Home Technical Writer Resume template
Technical Writer resume template
A clean starting structure with example content grounded in what technical writers actually do day to day, not generic filler. Download and replace the bracketed placeholders with your own details.
Which resume format should you use?
Reverse chronological
You have a steady work history. This is the format almost every recruiter and ATS expects by default.
Functional
You're changing fields or have gaps in your employment. Leads with skills rather than a job-by-job timeline.
Combination
You're early career or have worked consistently but for only a few employers. Blends a skills summary with a shorter chronological history.
This template uses the reverse chronological format: the one most technical writers should default to, since most Australian recruiters and ATS software expect it.
Professional summary
Technical Writer experienced in turning complex product and system information into documentation that developers, support teams and end users can actually use. Comfortable working directly with engineers and subject matter experts inside agile teams to produce API references, user guides and help content that stays accurate as products change.
Key skills
- Business requirements analysis
- Content creation and writing
- API documentation
- Information architecture and structuring for different audiences
- MadCap Flare
- Adobe FrameMaker
- JIRA
- Confluence
- Git/GitHub
- Stakeholder management
- Attention to detail
- Problem solving
Experience: example bullet points
- Wrote and maintained API documentation and code samples for a software product, reducing repeat support queries from integration partners
- Produced step-by-step user manuals and procedural guides for a multi-module system, adopted as the standard reference by the support team
- Conducted technical interviews with developers and product managers to capture feature detail ahead of release deadlines
- Edited and reviewed documentation sets for clarity, accuracy and consistent terminology across a large content library
- Managed documentation version control and publishing workflows in Git and Confluence, keeping content aligned with sprint releases
Education
Bachelor degree in communications, technical writing, English or a related IT/science field is the most common entry path, with a growing share of writers holding postgraduate qualifications; diploma-level technical communication courses and direct industry experience are also accepted routes.
Keywords an ATS is likely to scan for
Applicant tracking systems match your resume against terms in the job ad before a person ever sees it. Only include the ones that actually apply to your experience, but if a term below matches something you've done, use the same wording the job ad uses.
- API documentation
- technical writing
- MadCap Flare
- Adobe FrameMaker
- Confluence
- JIRA
- Git
- GitHub
- version control
- user guides
- help authoring
- information architecture
- plain English
- Australian Government Style Manual
- agile
- SDLC
- content management system
- single-source publishing
- docs-as-code
Getting past ATS screening
- Match the specific skills, certifications and terms used in the job ad, not just your own wording for the same thing.
- Keep formatting simple: no tables, text boxes, columns, headers/footers or graphics. Parsers frequently drop content placed in these.
- Submit as .docx or PDF unless the job ad specifies otherwise.
- Use standard section headings (Experience, Education, Skills) rather than creative alternatives.
- List your core skills and technical competencies in their own section so a keyword scan can find them instantly.
This is a starting point, not a guarantee of interviews. Tailor every bullet point to your own real experience and the specific job ad.