Job openings/Chief Talent and Culture Officer

JOB TITLE

Chief Talent and Culture Officer (CTCO)

The Wikimedia Foundation is seeking a values-driven, inventive leader to coordinate the evolution of Wikimedia’s human capital and organizational development strategy. The CTCO will drive recruiting strategies, ensure that the Foundation’s leadership and staff remain on the cutting edge of innovative practice, and lead the HR function.

BACKGROUND

The Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) is a nonprofit organization committed to building a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. WMF provides the operating and managerial infrastructure required to sustain Wikimedia’s free knowledge projects.

Wikimedia's flagship project, Wikipedia, has become the largest general reference work ever compiled in human history. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers have contributed more than 14 million encyclopedia articles in 250 languages, all of which can be freely shared and used for any purpose. It is consulted by more than 300 million people every month, making it the 5th most popular web property world-wide. Established in 2003 by Jimmy Wales two years after creating Wikipedia, the WMF ensures Wikipedia's continued operation under the stewardship of a non-profit organization, funded primarily through direct support from the general public. All of Wikimedia's projects are free of charge and free of advertising.

The Wikimedia movement is supported by volunteer-run chapters in 24 countries. These chapters, which operate independently of the Wikimedia Foundation, are important partners in increasing awareness of the Wikimedia projects, and advancing the goals of the movement in a defined geographic area.

The WMF maintains the technical infrastructure to support these online volunteer communities and pursues a permanent agenda of technical and programmatic innovation. It also supports an incredibly diverse international community of editors and readers through international conferences, public outreach activities, and strategic relationships which support the cause of free knowledge.

The senior management team, staff, and community function in a highly transparent, collaborative and unconventional environment. The Foundation recently completed a year-long strategic planning process that included input from over 1,000 community members, and identified goals and areas of development and expansion over the coming years.

BASIC FUNCTION

The Chief Talent and Culture Officer will play a central role in the growth and development of the unique culture of the Wikimedia Foundation while being extremely thoughtful about leadership. He or she will report to the Executive Director and will work intimately with the senior management team.

The CTCO will be responsible for fostering an innovative, high-performing work environment that supports creativity and learning among volunteers and staff. The CTCO will ensure that this culture is embedded in the organization and transmitted to new hires. The Foundation currently has approximately 80 paid staff and through the strategic recruiting efforts of the CTCO, is expected to reach 114 by July of 2012.

Additionally, the CTCO will oversee a human resource management team that can maintain the organization’s HR needs appropriate to the size of the organization.

ONGOING RESPONSIBILITIES

The Chief Talent and Culture Officer will execute the following responsibilities on an ongoing basis:
 * Strategy
 * Develop a Human Resources Plan, updated annually, that integrates into the Wikimedia Foundation Strategic Plan, and includes sections on Wikimedia’s:
 * Mission, culture and values;
 * Organization structure, with a description shaped in collaboration with the senior team on how each part of the organization advances the mission;
 * Professional staff skills requirements and gaps;
 * Recruiting and retention programs, including processes for shaping recruiting relationships with the volunteer community;
 * Training and education programs.
 * Ensure that Wikimedia’s human resources infrastructure, including HR information and payroll systems, are maintained and scalable in a manner appropriate to the Foundation’s values;
 * Annually review WMF’s compensation terms and programs, and benefits for fairness and impact on having a leadership and staff mix that balances stability and change, innovation and experience, while maintaining appropriate compensation levels during the recruiting process throughout the year;
 * Stay current on best practices in the Organizational Development field, and keep the leadership team engaged in thinking and evaluating their own styles and practices in comparison.
 * Organizational Development
 * Recruiting
 * Oversee all recruiting for Wikimedia staff; hire in accordance with Wikimedia values regarding international and culturally diverse perspectives and backgrounds into the professional staff mix;
 * Partner with the General Counsel to provide innovative and stable international engagement practices;
 * Maintain standards driving excellence in recruitment, including a robust selection and hiring process; establish and outwardly communicate consistent standards for staff titles, compensation and benefits, etc.;
 * Continually evaluate the development and progress of key staff, and provide coaching and guidance for those individuals.
 * Retention, Evaluation and Professional Development
 * Oversee the cross-departmental onboarding of new hires; in conjunction with hiring managers, provide orientation procedures to help new employees to align to Wikimedia’s mission and values, and equip them to be effective in their roles;
 * Maintain the intern program designed to continually expose WMF staff to the best thinking and best practices of the Wikimedia community and related communities such as the free/libre open source software community; provide support to the programs team’s fellowship programs;
 * Review and refresh the performance evaluation system to encourage behavior that advances the mission;
 * Continue individual staff learning and development, including coaching, mentoring, independent study, and such; support the collective learning and thought leadership programs like the brown bag lunches, meet-ups, and other convening opportunities;
 * Coach and develop the management team to continually develop their managerial, communication and collaboration skills; provide them with tools to guide their teams toward professional excellence.
 * Human Resource Operations
 * Maintain the HRIS and benefit systems;
 * Maintain the personnel management processes and handbooks; continue ongoing training to managers and staff to ensure compliance with relevant practices and pertinent immigration and labor laws;
 * Oversee negotiations of employee benefits programs;
 * Coordinate legal matters related to human resources and personnel, working with legal counsel as needed;
 * Provide consistent administrative oversight of all other personnel matters, including retention or release of probationary employees and staff disciplinary actions; ensure the privacy and safety of staff is protected, and take appropriate actions to ensure that a positive work environment is established and maintained.

IDEAL EXPERIENCE

The Chief Talent and Culture Officer should have the following experience and qualifications:
 * Human capital leadership and management experience in an innovative, fast-paced, highly collaborative environment; preferably in a complex international, technology or nonprofit organization, or a business that includes both professional staff and important volunteer constituencies;
 * Significant experience directing and managing the activities of a human capital function, including direct experience in strategy development in a complex environment;
 * Significant experience with a virtual workforce, online communities and highly engaged employees;
 * Excellent management, interpersonal, written and verbal communications skills.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

As the successful candidate,
 * You are all about the mission. You want to engage at all levels, and can clearly see the connection between your role, the organization, and the external community;
 * You are super creative, and OK with things not always following a normal HR process - you know the usual answer, and are willing to work towards one that fits the culture and the organization’s needs;
 * You are willing to hear feedback from the community; you understand the community’s value and position, but are also able to state your own and stand by your decisions, especially when the organization’s needs and the community’s perspective may not align;
 * You are independent, but thoughtful of other’s positions; you are a consensus builder, and open to input;
 * You can build strong and honest relationships with your peers;
 * You are a high EQ individual; fearless but empathetic;
 * You can tell the joke, and don’t mind being the subject of one.

For more information please contact: Lisa Grossman (650)323-3565 lisag@moppenheim.com

m/Oppenheim Associates 221 Main Street, Suite 540 San Francisco, CA   94105