Job openings/Sr. Software Developer (project)

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Job Title

Sr. Software Developer

Employment Duration

February 15, 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 of this position is to lead the front end technical implementation of usability improvements. The ideal candidate will work with the interaction designer and implement the best suitable technologies.

Reports to

Program Manager

Job Summary
  • Architect and implement the usability improvements identified by the Interaction Designer
  • Mentor and guide software developers in identifying and resolving issues with MediaWIki usability for Wikipedia
  • Develop, test, and deploy new features and improvements to the MediaWiki core and extension software
  • Design performance tests and oversee the QA process
  • Work closely with operations staff to ensure proper integration with testing and production systems
Required Qualifications
  • Strong leadership skills in leading a software team and a large scale project to completion
  • Computer Science degree or equivalent work experience
  • 7+ years software development
  • Extensive experience with AJAX/HTML/CSS
  • Familiarity with LAMP
  • Object-oriented JavaScript skills
  • Experience with security implications of JavaScript/PHP software
  • Experience in testing and analyzing usability and accessibility
  • Experience with MediaWiki a plus
  • Knowledge in user interface design a big plus
  • Experience with cross-browser compatibility testing
  • An understanding of internationalizing and localizing software products a big 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.

About the Wikimedia Foundation

The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. is a US-registered 501(c)(3) tax-deductible non-profit charity dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free, multilingual content, and to providing the full content of wiki-based projects to the public free of charge. The Wikimedia Foundation operates some of the largest collaboratively-edited reference projects in the world, including Wikipedia, one of the world's 10 most visited websites, Wiktionary, Wikibooks, Wikiquote, Wikisource, Wikinews and the Wikimedia Commons media repository. The organization has received numerous honors for its work, among them the Webby Award, the Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica, the Japan Advertisers Association's Web Creation Award and the World Technology Award in Communications Technology.

The Wikimedia Foundation was created in 2003 to manage the operation of Wikipedia and its sister projects and is based in San Francisco, California. It currently employs 33 staff members. Wikimedia is supported by local chapter organizations in 27 countries or regions.

Apply

Please send a CV and cover letter to jobs(at)wikimedia.org before January 25, 2009. Please put the position title (Sr. Software Developer) in your subject line.

Applications that do not include a cover letter will not be considered. This position will be filled in February 2009. We will probably not reply to any candidates prior to February, so please do not interpret our silence as a lack of interest.

Please copy and paste the text of your CV into the e-mail, in addition to attaching the file.

Due to the volume of applications we receive, we regret that only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

San Francisco, CA. Due to the nature of this grant, we are only able to consider local candidates at this time.

Retrieved from "http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Job_openings/Sr._Software_Developer_(project)"
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