Job openings/Volunteer Development Coordinator
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YOU ARE ...
.. gregarious, charismatic, persistent, and service-oriented. You are a passionate community builder and are (or can become) a passionate and outspoken advocate for MediaWiki development and other Wikimedia Foundation projects. You are patient with newcomers, but knowledgable enough to hold your own with the technical veterans in Wikimedia projects, and can be a great mediator when needed. Though you are not necessarily a software architect, you are a capable coder and a good judge of the coding skills of others.
JOB TITLE
Volunteer Development Coordinator
REPORTS TO
Chief Technical Officer
JOB PURPOSE
To ensure volunteers are motivated, excited and effective participants in software development necessary to the mission of the Wikimedia Foundation, and to increase the number of volunteer developers, testers, writers and wranglers.
JOB SUMMARY
Duties include, but are not limited to the following:
- Act as a first-responder in the community, helping volunteers get started with development activities (coding, testing, documentation, wrangling) and match volunteers to opportunities
- Help volunteers ensure their work meets with MediaWiki development standards, and help ensure that the developer documentation is complete and useful
- Shepherd volunteer work through the process of inclusion in MediaWiki and deployment to Wikimedia websites
- Represent the interests of volunteers in situations where they might not be present (e.g. office meetings, software design discussions), and involve volunteers when possible
- Ensure that the Wikimedia Foundation is upholding its values of transparency and inclusiveness, especially as it pertains to software development
- Publish and promote list of possible projects for newcomers, ensuring the list is easy-to-find, properly prioritized, and current
- Maintain a holistic view of the volunteer development community at all times, working toward an organized and accurate view of the status of all volunteer-led activities
- Recruit volunteers online, at conferences and meetings where new and existing volunteer developers might be found, encouraging participation and educating prospective volunteers
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Excellent written communication skills (clear and prolific)
- 2+ years experience working with online volunteers
- 3+ years in a technical position within a software development organization (for example: writing code, writing technical specifications, testing, or line-level management of developers)
- Experience working with remote and distributed teams required
- The ideal candidate will be creative, highly motivated, and able to operate effectively in multiple cultural contexts
- Must be comfortable in a highly collaborative, consensus-oriented environment
- Must be comfortable working in a highly transparent fashion, sometimes accepting candid public scrutiny
- Must play well with others, with an ability to diffuse tense situations with humor and humility
- Must have a strong affinity for the Wikimedia mission
ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
- B.S. or M.S. Computer Science or related field preferred.
- Experience with best practices in secure and scalable web application development a plus
- Experience with PHP and Linux/Unix shell usage preferred, with other software development experience such as Python, Perl, Ruby, or Java welcome
- Any other free/open software development experience highly welcome
- Experience using and/or developing with wikis and participatory production environments a plus (bonus points if it's MediaWiki)
- Active participation as a Wikimedia volunteer would be an asset, though not a prerequisite.
About the Wikimedia Foundation
The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that operates Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. According to comScore Media Metrix, Wikipedia and the other projects operated by the Wikimedia Foundation receive more than 489 million unique visitors per month, making them the 5th most popular web property worldwide. Available in more than 270 languages, Wikipedia contains more than 21 million articles contributed by a global volunteer community of more than 100,000 people. Based in San Francisco, California, the Wikimedia Foundation is an audited, 501(c)(3) charity that is funded primarily through donations and grants. The Wikimedia Foundation was created in 2003 to manage the operation of Wikipedia and its sister projects. It currently employs 138 staff members. Wikimedia is supported by local chapter organizations in 39 countries or regions.
Apply
Please send a CV and cover letter to jobs
wikimedia.org. Please put the position title (Volunteer Development Coordinator) in your subject line.
Applications that do not include a cover letter will not be considered.
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.
Local San Francisco, CA candidates are preferred though remote candidates may be considered.
