Senior Technical Writer

Senior Technical Writer

Summary

Can you envision yourself applying your technical writing and communication skills to make a positive impact in the world? Come work within the Technology department at the Wikimedia Foundation! We are looking for a Senior Technical Writer to join our Developer Advocacy team.

As a technical writer, you will be working as part of a team to create and maintain educational material for a large community of free and open-source software developers. Our technical community of staff and volunteers maintains and evolves MediaWiki and related software, and enhances the software experience for Wikipedia, Wikidata, and other free knowledge projects. 

Our technical writers work in partnership with other teams and the community at large to prioritize areas of improvement and to help build out our community of technical writers and contributors. You will contribute to Wikimedia projects by writing, editing, and managing documentation on mediawiki.org, wikitech.wikimedia.org, and other wikis, and will advocate and teach standards and best practices for technical documentation. Our globally distributed team works remotely, and so can you!

You are responsible for:

• Ensure technical documentation is clear, accurate and up-to-date and fulfills goal of expanding and supporting the developer community
• Develop and lead on guidelines, templates, and best practices of both user-facing and developer documentation, covering topics like code documentation and contribution & collaboration guidelines
• Produce high-quality and easy-to-understand documentation for a variety of engineering projects, API documentation, FAQs, user guides, standard operating procedures, etc.
• Coordinate and work with teams and community volunteers to obtain an in-depth understanding of documentation needs and requirements
• Expand the community of writers contributing to public documentation through teaching and sharing best practices, guidelines and tutorials
• Communicate widely and frequently to a wide audience of technical volunteers and staff via mailing list, IRC, and wikis
• Share our values, respect our code of conduct, adhere to our team norms, and work in accordance with all three

Skills and Experience:

• Extensive experience in technical writing for software or infrastructure projects and creating technical documentation for developers
• Experience with software development, code documentation and/or engineering best practices
• Experience using PHP, Python, Node.js, or other languages to build web applications
• Experience writing documentation in markdown, wikitext, HTML or similar markup languages 

Qualities that are important to us:

• Ability to make complex technical concepts understandable for others
• Strong verbal and written communication and presentation skills
• Strong research skills (as there will not always be developer support for some of the issues that need to be documented)
• Strong interpersonal skills, with track record of modeling good social and development practices
• Creative and highly motivated to serve diverse, multilingual and international communities
• Comfortable in a collaborative, consensus-oriented and open environment
• Comfortable using a wide variety of communication/collaboration tools including wikis, mailing lists, and IRC

Additionally, we’d love it if you have:

• Experience contributing to and participating in free and open-source software projects
• Experience in community building and outreach initiatives
• Experience with building automation for documentation
• Experience working with and writing for diverse, multilingual and international communities
• Ability to read and write multiple (human) languages

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.

U.S. Benefits & Perks*

• Health Care Benefits Covered at 100%: We cover 100% of premiums for medical, dental and vision plans for all full time employees and eligible dependents
• Wellness Reimbursement Program: Up to 1,800.00 USD per year for reimbursement for staff wellness expenses, such as gym fees, educational expenses, and more
• Technology and Equipment Stipend: In addition to receiving a brand new laptop, monitor, & docking station, all new hires receive 600.00 USD stipend to set up their space for working virtually 
• Professional Development Program: Up to 750.00 USD reimbursement per year to encourage continuous learning through attending conferences, courses, workshops and the purchase of educational materials 
• 401(k) Retirement Plan: Employer match of up to 4% of employee contributions dollar for dollar with no vesting period
• Paid Time Off: Generous paid time off policy of over 45 days, which includes: vacation days, at least one observed holiday a month, sick leave, and volunteer days
• Flexible Schedules: Options available to balance your personal and remote-work life
• Silent Fridays: No scheduled meetings so you can get caught up at the end of each week
• New Parent Leave: Fully paid new parent leave for seven weeks plus an additional five weeks for pregnancy, and flexible options as you embark on your return to work
• Fertility and Adoption Reimbursement Plan: Reimburses staff up to 5,000.00 USD in expenses per year, with a lifetime maximum of 10,000.00 USD
• Assistance for those unexpected life events: Long and short term disability, life insurance, and an employee assistance program
• Pre-tax Savings Plans: Generously funded health savings accounts (HSAs), pre-tax contribution options for health care, child care & elder care, public transportation and parking expenses

*Please note that for remote roles located outside of the U.S., we defer to our PEO (Professional Employee Organization) to ensure alignment with local labor laws.

More information

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