Job openings/Software Developer (project)

Job Title

Software Developer

Employment Duration

June 1, 2009 to April 16, 2010

About the Wikipedia Usability Initiative

The Wikipedia Usability Initiative was realized by a grant from the U.S.-based Stanton Foundation. The goal of this initiative is to measurably increase the usability of Wikipedia for new contributors by improving the underlying software on the basis of user behavioral studies, thereby reducing barriers to public participation. This position is part of the program team for the initiative.

For more information, please see the press release.

Job Purpose

The core responsibility is to design, develop, test and deploy new features and improvements of the MediaWiki software for the the Usability Initiative under the mentoring of the Sr. Software Developer.

Reports to

Sr. Software Developer

Job Summary

• Participate in software design of usability improvements for Wikipedia
• Develop, test, and deploy new features and improvements to the MediaWiki core and extension software
• Design QA process and work with community volunteers in testing the software

Required Qualifications

• Computer Science degree or equivalent work experience
• 5+ years experience in front end development
• Familiarity with LAMP
• PHP/AJAX/HTML/CSS experience
• Object-oriented JavaScript skills a plus
• Experience with security implications of JavaScript/PHP software
• Linux/Unix shell, Python, etc experience a plus
• Experience with MediaWiki a plus
• Experience with cross-browser compatibility testing
• An understanding of internationalizing and localizing software products a big plus
• Experience with automated software testing a plus
• Any other free/open software development experience highly welcome
• Comfortable in a highly collaborative, consensus-oriented environment
• Experience with wikis and participatory production environments a plus
• Understanding of the free culture movement a plus
• The ideal candidate will be creative, highly motivated, and able to operate effectively in multiple cultural and language contexts.