Senior Developer Experience Writer

Our everyday digital experiences are in the midst of a realtime revolution. Whether chatting alongside a livestreaming event receiving realtime financial information or working with colleagues in an online collaborative environment - consumers simply expect realtime digital experiences as standard. At Ably were not just witnessing this revolution were powering it - at scale.

At the heart of our mission lies a commitment to putting developers first. Ably provides a suite of products to build extend and deliver powerful digital experiences in realtime delivering billions of messages for millions of devices every day and supporting organizations like Harness EA Panasonic and HubSpot.

Working at Ably means helping to build the infrastructure and technology that will power and shape the future of the internet. The opportunity in front of us is immense. And wed like your help.

About this role

Thousands of developers around the world use Ablys SDKs and APIs to power realtime features in their applications. The Developer Experience team is responsible for ensuring that Ably is a platform that exemplifies great developer experience and is a reference point that other companies aspire to.

As our Senior Developer Experience Writer youll be contributing directly to this goal; helping developers to quickly understand Ably build confidently and ultimately succeed with the platform. At its core this is an AI-focussed role; youll be in charge of setting up the foundations that empower engineers to produce first-class developer documentation with AI at scale. Youll use AI to automate checks maintain quality and allow for rapid iteration in the content itself as well as in the documentation platform. Youll still be setting the standards for technical content across the business and using your expertise to shape the information architecture.

This is a modern take on technical writing; youll be using AI to both increase your own output whilst also increasing the velocity of other contributors. The same core values still apply though - ensuring that users can quickly understand and succeed with Ably.

Day to day you will

• Use AI to produce quality content. Youll write reusable prompts and skills that docs contributors can use to ensure their content meets Ablys quality standards.
• Define and uphold content standards. Youll help define what great looks like; from docs structure and style to making sure that PRs are always exceeding standards. Youll leverage AI to check for technical accuracy and make sure that content always assists developers in learning and succeeding with Ably in the fastest and easiest ways possible.
• Build engaging educational content templates.Youll lead by example by producing reference content that others can use as a pattern to write similar content. This will be in the format of templates and skills that team members can leverage.
• Empower engineers to write great content. Youll coach and support engineering contributors to ensure that theyre always producing accurate well-structured developer-friendly content.
• Champion effective AI use. Youll promote the use of AI for efficiency while maintaining a sharp eye for quality ensuring content meets editorial standards is technically accurate and is free from AI-generated patterns that undermine trust or clarity.
• Maintain and elevate the docs platform. Youll take responsibility for shaping the documentation platforms components structure and tooling. This includes making sure content is logically structured and easily navigable and that it helps external developers understand Ably in new and exciting ways.

Wed love to talk if you have

• Proven success creating technical content for developers such as documentation API references and guides; with a portfolio that others have visibly learned from.
• Experience reviewing and giving feedback on technical writing with the ability to coach others to improve their craft.
• Experience and a desire to work in an AI-forward environment. Experience in automation working with agents and producing quality content at scale is a bonus.
• Experience of using AI tools as a core part of your workflow for writing research and coding as well as understanding their output and limitations.
• Familiarity with APIs SDKs and modern web development tools with the ability to read write and reason about code examples in at least one programming language (ideally JavaScript).
• Strong instincts for developer experience particularly around onboarding and a genuine desire to produce experiences that delight developers.
• A proactive self-directed mindset with the ability to take ownership of projects end to end from ideation through to completion.
• Experience at a startup or growth-stage company or the adaptability to thrive in a fast-paced agile environment with a focus on rapid iteration with excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Bonus points if you have

• Experience in maintaining and shaping a documentation platform or developer portal.
• Familiarity with information architecture principles and content strategy.
• Familiarity with git-driven workflows for managing content changes.
• Some knowledge or understanding of event-driven architecture.

Whats it like to work at Ably

Were tackling planet-scale problems and our ambitions are a testament to that. Youll join a successful deeply motivated and collaborative team that thrives on innovation experimentation and autonomy. To get a sense of life at Ably visit our careers can also read about the origins of Ablys core values on our blog.

We believe in fostering a culture thats built on inclusivity and mutual respect among all team members and we recognise that each individual is different and will want to be supported in their role in different ways. We provide a range of perks and benefits to aid folks development and wellbeing allowing them to be their best selves and do great work.

• A remote-first and flexible work -based teams come together in person once per month in our London hub (next to Old Street) and we get together as a company twice per year. Aside from that youre welcome to work wherever suits best for you.
• Equity. Were a growing start-up and we want all team to members to share in the success of the company through our EMI share options programme.
• Enhanced holiday allowance. Our policy provides Ablyans with 28 days of paid annual leave (27 regular days plus a day off to enjoy your birthday).
• Enhanced parental leave package so that you can take the time you need to get to know your new family member rest and recover.
• Home workstation budget of 500 on joining (and 150 p/a thereafter) so that your home office is set up to serve you well and that you have everything you need to work comfortably.
• Personal learning and development budget of 1000 annually and 5% L&D time during working hours to focus on improving your skillset.
• Private healthcare with BUPA.
• Medical cash plan to cover a range medical and dental costs.
• Mental wellbeing coaching and counselling from Self Space.
• Monthly wellbeing budget via Juno.
• Life assurance and income protection.
• Access to Tech & Cycle to Work schemes.
• Weekly snack allowance for our end-of-week Need To Know meeting.
• A fully-paid one-month sabbatical after five years with Ably.

Diversity Inclusion & Belonging at Ably

We believe our differences as individuals is what makes us great. Our people are at the heart of what we do and we encourage everyone to be their most authentic self at Ably: we see inclusivity and openness as fundamental to creating long-term success as an organization. We encourage applications from all backgrounds regardless of age disability gender sexual orientation parental status race religion educational background or neurodiversity. Ably has an amazing opportunity ahead of us and we want anyone to be able to contribute to that opportunity.

If you enjoy working as part of a technology company value open source and love solving hard problems - then wed love to hear from you regardless of whether you fit the job description exactly or not. If in doubt drop us an email; wed be more than happy to give you some advice on your application.