and the processes needed to fully utilize them.

Editing all team content for consistency, clarity, and style.

Senior Technical Writer / Manager, User Enablement, Logi Analytics / insightsoftware 2019 – 2023

I started as a Senior Technical Writer with Logi Analytics, and after insightsoftware (a global IT firm focused on business software packages) acquired Logi Analytics, my title changed to Manager, User Enablement. At insightsoftware, I was responsible for:

Hiring/onboarding/leading international team of 12 Technical Writers: India, Europe, China.

Creating work tracking processes in Jira to ensure deadlines would be met.

Working with Engineering, Customer Support Product Owners to create meaningful API docs.

Create Content Strategy to manage 55 Help Systems for Enterprise and SAAS solutions.

Worked out of my home office on a flex schedule that catered to my team and the customers.

Training Development Manager, Shoes For Crews 2017 – 2019

Shoes for Crews has a large support staff who were being trained to use a new CMS. I was tasked with supervising a local/remote team creating training material. At Shoes for Crews, I was responsible for:

Converting to a MadCap Flare solution from a Legacy Help System, formatted using Markdown.

Describing functionality of new Enterprise software suite.

Interfacing with SMEs in Development, Product Management, Sales, and Customer Care.

Managing a team of Technical Writers in an Agile environment.

Technical Writing Team Facilitator, MadCap Consulting, (Nestleˈ) 2016 – 2017

I was recruited by an executive at Nestleˈ to facilitate the work of an internationally-diverse MadCap Flare Content Developer team; we were tasked to create SAP customer assistance tools for an international audience. For my one-year contract at Nestleˈ, I was responsible for:

Leading a team of Nine Content Developers spread across 16 time zones, to ensure that their work was constantly at a high standard and delivered on-time.

Creating new MadCap Flare Help Systems, Training Materials, and associated architecture for SAP audience of 300,000 Engineers, Mechanics, and Factory users.

Editing process documents for 150-person internal Nestleˈ IT team and the Content Developers, to ensure world guidelines for content are maintained.

Technical Writer III, eBay Enterprise / Radial 2015 – 2016

I went to Radial to work with engineers on API content, create MadCap Flare Help Systems for the latest software releases, update current documentation for customer service. I also helped create a Content Policy Committee that was tasked with overhauling the Radial libraries. At Radial, I was responsible for:

Porting existing content to MadCap Flare and documenting Omnichannel Control Panel APIs.

Setting up a library in SharePoint for Content Policy Committee content.

Providing processes for creating storing, tracking, and publishing Content in an Agile SDLC.

Technical Writer, Campus Management / Anthology 2011 – 2015

I was recruited from NTT America by Anthology to help with a large content conversion of their RoboHelp CMS to MadCap Flare. At Anthology, my responsibilities included:

Creating conversion plans for RoboHelp files and publishing the content using MadCap Flare.

Working with Government College Financial Aid officers to ensure we properly documented regulatory compliance updates to our software and processes.

Creating process documents, Help Systems, and supporting content for Installer modules.

Working as an Agile Evangelist, creating Agile process content and training teams on Agile methodology.

ISO Quality Coordinator, Verio / NTT America 2005 – 2011

In addition to my Technical Writing duties at Verio, I earned the opportunity to be the Lead Auditor/ISO Quality Coordinator. With my assistance, I was able to help Verio become the first Web Hosting company with ISO 9000 certification. My responsibilities included:

Creating and/or editing hundreds of Engineering and Data Center SOP documents.

Serving as the Management Representative for external audits, and working with Executives to ensure proper corrective actions were taken.

Creating document control policies that ensured accurate version control.

Training all departments to create proper processes and manage content to pass audits.

Senior Technical Writer / Editor, Verio / NTT America 2001 – 2011

I worked with two particularly brilliant developers to create the first interactive DITA-Spec XML Help System that used real time, customer specific information, presented dynamically in topics. As Senior Technical Writer, my responsibilities included:

Helping to automate the Release Notes generation process, taking content directly from databases, formatting the information and converting it to developer and end user work instructions.

Serving as author and primary editor of all SOAP API content.

Working with Sales and Marketing to create RFI and RFP content.

Working as an assistant PMO to the Director on a 6-million-dollar CS Conversion project, performing all duties of a Project Manager.

CERTIFICATIONS AND TRAINING

COLLEGE DEGREES

CERTIFICATIONS

FORMAL TRAINING

Science Journalism

ISO 9001:2008 Lead Auditor

MadCap Flare 7 through 2023r

Computer Science/ Chemistry

ISO 9000:2000 Auditor

SCRUM /PMP/Agile Training

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