Director of Data @ Wikimedia Foundation
placeHybrid
attach_money $230,000
businessHybrid
scheduleFull Time
Posted 14 hours ago
Your Application Journey
Interview
Email Hiring Manager
******* @wikimedia.org
Recommended after applying
Job Details
About the Role
The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit behind Wikipedia and sister projects, is seeking a deeply technical, outcome-oriented Director of Data. In this role, you will lead data engineering, search, experimentation, and data-related site reliability engineering (SRE) initiatives while keeping a high technical standard for designing, building, operating, and evolving our data products in the open.
Responsibilities
- Ship reliable, privacy-respecting data products and platforms.
- Manage managers and principal ICs across multiple teams.
- Set clear roadmaps and ensure production-readiness.
- Provide strategic technical oversight and solve complex technical challenges.
- Foster collaboration between technical teams and product management.
What We Expect
- 8+ years of engineering leadership with 3+ years managing managers.
- Experience shipping production data systems at internet scale.
- Deep familiarity with open source tech stacks (Kubernetes, Kafka, Spark, Flink, Hadoop, Ceph, Airflow).
- Ability to lead globally distributed teams in a remote-first environment.
Additional Desirable Qualifications
- Open source community participation.
- Familiarity with multiple languages.
- Experience in volunteer community involvement.
About Wikimedia Foundation
Wikimedia Foundation operates Wikipedia and other free knowledge projects. With a mission for global knowledge sharing, we support a diverse, international team and a worldwide volunteer community. The organization is non-profit and focuses on transparency, privacy, and open collaboration.
Key skills/competency
- Data Engineering
- Search
- Experimentation
- Site Reliability Engineering
- Technical Leadership
- Production Systems
- Event Pipelines
- Open Source
- Cloud Technologies
- Team Management
How to Get Hired at Wikimedia Foundation
🎯 Tips for Getting Hired
- Research Wikimedia Foundation's culture: Review mission, values and global impact.
- Customize your resume: Emphasize leadership in data engineering.
- Show tangible results: Highlight production systems experience.
- Prepare technical details: Review open source tech stacks and architectures.
- Practice scenario questions: Focus on team management and strategic oversight.
📝 Interview Preparation Advice
Technical Preparation
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Review Kubernetes and Kafka fundamentals.
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Study data ingestion and pipeline architectures.
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Familiarize with event-based system design.
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Practice system scalability and SLO-setting.
Behavioral Questions
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Describe a challenge in managing remote teams.
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Explain balancing speed with production reliability.
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Share an experience improving cross-functional collaboration.
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Discuss decision-making in technical strategy.
Frequently Asked Questions
What technical skills are crucial for the Wikimedia Director of Data?
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How does Wikimedia value leadership in this Director of Data role?
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What is the work environment like for this Wikimedia position?
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How important is open source participation for this Wikimedia role?
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What geographic limitations apply to applying for this position?
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