Technical Writer​/Editor

Clearance

Public Trust

ITS requires Technical Writer/Editor support with a high degree of editorial expertise to staff the ITS Publications Office. The scope of work is to provide assistance to ITS staff in the preparation of manuscripts and other written materials, including reviewing for grammatical correctness, readability, accessibility, and compliance with applicable templates and standards; editing and formatting papers prior to publication; preparing and editing/formatting for clarity diagrams, illustrations, and manuals in support of technical authors/projects/project leaders;

acting as Secretary of the ITS Editorial Review Board (ERB); and other tasks as assigned.

The Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS) provides research and development support for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) by performing basic research in radio science that provides the technical foundation for NTIA’s policy development and spectrum management activities, as well as solves telecommunications challenges for other Federal agencies, state and local Governments, private corporations and associations, and international organizations. Additionally, ITS addresses emerging telecommunications, information technology, and federal spectrum challenges and contributes to the creation of international standards that support the full and fair competitiveness of the U.S. communications and information technology business sectors.

ITS performs applied telecommunication research which often requires the public presentation of the research results to stakeholders in a variety of formats such as peer-reviewed publications, sponsor reports, technical news articles, and presentations to government and non-government groups. The ITS Publications Office is principally responsible for managing this federally mandated process referred to as “technology transfer”. Publication of reports and papers is the primary means of dissemination of results of ITS’s research and engineering programs and services;

however, ITS strives to promote prompt dissemination via the most effective media, while maintaining the highest standards of quality, accuracy, and technical soundness.

Drafting and Editing ITS-Owned Media Assets

• Create and edit content for ITS-owned media assets intended for public distribution, including public websites, social media posts, blog articles, informational videos, and other public media.
• Translate information provided by technical staff into clear, accurate, publication-ready content for non-technical or general audiences.
• Provide full-cycle content editing, formatting, visual asset refinement, and workflow coordination.
• Assist in preparing communication plans and promotional materials for dissemination of ITS media assets through public channels.
• Ensure public-facing content is grammatically correct, properly formatted, accurate, accessible, and aligned with applicable federal/publication standards.
• Support Section 508 compliance for public-facing materials, including HTML/web content, Microsoft Word documents, PDFs, and related communication products.
• Apply knowledge of WCAG 2.0 standards and assist with accessibility review/testing for websites and public-release documents.

Presentation and Event Support

• Assist ITS authors in preparing, editing, and formatting technical presentations, including graphics support.
• Support ITS senior managers, event organizers, and committee chairs in preparing conference collateral, communication plans, and promotional materials.
• Support scientific conferences and events as needed, which may include on-site assistance such as registration desk support, event photography for social media, microphone support, or related event-support tasks.
• Provide timely, professional customer support to ITS authors, presenters, event organizers, and committee chairs.

Technical Paper Editing and Publication Support

• Provide manuscript editing services, including developmental editing, line editing, copyediting, and proofreading.
• Prepare technical papers for internal and external publication, including IEEE journal articles and other scientific or technical materials.
• Review materials for grammar, readability, formatting, accessibility, style-guide compliance, and template compliance.
• Work collaboratively with junior technical specialists, senior technical staff, project leaders, authors, and senior management.
• Maintain internal records of incoming manuscripts, publication status, deliverable deadlines, and deadlines met or missed using established Publications Office tracking methods.
• Support Editorial Review Board records and publication pipeline tracking so publication status remains visible to senior managers.

Templates and Application Support

• Support the ITS Publications Office lead in maintaining or creating Microsoft Word and PowerPoint templates in response to changing technology, requirements, or publication needs.
• Assist ITS authors with editorial,…