Community Relations Specialist (contractor)

Summary

The Wikimedia Foundation is looking for an agile and collaborative Community Relations Specialist (30 hours minimum, contract until end of June 2023) in the Product department to support building strategic tools and features in collaboration with the Wikimedia communities, in particular with the Commons and Wikidata ones.

Community Relations Specialists serve the Wikimedia Foundation, contributors and readers by supporting teams that collaborate with Wikimedia communities. We focus on collaboration and communication with communities about product development, user-facing product changes and roll-outs, and any kind of priority project with special needs for collaboration with Wikimedia volunteers. You can learn more about our baseline approach for working with Product teams on mediawiki.org.

You are responsible for:

• Regularly meet with staff working in the Commons and Wikidata areas to learn about and discuss designs and plans for their projects
• Communicate these plans out to the community in relevant channels, and monitor feedback
• Help the teams contextualize and understand feedback, and adjust plans accordingly
• When the workload allows: support the Specialists team by taking up occasional assignments for other organizational priorities as per manager's indications.

Skills and Experience:

• Experience using MediaWiki software.
• Good knowledge of Wikimedia communities' dynamics, communication tools and channels (both Commons and Wikidata experience, involvement or demonstrable deep understanding is required).
• Experience with hosting and/or participating in healthy, diverse conversations with Wikipedians/Wikimedians.
• Experience working with or participating in multilingual and multicultural online communities; passion for online collaboration and constructive public discussion.
• Good organizational and interpersonal communication skills, with an ability to communicate with key stakeholders in styles ranging from precisely detailed to clear and simple, depending on context.
• Quick-learning and flexible.
• Organized, efficient, proactive, able to meet deadlines.
• Emotionally mature and self-reliant; tolerates ambiguity and maintains positive, respectful professional relationships.
• Competence working in teams partially or totally remote, sometimes at inconvenient times.

Additionally, we’d love it if you have:

• Experience with Translate extension, Translatewiki, Phabricator, MassMessage.
• Experience with writing user-help documentation.
• Experience with advanced Wikimedia user rights (belonging to a steward, checkuser, VRT or other groups).
• Personal interest and investment in Movement Strategy and related conversations.
• Excellent written English and fluency with at least one other language.

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.

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 recruiting@wikimedia.org or +1 (415) 839-6885.

More information

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