Technical Writer - Volunteer

Crossing Party Lines (CPL) provides opportunities, training, and support for civil, respectful discourse between Americans with dissimilar ideologies. Our primary offering is the CPL meetup regularly scheduled, facilitated meetings to which all are welcome. At our meetups, attendees discuss current hot topics while facilitators focus the meetings to teach and model skills and create a safe space for members to:

Be heard by and listened to by people with different political views.

Express views without negative repercussions.

Learn from one another through active listening.

Develop curiosity about perspectives that may be new and unfamiliar to them.

Find connection with members who espouse different views.

Develop skills required for civil, respectful discourse.

In 2016, two groups named "Crossing Party Lines" started independently of one another on opposite ends of the country, only a few months apart. They joined forces to bring civil, respectful conversation to the rest of the country.

Volunteer Technical Communicator
Crossing Party Lines is seeking a Volunteer Technical Communicator for our Apps and Agents team. We are developing a portfolio of AI-powered applications and conversational agents that help people communicate more effectively across political, personal, and professional differences. The technology is exciting, but technology alone will not make these tools successful. People need to understand what each application does, why it may help, how to use it, and what they can expect from it.

We are looking for someone who can translate complex ideas into language that is clear, warm, accurate, and human.

About the Apps And Agents Team
For nearly a decade, Crossing Party Lines has helped people with different political views talk openly, listen carefully, and understand one another without requiring agreement.

We are now combining the latest generative‑AI capabilities with CPL’s proprietary intellectual property, including:

Practical communication and listening skills

Methods for teaching, practicing, and coaching those skills

Concepts and frameworks related to cognitive and affective depolarization

Approaches to reframing, reflection, perspective‑taking, bias awareness, and contextual communication

A philosophy grounded in curiosity, dignity, emotional safety, and respect across differences

Our goal is to bring this work beyond explicitly political conversations and make it useful in workplaces, families, organizations, and everyday relationships. Projects may include practice applications, AI coaches, conversational role‑play tools, facilitator support, public‑communication tools, and other applications of CPL’s work. Crossing Party Lines is also preparing an application to Y Combinator as we explore the larger potential of these products.

What you’ll help us accomplish
You will help us create a clear and consistent bridge between:

CPL’s subject‑matter expertise

The developers building the applications

The people who will eventually use them

Potential partners, supporters, and customers

This may involve both technical writing and product communication. Some documents will help a first‑time user understand an idea without feeling overwhelmed by technical or academic language. Others will share about these exciting products via social media, blog posts, and more.

What you’ll do

Writing or refining app instructions, onboarding text, prompts, tooltips, help content, and explanatory messages

Helping maintain consistent terminology and voice across multiple products

Writing testing instructions, FAQs, setup guides, and internal process documents

Helping explain the products to potential volunteers, partners, funders, and users

Collaborating with designers, developers, testers, and subject‑matter experts

Identifying places where jargon, abstraction, or excessive complexity may prevent understanding

The role can be shaped somewhat around your strengths. One volunteer may excel at user‑facing communication, learning content, another may be strongest at explaining complex ideas to a general audience.

Who you are

Write clearly, accurately, and with a strong sense of audience

Know how to ask questions that reveal missing information

Can preserve nuance while making language easier to understand

Are comfortable receiving detailed feedback and revising collaboratively

Are interested in AI, communication, education, product development, psychology, conflict transformation, or civic life

Can write in a warm, natural voice rather than relying on corporate or academic jargon

Are able to remain neutral and respectful when writing about contested issues and different political views

Experience in technical writing, UX writing, instructional design, product documentation, communications, curriculum development, journalism, editing, or content strategy is helpful. Familiarity with software development or generative AI is useful but not required. We care most about your ability to learn, clarify, organize, and communicate.

What you’ll gain

Experience documenting and communicating innovative generative‑AI products

Opportunities to create strong writing samples and portfolio material

Meaningful influence over products at an early stage of development

Collaboration with developers, designers, testers, and communication specialists

Exposure to practical frameworks for depolarization and constructive communication

The opportunity to help translate years of nonprofit knowledge into tools with broad potential

Professional references based on the quality and consistency of your contribution

You will be reporting directly to Lisa Swallow, who has 30 years of experience in the field of technical communication.

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