Job openings/Program Assistant, Community Department

 YOU ARE ...

... organized and dependable with a strong interest in social movements and collaborative organization. You pay a great deal of attention to the details and are motivated to complete tasks as needed. You learn quickly, are computer savvy and would thrive in a creative, transparent and collaborative environment where you are expected to solve problems both small and large, mundane and fascinating.

JOB TITLE

Program Assistant (Community Department) [CLOSED]

REPORTS TO

Chief Community Officer

SUPPORTS

Wikimedia Foundation Community Department

JOB SUMMARY

Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects are authored and edited entirely by communities of volunteer contributors. The Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) maintains the technical infrastructure to support these communities and pursues a permanent agenda of technical and programmatic innovation. It also supports an incredibly diverse global community of editors and readers through global conferences, public outreach activities, and strategic relationships which support the cause of free knowledge. It is a highly transparent, collaborative organization. A global network of Wikimedia chapter organizations conducts important activities to support the movement in a fast-growing number of countries.

The WMF Community Department collaborates with and serves the broad Wikimedia community -- including readers, donors and editors/contributors -- to encourage the health and growth of Wikimedia communities and the projects they create and manage.

All positions in the Community Department involve collaborating and communicating with Wikimedia project contributors and users intensively and publicly, grappling with many difficult-to-solve problems, navigating technological and social challenges and opportunities, and dealing with a high level of complexity and uncertainty. Candidates should have extremely high levels of skill and comfort in communication (especially writing), qualitative and quantitative analysis, management and self-management. Candidates who are not already deeply immersed in online collaborative communities will have to show an aptitude for quickly gaining a deep understanding of our communities' technologies, practices, traditions and culture -- and to become trusted and productive members of the Wikimedia community and movement.

The primary role of the Community Department's Program Assistant will be to support the department with regard to all of its administrative needs. A secondary but significant role is to jump, when needed, into mission critical research and communications work. Typical tasks would include calendar management, complex travel/meeting coordination, drafting correspondence, departmental administrative oversight, and on-going proactive support to the Chief Level Executive.

RESPONSIBILITIES


 * Helping the Chief Community Officer manage calendar and a large volume of email.
 * Helping department staff to manage a large network of relationships with Wikimedia movement contributors all over the world.
 * Keeping up with the weekly and daily developments in the Wikimedia movement.
 * Helping to maintaining a database of community contacts.
 * General office administration: organizing, scheduling, restocking of supplies, preparing expense reports and other record keeping.
 * Helping visiting Wikimedians be productive and comfortable in the Foundation office and in San Francisco.
 * Other duties as required.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS


 * Exceptional verbal and written communication skills and interpersonal skills are a must.
 * Intellectually curious, especially with regard to organizations, social movements and large scale and distributed collaboration problems.
 * Ability to work in an open, transparent and collaborative environment.
 * Ability to adapt quickly and easily to changing requirements in a fast-paced, tech based non-profit organization.
 * Must be able to adhere to deadlines and perform high quality work under general supervision.
 * Working knowledge of the wiki environment is a plus.
 * Excellent organizational and calendar management skills.
 * Attention to detail in writing and communications.
 * Solid grasp of word processing and spreadsheet programs such as OpenOffice or Microsoft Word/Excel.