Lead Software Engineer (Fixed Project Contractor) at Wikimedia Foundation

Statement of Purpose

• The Wikimedia Foundation is looking for an experienced Software Engineer to support a project in the product department on a temporary basis for a period of 8-10 weeks. 

Scope of Work

• The engineer will support our “New Engagement Experiments“ effort, reporting to product design management. You will collaborate with product design, communications, and other engineers – building and deploying software experiments that explore ways to invite more interaction and learning with Wikipedia content. The focus of this work will be a time limited ‘daily play’ web-based game, utilizing Wikipedia content.

Key responsibilities

• Acting as a thought-partner on a small cross-functional team
• Developing highly interactive experimental solutions for mobile web
• Working independently with minimal engineering support
• Using third-party and Wikimedia APIs
• Staying informed about new technologies and platforms
• Instrumenting components for monitoring and analysis
• Recommending improvements to R&D infrastructure
• Collaborating with design and engineering teams

The ideal candidate should have

• 5-8+ years of professional software development experience
• Experience with cross-functional teams and new product development
• Ability to work in a self-driven, lean environment
• Quick adaptability to new codebases and technologies
• Experience integrating third-party API services
• Mobile web  development skills, including frontend frameworks (Vue.js or React), as well as API development and integration.

Additional desired qualities include:

• Strong belief in Wikimedia's principles of using technology ethically
• Willingness to iterate quickly and pivot strategically
• Background in mobile game development 
• Clear communication skills in both synchronous and asynchronous channels
• Cloud environment experience (preferred)
• Open source contribution history (preferred)