Overview

Wikimedia Foundation is looking for a talented Software Engineer to join the Contributors department working to resolve complex challenges in creative ways.

You will join the Contributors Department, where we build collaborative, inclusive tools for creating and editing free knowledge. You’ll be working on exciting products, such as features for editor collaboration, discussion, and multimedia contribution. These teams are working on ambitious projects that are transforming the way users are able to contribute to Wikipedia and other projects.

Responsibilities:

  • Help develop tools that empower users to create, curate, and collaborate on content
  • Take ownership of multiple areas of both back-end and front-end code
  • Review code changes made by staff and community members
  • Document software, and help the team specify and document user-facing behavior, supporting the work of QA Engineers
  • Participate in cross-departmental engineering projects
  • Maintain production software, including deployed legacy codebases
  • Deploy software and configuration changes to production environments

Requirements:

  • JavaScript
  • PHP
  • B.S. or M.S. Computer Science or equivalent experience
  • Comfortable working in a highly collaborative, consensus-oriented environment
  • Comfortable working in a partly remote, distributed team across various time zones
  • Willing to travel occasionally – sometimes internationally – for team and organizational meetings
  • Proficient English speaker

Pluses:

  • Front-end technologies including JavaScript, jQuery, HTML and CSS targeting desktop and mobile browsers
  • MySQL or other relational database experience
  • Experience with building highly-scalable server applications
  • Experience using and contributing to Wikimedia or MediaWiki projects
  • Experience with Node.js
  • Knowledge of developing and debugging in Linux/Unix (LAMP) environments, especially with Puppet (or similar tools)
  • Experience working on open source, collaborative development projects
  • Understanding of free culture / free software / open source principles
  • Fluency in languages other than English

About the Wikimedia Foundation

The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that supports and hosts Wikipedia and several other Wikimedia free knowledge sites. Every month, the Wikimedia sites are accessed by more than a billion unique devices. Wikipedia consists of more than 40 million articles across hundreds of languages. Every month, more than 250,000 volunteer editors contribute to Wikipedia. Based in San Francisco, California, the Wikimedia Foundation is an audited, 501(c)(3) non-profit that is funded primarily through donations and grants. It currently employs over 300 staff members.

At the Foundation, we build technology to help people everywhere access Wikipedia, across devices and in nearly 300 languages. We engineer privacy for our readers and editors so they can safely and securely explore Wikipedia. We create programs and initiatives to make Wikipedia freely available to more people in more parts of the world. We build new tools for the community of editors so they can continue to improve and grow Wikipedia. Roughly a quarter of our budget goes to supporting the community that make the site possible, including through grantmaking programs that enable volunteers and enrich the information on the sites.

The Wikimedia Foundation is an equal opportunity employer, and we encourage people with a diverse range of backgrounds to apply.

Benefits & Perks *

  • Fully paid medical, dental and vision coverage for employees and their eligible families (yes, fully paid premiums!)
  • The Wellness Program provides reimbursement for mind, body and soul activities such as fitness memberships, baby sitting, continuing education and much more
  • The 401(k) retirement plan offers matched contributions at 4% of annual salary
  • Flexible and generous time off – vacation, sick and volunteer days, plus 19 paid holidays – including the last week of the year.
  • Family friendly! 100% paid new parent leave for seven weeks plus an additional five weeks for pregnancy, flexible options to phase back in after leave, fully equipped lactation room.
  • For those emergency moments – long and short term disability, life insurance (2x salary) and an employee assistance program
  • Pre-tax savings plans for health care, child care, elder care, public transportation and parking expenses
  • Telecommuting and flexible work schedules available
  • Appropriate fuel for thinking and coding (aka, a pantry full of treats) and monthly massages to help staff relax
  • Great colleagues – diverse staff and contractors speaking dozens of languages from around the world, fantastic intellectual discourse, mission-driven and intensely passionate people

* for benefits eligible staff, benefits may vary by location

More Information

https://wikimediafoundation.org

https://blog.wikimedia.org