Want to know if this job is worth applying to?
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Remote only
We are looking for a talented and flexible Technical Writer to join one of our distributed open-source software development teams. You will work on the PostgreSQL database and related components, in close collaboration with our dedicated PostgreSQL team.
Percona Distribution for PostgreSQL brings together essential enterprise components from the broader PostgreSQL open-source community into a single, integrated distribution designed and tested to ensure compatibility.
You will represent our voice to our technical customers and provide complete, clear documentation for our PostgresSQL products. We seek someone committed to delivering consistent, high-quality, and on-time documentation, whether in the form of guides, user manuals, help files, or man pages. You should be comfortable working in version-controlled environments, as we adopt a docs-as-code methodology.
You will be embedded in the PostgreSQL team, but also working alongside the Product Documentation team, which comprises several technical writers dedicated to developing a scalable documentation strategy that drives user adoption and effective use of our products. You are expected to collaborate with the other writers as we aim to continuously improve our practices.
Location/time zone
Remote work from home. Open to worldwide candidates, but the team median is UTC-2, so we recommend candidates operate within +/- 4 hours of this baseline.
What you will do
Create all technical documentation from install/configuration/troubleshooting guides, how-tos, user manuals, man pages, to --help prompts
Participate in team ceremonies. Collaborate with the Engineering Manager, Product Manager, Devs, and QA to output high-quality documentation
Use text, markdown, images, and diagrams to ensure that audiences of all experience levels can extract value from our documentation
Leverage AI tooling to quickly draft, polish, format, and refine content
Maintain documentation versioning and be a contributor to our overall documentation strategy
Your experience
Graduate-level written English and excellent verbal communication skills
Experience with documenting complex systems and writing user-oriented documentation
3+ years of experience as a technical writer and ability to write high-quality and precise documentation
Experience with markup languages (Markdown preferred)
Experience with the installation and configuration of database server software on Linux
Docs-as-code experience. Knowledge of Jenkins, git, Markdown, HTML, and/or JavaScript (strongly recommended)
Experience in leveraging AI tooling for documentation purposes
Comfortable with Linux command line
Distributed system development and/or database server development
Fluent in developer tools like git, gcc, gdb
Working autonomously in a globally distributed organization
Collaborating with open source communities and colleagues via mailing lists, Slack, etc.
Using collaboration/tracking tools like Jira/Notion
Proven success working in a distributed environment
Quick learner and great team player
What will (really) make you stand out
A developer or DevOps background
Having a track record of contributing to PostgreSQL or other open source projects. Being an active member of the PostgreSQL community
A solid understanding of PostgreSQL internals to write accurate content to potentially contribute upstream
A solid working knowledge of advanced concepts such as database storage engines, at-rest encryption, and cloud orchestration
Ability to build and maintain automated documentation testing, CI/CD pipelines for documentation process, and validation tools
Experienced conference speaker, technical blog writer, active on public forums or mailing lists
Communication, travel, and remote collaboration
Percona is a globally distributed, remote-first organization that values active communication and collaboration. While working from your home office, it's important to engage openly and proactively with your team. We promote lively discussions, idea sharing, and transparent work updates. To foster a strong team environment, we depend on consistent communication via tools like Slack, Zoom, and Jira, which keep us connected, aligned, and supportive across different time zones. Although travel isn't always necessary, there may occasionally be opportunities for conferences or in-person meetups to strengthen relationships and ensure strategic alignment.
Working environment, planning, and growth
At Percona, we prioritize a structured work environment to support your focus and flow. We organize our tasks within specific timeframes and scopes, minimizing shifting priorities to allow you to concentrate on assigned tasks. This planning process is collaborative, involving the entire team, Product, and customer insights.
Professional growth is a focus for us, as we designate Fridays as no-meeting days. This provides us dedicated time for deep work, tackling challenging issues, or exploring new technologies.
Typical day as a technical writer in the PostgreSQL team at Percona
Morning (flexible, as you own your schedule): Start your day by checking Slack, email, and Jira for updates. Focus on writing tasks: new features, guides, bug fixes, and release notes for PostgreSQL and related tools. Respond to open and outstanding requests if needed.
Mid-day: Lunch break and casual Slack interactions. Resume writing, attend technical discussions (if scheduled), planning sessions, or join a brief team sync (Zoom).
Afternoon: Continue focusing on writing tasks. Reply to questions on the forum, draft blog posts or contribute to upstream documentation. Research and learn new technologies. Plan for the next day and wrap up tasks.
Key points
Expect regular communication through Slack, Zoom, and Jira. Active engagement in team rituals is a must. Continuous learning and problem-solving are fundamental to the role. Work hours are flexible, around scheduled team syncs or customer meetings. We don’t micromanage your tasks; instead, we hire you for your expertise and capacity to deliver high-quality documentation.
<!--WEB-ONLY-->
Why Percona?
At Percona, we believe an open world is a better world. Our mission is to enable everyone to innovate freely, by providing the best open source database software, support, and services. We make databases and applications run better through a unique combination of expertise and open source software built with the community for you. Our technical teams are experts in MySQL, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, and MariaDB.
Percona is proud to be a remote-only and globally dispersed workforce – we have colleagues in more than 50 countries! We offer a collaborative, highly-engaged culture where your ideas are welcome and your voice is heard.
Our staff receives generous benefits including flexible work hours and various paid time off programs, all your equipment for your remote office, funds for career development (external training, certifications, conferences), ongoing connectivity allowances, and the opportunity to participate in our equity incentive plan. We also have benefits that support a healthy work/life balance such as The Percona Adventure Team, Work-from-Anywhere, FlowDays, FryDays, and overall flexibility. We also support being socially responsible through our PAVE volunteering program and Women Transforming Technology.
If you love the idea of working with a high-growth tech company that is one of the best in the business and known globally as a leader in the open-source database space, let’s talk!
Connect with us and stay up to date on our latest news and developments by following us on LinkedIn and Twitter. We look forward to connecting with you!
