Staff Software Engineer Full-time

Summary

The Wikimedia Foundation is looking for an experienced software engineer to collaborate with key stakeholders such as:  SRE, release engineering, development teams, and external technical contributors with the express goal of developing a “path to production” for our software projects.  Members of the Quality and Test Engineering team collaborate with stakeholders to assess, align, and evolve current processes and tools to ensure that development teams have a clear path to production which enables developers to deliver the highest quality software in a timely fashion.  

A successful candidate will be a strong technical leader with an in-depth understanding of all aspects of software development.  They will work closely with people across several teams and disciplines to overcome challenges and deliver solutions as well as with senior management helping to set the technical direction.  

The Project

The Staff Software Engineer will work as a member of a cross-functional initiative with the Abstract Wikipedia team. Wikipedia is written and maintained by thousands of volunteers in hundreds of languages. Abstract Wikipedia is a visionary project that asks “what if we could write the information once, in an abstract form, and then translate it into any language by building a community edited natural language system to generate readable text?” The project is visionary but it is also very real, and it is releasing its first product: Wikifunctions. Wikifunctions will enable volunteers to write code functions, in a multilingual way, with multiple programming languages (starting with Python and JavaScript). This will be a production grade function-as-a-service platform for Wikimedia volunteers to utilize, and is the first step in building Abstract Wikipedia. Your role in the team will be pivotal to ensuring the full stack releasability and rapid testability of  Wikifunctions and Abstract Wikipedia is built into the development workflow and toolchain. Work on Abstract Wikipedia is a truly one-of-a-kind opportunity to build the future of the internet and radically expand access to free knowledge.

About the team

We are a dedicated group of diverse folks who build our values of feminism, decolonialism, and psychological safety into our everyday work. We work in a collaborative, high trust, high-empathy environment. 

You are responsible for:

Building a strong understanding of our current deployment processes
Identifying current challenges of getting high quality software to production where multiple tiers of architecture and complex user generated content are involved.
Collaborating with stakeholders to develop a path to production that enables development teams to reliably deliver high quality software to production in a self service manner.   

Skills and Experience:

Demonstrated ability collaborating across teams and leading cross-functional efforts. 
Extensive professional experience with Software Quality principles.
Professional experience with continuous integration and deployment. 
Professional experience with test automation technologies
Demonstrated advanced understanding of functional or object-oriented programming.
Demonstrated ability to understand and apply new technologies

Qualities that are important to us:

A desire to make meaningful contributions to knowledge equity, free culture, and open access
A detail-oriented mindset
An emphasis on communicating clearly in both synchronous and asynchronous channels

Additionally, we’d love it if you have:

Experience working with containerization technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes.
A history of open source contribution
Bachelor’s degree in CS, engineering or related field OR the equivalent in relevant work experience
Experience testing sites in non-Western languages including right-to-left languages
About the Wikimedia Foundation

The Wikimedia Foundation is the nonprofit organization that operates Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia free knowledge projects. Our vision is a world in which every single human can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. We believe that everyone has the potential to contribute something to our shared knowledge, and that everyone should be able to access that knowledge freely. We host Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects, build software experiences for reading, contributing, and sharing Wikimedia content, support the volunteer communities and partners who make Wikimedia possible, and advocate for policies that enable Wikimedia and free knowledge to thrive. 

The Wikimedia Foundation is a charitable, not-for-profit organization that relies on donations. We receive donations from millions of individuals around the world, with an average donation of about $15. We also receive donations through institutional grants and gifts. The Wikimedia Foundation is a United States 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization with offices in San Francisco, California, USA.

As an equal opportunity employer, the Wikimedia Foundation values having a diverse workforce and continuously strives to maintain an inclusive and equitable workplace. We encourage people with a diverse range of backgrounds to apply. We do not discriminate against any person based upon their race, traits historically associated with race, religion, color, national origin, sex, pregnancy or related medical conditions, parental status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, or any other legally protected characteristics.

If you are a qualified applicant requiring assistance or an accommodation to complete any step of the application process due to a disability, you may contact us at recruiting@wikimedia.org or +1 (415) 839-6885.