Software Engineer, MediaWiki Interfaces

Software Engineer, MediaWiki Interfaces

Summary

The Wikimedia Foundation is looking for a Software Engineer to join the MediaWiki Interfaces team. MediaWiki is the open-source platform that powers Wikipedia and its sister projects - impacting hundreds of millions of Wikipedia users across the globe. Our team owns the web API and other integration interfaces of MediaWiki, enabling other teams to create features that allows users to access, edit, and consume knowledge efficiently and reliably. The MediaWiki page has more information on the kind of work the group undertakes.

This role offers a chance to work on large-scale, mission-driven software while deepening your technical expertise and contributing to systems used globally. You’ll collaborate with other engineers and product managers to improve performance, reliability and the responsible adoption of our APIs.

Important: We are a fully remote team. Your working hours will need to overlap with UTC-4 to UTC+2 time zones to best accommodate members of your team around the world.

You will be responsible for:

• Designing, developing, and maintaining key parts of the MediaWiki stack;
• Writing clean, well-documented, and maintainable code;
• Participating in code reviews, design discussions, and technical planning;
• Investigating and resolving production issues with support from other engineers;
• Contributing to the adoption and advocacy of API-first development, and influencing best practices in system design, SLOs/SLAs, and OpenAPI Specification;
• Contributing to improving observability (metrics, logging, monitoring) and reliability of our systems.
• Collaborating with the Product team and the Wikimedia community to ensure technical solutions meet user needs.
• Working with other engineers to improve the development workflow

Qualities we are looking for:

• Clear communicator: You can explain your ideas simply and adapt your communication to different audiences;
• Outcome-oriented: You prioritize work that delivers value to users and aligns with organizational goals, breaking it into manageable steps to deliver incremental value;
• Accountable: You own your work end-to-end and help establish a culture of responsibility and follow-through;
• Candid and respectful: You offer feedback directly, constructively, and with care - and invite the same in return. You support growth by challenging ideas, not people;
• Collaborative: You enjoy working with others to solve problems and are open to feedback.

Requirements

• Commitment to the Foundation's Mission and Values;
• Bachelor's + 2 years of related experience or equivalent work experience;
• Proficiency in PHP and JavaScript, or a willingness to learn and work with both;
• Understanding of HTTP and web application architecture;
• Familiarity with observability and testing practices.

Additionally, we’d love it if you have:

• Experience contributing to open-source software;
• Familiarity with MediaWiki;
• Experience working in a remote, distributed team;
• Interest in API-first development or improving developer experience.
• Professional experience in large scale web platforms.

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.

The Wikimedia Foundation is a remote-first organization with staff members including contractors based 40+ countries*. Salaries at the Wikimedia Foundation are set in a way that is competitive, equitable, and consistent with our values and culture. The anticipated annual pay range of this position for applicants based within the United States is US$92,267 to US$144,201 with multiple individualized factors, including cost of living in the location, being the determinants of the offered pay. For applicants located outside of the US, the pay range will be adjusted to the country of hire. We neither ask for nor take into consideration the salary history of applicants. The compensation for a successful applicant will be based on their skills, experience and location. 

*Please note that we are currently able to hire in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Peru, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States of America and Uruguay.  Our non-US employees are hired through a local third party Employer of Record (EOR). 

We periodically review this list to streamline to ensure alignment with our hiring requirements. 

All applicants can reach out to their recruiter to understand more about the specific pay range for their location during the interview process.

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 [email protected] or +1 (415) 839-6885.

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