Senior Software Engineer

Senior Software Engineer

The Wikimedia Foundation is looking for the software engineer to join the Product Safety and Integrity Team. In this role, you will work in a mostly-remote environment, where we value teamwork and close collaboration to achieve our goals. Engineers at the Wikimedia Foundation get to work on technology that truly makes a global impact — powering Wikipedia and its sister projects, which serve billions of pageviews every month across hundreds of languages. It's a rare opportunity to contribute to one of the largest knowledge-sharing platforms in the world, and to help protect free access to information for everyone, everywhere. 

As a software engineer, you will work closely with the team to: 

• Proactively develop and maintain tools that empower communities to identify, mitigate, and prevent various forms of abuse across Wikimedia projects.
• Design privacy-conscious systems that detect behavioral patterns indicative of abuse while minimizing false positives and respecting user anonymity.
• Continuously adapt abuse detection and mitigation strategies in response to changes in browser privacy standards, networking protocols, and platform architecture.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with product managers, designers, and researchers to create holistic, human-centered solutions that balance safety and freedom.
• Write resilient, maintainable systems and high-quality code with a focus on long-term sustainability.
• Implement observability to maintain high levels of quality and system stability.
• Instrument and measure the impact of anti-abuse across Wikimedia projects.

Skills and experience: 

• 4+ years related professional experience
• Experience building and maintaining large-scale applications
• Proficiency in PHP, Javascript and relational databases
• Strong foundation in security principles
• Experience in driving cross-teams objectives
• Experience in driving user and product impact

Qualities that are important to us: 

• Collaboration, humility, and a shared commitment to Wikimedia’s vision of free knowledge for all guide everything we build
• Communicate with clarity and empathy, both in synchronous and asynchronous settings Additionally, we'd love it if you have this:
• Familiarity with abuse fighting or security concerns
• A history of open source contributions
• Familiarity with editing Wikipedia, Wikitext, Markdown, or using content management systems (e.g., MediaWiki, Drupal, WordPress)
• Bachelor's, master's, or doctorate degree in computer science, management information systems, or STEM field (or equivalent certification)

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.

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$141,352 to US$175,725 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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