Technical Writer

Pact is an international nonprofit that works in nearly 40 countries building solutions for human development that are evidence-based, data-driven and owned by the communities we serve. Founded in 1971, Pact works with partners to build resilience, improve accountability, and strengthen knowledge and skills for sustainable social impact.

Department

Programs – Pact strives for a world where all people are heard, capable, and vibrant. The Programs Team helps realize this objective by bridging program management, technical support, and business development, enabling Pact to achieve its global strategy. We ensure program excellence through continuous learning, monitoring and evaluation and provide organizational and industry-wide thought leadership by leveraging a complementary set of cross-functional, multi-disciplinary skills, expertise, and experiences. The Programs team: influences progressive change through the development and implementation of global and regional strategies and business plans; supports advancement of innovative solutions; pursues new business opportunities; and drives effective internal and external engagement to maximize Pact’s impact across the globe. Across all aspects of its role, the Programs Department adheres to and promotes a culture of inclusion, accountability, and respect.

Position Overview

Pact is seeking an experienced Technical Writer to join its Programs team. The Technical Writer supports the development of thought leadership and learning pieces, working with technical teams and projects to conceptualize and develop technical documents such as guides, repurpose existing documents for new audiences, and enhance evidence-based reporting, among others. The Technical Writer also serves as proposal writer for a variety of technical areas, including natural resource management, climate change, livelihoods and economic opportunities, and capacity development. They work collaboratively with Pact colleagues worldwide, including Pact’s field offices, project teams, technical experts, the business development team, and the communications team, to develop high-quality, responsive proposals and to work with project and evaluations teams as they develop reports and thought leadership pieces that effectively communicate results and impact. The Technical Writer reports to the Senior Director of LEAP, sits on the LEAP team, and is a member of Pact’s Technical Writing and Editing peer support group (TWE). As part of TWE, they help ensure and strengthen the quality of technical writing across Pact, particularly among projects.

Key Responsibilities

Develop high-quality thought leadership and technical documents

• With direction and content from technical teams, write technical documents for external dissemination, such as by repurposing full-length reports into technical briefs, blogposts, job aids, or guidebooks or by revising documents for a different audience, such as adapting a technical brief to a more-general infographic.
• Provide peer support by copy-editing documents drafted by other technical writers, as needed and as time and workload permit.
• Develop additional materials that demonstrate Pact’s successes and impact, such as capacity statements, technical briefs, and blogposts.

Develop technically advanced and clear proposal narratives

• Lead the writing of responsive, high-quality proposals in accordance with Pact and donor requirements.
• Facilitate technical brainstorming sessions to set proposal strategy and criteria for successful development of donor proposals.
• Collect, integrate, and ensure the quality of technical specialists’ and/or consultants’ contributions.
• Review, revise, and copy-edit technical proposal sections provided by the organization technical staff, consultants, and partners, and integrate them into the overall technical application.
• Participate in technical reviews and incorporate feedback and revisions in a timely manner.
• Review and integrate all background materials to ensure that the technical application is compliant with all technical and strutural requirements.
• Interview and gather technical input and competitive intelligence from country offices, technical units, subject matter specialists, and other resource persons.
• Lead or support the preparation and delivery of proposal design workshops.
• Constructively challenge the design team to produce a high-quality product.
• Support partner engagement to draw forth technical insight and proposal contributions.
• Advise on visuals and graphics that reinforce narrative messages.
• Provide peer support by copy-editing proposals drafted by other technical writers, as needed and as time and workload permit.

Contribute to Pact’s technical writing and editing excellence

• Plan and prioritize requests for writing support from country offices, projects, and Pact technical teams, and identify external sources of support when required.
• Contribute to TWE and Technical Writing Community of Practice (TWCOP) meetings and trainings, including on technical writing best practices for proposals and thought leadership
• In partnership with the Manager for Editorial Content, work closely with regional directors and project teams to maintain and enhance excellence in project performance reporting by providing trainings, mentorship, guidance, and templates as needed, and support project teams with revising and editing of reports as needed.
• Uphold Pact’s core competencies of respect, inclusion, and integrity by helping to build an environment of accountability and learning, keeping work commitments and respecting colleagues’ time, listening to country team voices, and participating in performance reviews.

All other duties as assigned.

Basic Requirements

• At least five years of experience (or seven years of experience with a Bachelor’s degree) developing and writing successful proposals in international development or a related field.
• Familiarity with development topics, such as natural resource management, climate change, livelihoods and economic opportunities, community engagement, and capacity development**.**
• Ability to write technical documents for dissemination with direction from technical staff, such as repurposing full-length reports into smaller technical briefs, blogposts, job aids, and so on.
• Ability to adapt writing and overall communication style to priority audiences.
• Ability to provide capacity development assistance on the topic of technical writing using various methods, such as one-on-one mentoring, formal trainings, and resource development.
• Ability to collaborate with country office staff, review the work of non-native English speakers, work with a team under time pressure, and balance competing priorities with an occasionally heavy workload.
• Ability to follow funding document instructions to organize and develop technical narratives, capacity statements, and project management sections.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Word, and familiarity with Excel, Outlook, OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams.
• Willingness to travel 15%

Preferred Qualifications

• Understanding of the international development landscape, including funders, implementing partners, and US Government structures.
• Complementary experience with public sector funders, such as US Government agencies, the UK FCDO, and Global Affairs Canada, and private sector foundations.
• Experience using participatory approaches to design programs and develop proposals, including applying principles of co-creation.
• Experience in developing prepositioning documents, such as blog posts on technical topics.
• Proficiency in a foreign language, preferably Spanish or French.
• Experience overseeing and coordinating with international field offices preferred.

Pact is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in its selection and employment practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, citizenship status, genetic information, matriculation, family responsibilities, personal appearance, credit information, tobacco use (except in the workplace), membership in an employee organization, or other protected classifications or non-merit factors.