Staff Software Engineer

Staff Software Engineer

Are you ready to make a difference at the Wikimedia Foundation? We are looking for an experienced Staff Software Engineer to join our Tools Platform team. In this role, you will provide technical leadership for Toolforge, the platform that supports over 3,300 community-built tools used across Wikipedia and its sister projects.

About the Role

This is a key individual contributor position that blends platform software, developer experience, and production infrastructure. You will design and implement the systems and workflows that tool developers rely on to create, deploy, and maintain their tools.

What You'll Do

• Provide technical leadership for the software and product experience layer of Toolforge.
• Design and build the platform software and user-facing workflows for creating, deploying, debugging, and maintaining tools.
• Lead the redesign of Toolforge’s tool creation and maintenance user interface.
• Define and implement best practices for common workloads such as Bots, Web tools, and Data-processing tools.
• Collaborate closely with Site Reliability Engineers (SREs) to ensure smooth integration with production infrastructure.
• Mentor engineers, raise engineering standards, and guide architectural decisions.

What We're Looking For

• Extensive experience as a senior or Staff-level software engineer in platforms, developer tools, or related systems.
• Strong architectural skills in APIs, backend services, and user-facing workflows.
• Experience in designing and building developer platforms, including build systems and deployment pipelines.
• Ability to work effectively with diverse teams, including SREs, product managers, and volunteer contributors.
• Comfort in open, distributed, and asynchronous work environments.

Nice to Have

• Experience with or leadership in open-source projects.
• Familiarity with Toolforge, Wikimedia Cloud Services, or large-scale contributor platforms.
• An interest in enhancing developer experience and reducing barriers for technical contributors.

What We Offer

The Wikimedia Foundation is a remote-first organization with staff members in over 40 countries. We offer a competitive salary, with the anticipated annual pay range for this position in the United States being US$[134,000] to US$[208,000]. The final salary will depend on various factors, including your skills, experience, and location.

We are committed to maintaining an inclusive workplace. We encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds to apply. The Wikimedia Foundation is a nonprofit organization that operates Wikipedia and other free knowledge projects. We believe in the power of sharing knowledge freely.

If you need assistance during the application process due to a disability, please reach out to us at recruiting@wikimedia.org or +1 (415) 839-6885.

About the Wikimedia Foundation

The Wikimedia Foundation is a charitable, not-for-profit organization that relies on donations. We operate Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects, build software for sharing knowledge, and support the communities that make this possible. Our vision is a world where everyone can freely share in the sum of all knowledge.

For more information about our benefits, privacy policy, and our work, please visit our website.