Principal Software Engineer Full-time

Location: San Francisco, CA or Remote

Summary

The Wikimedia Foundation is looking for a Principal Software Engineer to join the Core Platform Team. The Core Platform Team is responsible for maintenance and development of the MediaWiki and Wikimedia specific services that allow our software to scale to serve millions of users. MediaWiki is the platform that powers Wikipedia and other Wikimedia Foundation websites. MediaWiki is a PHP/MySQL web application that has been incrementally developed over the past 15 years to become a richly featured wiki engine, and the basis for hundreds of extensions and skins. MediaWiki is an open source product with a vibrant volunteer community.

We are looking for a Principal Software Engineer who will work collaboratively with our feature teams to provide great new features to our users and help guide the evolution of our software for years to come. You will also work with SRE and Performance teams to ensure MediaWiki continues to scale and remain highly available for the millions of users who depend on us.

Job description

• Design, develop, test, and deploy new features and improvements to MediaWiki and other custom software such as RESTBase
• Triage, diagnose, and fix reported bugs
• Help coordinate technical plans and RFCs with staff and volunteers
• Plan future architecture and capabilities of our software
• Maintain extensions to the PHP engine
• Partner with Foundation staff and volunteers on software design, development, review, testing and evaluation
• Help identify and implement best practices in engineering processes across the team
• Work and communicate effectively within a small team distributed across multiple time zones

Required skills and experience

• Relevant Bachelor’s degree OR 7 years software development experience
• 10+ years MediaWiki development experience
• Proficient in PHP, MySQL and JavaScript
• Experience with Wikibase extension and Multi-Content Revisions
• Experience working on the Wikimedia Technical Committee (TechCom) and reviewing Technical RFCs

Desirable skills and experience

• Relevant Master’s degree
• Substantial code samples which you can show us
• Experience with Linux, memcached, Cassandra, Redis, content distribution networks
• Experience with C/C++
• Familiarity with web protocols, standards and conventions: HTML, CSS, HTTP, REST
• Experience with open source software development
• Experience with MediaWiki or Wikimedia projects

About the Wikimedia Foundation

The Wikimedia Foundation is the nonprofit organization that supports 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, free of interference. We host 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 financial support 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©(3) tax-exempt organization with offices in San Francisco, California, USA.

The Wikimedia Foundation is an equal opportunity employer, and we encourage people with a diverse range of backgrounds to apply

Benefits & Perks﹡

• Fully paid medical, dental and vision coverage for employees and their eligible families (yes, fully paid premiums!)
• The Wellness Program provides reimbursement for mind, body and soul activities such as fitness memberships, baby sitting, continuing education and much more
• The 401(k) retirement plan offers matched contributions at 4% of annual salary
• Flexible and generous time off – vacation, sick and volunteer days, plus 19 paid holidays – including the last week of the year
• Family friendly! 100% paid new parent leave for seven weeks plus an additional five weeks for pregnancy, flexible options to phase back in after leave, fully equipped lactation room
• For those emergency moments – long and short term disability, life insurance (2x salary) and an employee assistance program
• Pre-tax savings plans for health care, child care, elder care, public transportation and parking expenses
• Telecommuting and flexible work schedules available
• Appropriate fuel for thinking and coding (aka, a pantry full of treats) and monthly massages to help staff relax
• Great colleagues – diverse staff and contractors speaking dozens of languages from around the world, fantastic intellectual discourse, mission-driven and intensely passionate people

﹡ For benefits eligible staff, benefits may vary by location