Developer job description

About Wikimedia UK

Wikimedia UK is a charity that promotes and supports Wikipedia, its sister projects, and other open educational resources in the UK. "Open" refers to information which is available for copying, reuse and modification, including for commercial uses, without cost or restriction other than attribution. Following the principles of Wikipedia, we are a volunteer-led organisation, and volunteers have a central role in all our activities.

We were established in 2008 and are one of over thirty similar associations in countries around the world, recognised by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate the Wikimedia projects) but operationally and legally independent. Amongst other things, we work with individuals, museums, universities, businesses and media companies to make freely licensed content available and to help other people re-use open content. We aim to have a close relationship with other open content organizations in the UK, and with the global community of Wikimedia readers and editors.

Our annual income is over £1,000,000 (from over 50,000 UK donors) and we have over 300 members. There are approximately 15,000,000 people in the UK who regularly use Wikimedia projects and 10,000 people who regularly contribute to them. We have ambitious plans for growth and an active Board of Trustees, and we are currently in an exciting new phase with the recent assembling of our Office and core staff team.

We are now looking for a Developer to be a key member of our growing staff team. This role will involve contributing to MediaWiki development, developing and supporting fundraising and event organisation systems, and supporting the office and online software and hardware infrastructure.

Applications will only be accepted by email, and only using Wikimedia UK's application form. For more information, for an application form, or to return a completed application, please email Stevie Benton, Communications Organiser at stevie.bentonwikimedia.org.uk.

Deadline for applications 17:00, 1 August 2012

Interviews will be on 8 August 2012. Please keep this day free.

The ideal candidate will be available to start as soon as possible after the interview date, subject to receipt of satisfactory references.

Job description

Job Title: Developer
Reporting to: Chief Exec
Salary: £25,000 - £29,000 depending on experience
Benefits: 25 days annual leave in addition to bank holidays, employer pension contributions
Location: Central London

The objective is to support and promote the work of Wikimedia UK which includes Wikipedia and other open content.

To do this, the Developer will need to:

• Develop and deliver a range of open source software solutions to support the work and Objects of Wikimedia UK.
• Support and encourage the participation of volunteers in the activities of Wikimedia UK.
• Be part of the office team delivering the Wikimedia UK plan.
• Build and maintain a relationship of trust with the Wikimedia community, particularly with the Mediawiki development community.

Key responsibilities

Management duties

• Work with volunteers and the Chief Exec to maintain and develop a range of software solutions that support the work of Wikimedia UK.
• Prepare regular, publicly available, reports to the Chief Exec and Trustees on your work including assessments of the outcomes of your work.
• Encourage and promote the involvement of volunteers and ensure that volunteers are provided with opportunities to support and participate in the organisation.
• Liaise with the Wikimedia Foundation and other Wikimedia chapters to publicly develop good practice and wherever possible share the planning and delivery processes of projects.
• Monitor appropriate agreed budgets and ensure financial protocols are adhered to.
• Handle all documentation regarding software purchase and development, and support the administrator in accounting for them financially.

Project Management

• Be responsible for software support across the complete range of work undertaken by Wikimedia UK.
• Work with volunteers to ensure the greatest possible involvement of the Wikimedia UK community in software development.
• Monitor the software programs in use by Wikimedia UK, and to ensure that they are open source wherever practically possible.
• Ensure that good practice is followed in all aspects of Wikimedia UK’s software use.
• Ensure that all software and data used by Wikimedia UK is secure.
• Ensure that good software and website security procedures are in place and consistently followed by staff and volunteers.
• Support the development of new projects by volunteers

Project support

• Work on QRpedia, mediawiki (core or extension) development, and other WMUK project websites.
• Assist with general IT requirements in the office.
• Oversee the operation of the WMUK servers.
• Supporting our CiviCRM-based donor, member and events organisation database
• Support the annual fundraiser, by developing and maintaining online donation forms integrating with payment processor and CiviCRM APIs

Person Specification

Experience

• Proven experience of a wide range of software development.
• Experience of working effectively with a diverse team of volunteers.
• An understanding of and enthusiasm for open source software solutions.
• An understanding of the charity and not-for-profit sector (desirable).

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Programming experience utilizing PHP, MySQL, HTML, CSS and Javascript (essential)
• Experience developing Mediawiki, either core elements or extensions
• Sysadmin experience to support the day-to-day running of Wikimedia UK’s IT systems.
• The ability to learn quickly and integrate within the Wikimedia community.
• Good people management skills, with the ability to involve and inspire volunteers working remotely over geographically dispersed locations.
• Excellent project management abilities.
• Flexible approach, with the capability to be a team player in a high-growth start-up environment, and identify and manage opportunities and risk
• Logical, clear thinking, diplomatic and patient approach.
• Ability and willingness to work flexible hours and locations as required
• Undertake training as required.
• An understanding of the culture and policies of Wikimedia communities
• Knowledge of other languages, both human and programming