Creative & Technical Content Specialist

Job Description

Job Description

Build what’s possible. Show people how.

This exciting position will create projects and demonstrations that showcase SparkFun products, make electronics more approachable, and inspire people to build something of their own.

SparkFun has spent more than 20 years helping people explore electronics, learn new technologies, and turn ideas into reality. We make the hardware that makes those ideas possible. Now, we're looking for someone who can help us show people what's possible.

We're looking for a Creative & Technical Content Specialist to join our Marketing team and become the technical engine behind the projects, demonstrations, tutorials, and creative content we share with the SparkFun community.

This isn't a traditional marketing role. It's not a traditional engineering role, either.

You'll sit right in the middle of technology, creativity, education, and marketing — taking interesting ideas and SparkFun products and turning them into projects that people actually want to watch, build, learn from, and share.

If you love building with embedded electronics, explaining how they work, experimenting with new technology, and seeing other people get excited about what you've made, this position is for you!

What You'll Do

Build Interesting Projects

A significant portion of your time will be spent hands-on with hardware, building projects that demonstrate the capabilities and possibilities of SparkFun products. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Combining multiple products into compelling, useful applications
• Quickly prototyping ideas and iterating until they work
• Exploring new technologies, sensors, microcontrollers, communication protocols, and development platforms
• Creating projects that range from approachable beginner builds to more advanced technical applications
• Thinking strategically about how SparkFun products can work together to solve problems, demonstrate interesting applications, and introduce our audience to products they may not have otherwise considered

Let’s get beyond blinking an LED and make something worth showing people.

You'll work closely with the Marketing team to identify products and projects with the potential to perform across our channels and grow our audience. You'll then turn those ideas into reality, creating the projects and demonstrations that fuel our video, photography, social, SEO, email, and product marketing efforts.

Document & Share

The projects you build need to be more than something that works on your workbench. You'll turn successful projects into clear, repeatable, shareable resources that others can understand, recreate, and build upon.

You'll be responsible for capturing the technical details behind your projects, including:

• Documenting hardware, components, wiring, code, and setup
• Creating clear build instructions and project documentation
• Writing approachable explanations of how a project works and why it matters
• Capturing photos, diagrams, screenshots, and other supporting materials when needed
• Organizing project files and assets so they can be easily used by the broader Marketing team
• Working with Marketing to identify opportunities to turn projects into tutorials, videos, social content, product demonstrations, and other content

The goal isn't just to build something that works. It's to build something we can amplify.

Teach & Inspire

SparkFun has always been more than a place to buy electronics. We're a place where people come to learn. You'll help us strengthen that part of our identity by creating approachable technical content that shows people how things work and what they can build.

You should be able to take a technical concept that may seem intimidating and explain it in a way that makes someone think, "I could do that." At the same time, your projects should have enough technical depth to remain interesting and valuable to experienced engineers and electronics enthusiasts.

Collaborate & Communicate

You don't need to be a professional presenter or YouTube personality. However, you should be comfortable communicating on camera when appropriate, as many of the projects you create will ultimately be shared in video format.

You'll work closely with the Marketing team, engineers, and other teams throughout SparkFun to turn technical ideas into compelling content. You should be able to:

• Explain technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Communicate project ideas and requirements with the Marketing and creative teams
• Work comfortably alongside video, photography, design, and product marketing
• Be comfortable appearing in content when it makes sense
• Take feedback and adapt projects or explanations to better serve the audience

Requirements

What We're Looking For

Technical Skills

We're looking for someone who is highly capable and has a genuine passion for working with embedded electronics, troubleshooting, and completing projects independently.

Non-negotiables for this position are having a strong experience with:

• Coding with Arduino and MicroPython
• Microcontrollers and development boards
• Connecting projects to IoT and other wireless technologies
• Sensors and peripherals
• Basic electronics and circuit design
• Reading datasheets and technical documentation
• Debugging hardware and software

Experience with the following technologies is highly encouraged:

• ESP32
• BLE, Wi-Fi, LoRa, or other communications technologies
• Robotics
• Computer vision
• Machine learning / edge AI
• GNSS/GPS
• Raspberry Pi
• 3D printing or fabrication

You don't need to be an expert in everything on this list. We're much more interested in someone who can quickly learn and build rather than someone who checks every box. 

Curiosity & Creativity

Curiosity is critical to this role.

You should be the kind of person who sees a new sensor, development board, or technology and immediately starts wondering what you could build with it.

You should naturally want to experiment, ask "what if?", solve problems, and turn interesting ideas into things people can actually build.

Most importantly, you should care about making technology approachable. The goal isn't simply to build the most technically impressive project possible — it's to build something that makes someone think, "I could build that."

What Success Looks Like

A successful Creative & Technical Content Specialist will help us establish a consistent pipeline of technical projects → content → audience → customers.

You'll help us:

• Increase the frequency of project-based content
• Create demonstrations that outperform product-only content
• Give our video and creative teams substantially more material to work with
• Showcase how different SparkFun products can work together to become useful projects
• Create evergreen tutorials and educational resources
• Capture attention from people who aren't currently shopping for electronics
• Give people a reason to follow SparkFun even when they don't need to buy something
• Help position SparkFun as a place to learn, explore, and be inspired, not simply a place to purchase hardware

You build it. We'll help tell the story. Together, we'll show people what's possible.

If that sounds like you, we'd love to meet you!

Benefits

Benefits of Being SparkFun’s Creative & Technical Content Specialist

You'll have access to our entire catalog of electronics, tools, development boards, sensors, and technologies. This includes your own workstation in the office, surrounded by everything you need to keep projects moving. Literally, anything you want to get hands-on with is at your disposal.

You'll have the opportunity to work closely with the engineers who build our products, giving you a direct connection to the people who know the technology best and helping you better understand the capabilities of the products you'll be working with.

You'll have the freedom to experiment, build fun things, fail, try again, and turn successful experiments into content that reaches a large and engaged community.

You'll be part of a tight-knit, fast-paced Marketing team whose job is to make sure the things you build actually get seen.

General Benefits of Working at SparkFun

At SparkFun, we ask a lot of our employees, and that’s why we give so much in return. Here are just some of the benefits:

• Competitive salary (salary range for this position starts at $70,000 per year)
• Medical/dental/vision plan
• Matching 401(k)
• Flexible Paid Time Off Policy
• A casual dress code for you
• Dogs - yes, we bring dogs to work
• Full gym with climbing wall. If that’s not your style we offer a monthly gym stipend
• We have a great employee discount and opportunities to create and share content with the SparkFun community
• Paid Parental Leave
• Paid time to volunteer
• EcoPass (public transportation pass)
• Summer BBQs, work parties, and more!