External Writing Coach (Contractor – Intermittent Services)

OVERVIEW:

The D. E. Shaw group seeks a skilled writing coach contractor to provide intermittent individualized coaching services to staff to strengthen their writing skills. These services will supplement the firm’s writing center offerings, which include classes, individualized coaching and consulting, and other resources for staff. This engagement offers the flexibility to provide coaching services remotely and/or on-site at the firm’s New York City headquarters.

WHAT YOU'LL DO DAY-TO-DAY:

One-on-one coaching to help staff:

• Improve their professional, financial, and/or technical writing skills.
• Learn how to create and refine work that meets the firm’s high standards within its rigorous, writing-heavy culture.

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR:

• A bachelor’s degree and at least five years of writing coaching or teaching experience, preferably at the graduate level or in corporate environments. We welcome applications from university writing center staff.
• Ability to assess and provide actionable guidance on complex professional, financial, and technical writing, including on materials outside of one’s subject matter expertise.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, along with sound judgment, analytical thinking, and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to handle confidential information with the utmost discretion.
• Familiarity with AI writing tools, and experience helping writers navigate AI in their own practice, is highly preferred.
• Knowledge of writing center theory and practice, plus rhetoric and composition theory and pedagogy, is preferred.
• Experience coaching STEM professionals or graduate students is a plus.
• This is a contractor engagement to provide intermittent services depending on the firm’s writing coaching needs. For candidates interested in a full-time role at the D. E. Shaw group, see the Professional and Technical Writing Coach role.