Deputy Chief Product and Technology Officer

Summary

Join the Wikimedia Foundation as the Deputy Chief Product and Technology Officer (Deputy CPTO) and report to the CPTO. You will drive the development and execution of the technical platform strategy, collaborating with global communities. This hands-on role requires connecting with stakeholders and supporting the product and technology leadership team across various areas. You will support multi-year strategy and planning, set annual plans, and communicate with the Board of Trustees. Responsibilities include shaping cross-functional teams, evaluating product performance, and leading a high-performance culture. You will also support the organization’s risk profile and build relationships within the Wikimedia community. The position requires significant leadership experience and expertise in building high-traffic consumer platforms.

Requirements

• 7+ years in strategic- and executive-level technical and operational leadership
• Deep expertise building high traffic consumer platform products on both the desktop and mobile – including consumption methods, user experiences, technologies, and platforms
• Proven experience across both product and engineering with capabilities to lead both functions, as well as functions such as program management, design, research, analytics as needed
• Demonstrated strong managerial skills and experience from both Wikimedia and other organizations, ensuring that we continuously bring knowledge and skills from organizations the Foundation can all learn from
• The ability to manage a large department similar in scale and complexity to the Wikimedia Foundation’s Product and Technology department with a significant operating budget as well as hundreds of globally dispersed staff (~ 350 currently) and programs
• Proven track record in recruiting, building, retaining and mentoring high-performing, diverse, global leadership teams
• Managerial maturity that empowers leaders to exercise their judgment and discretion
• Experience with multi-faceted stakeholder environments, particularly structures similar to the community/affiliate model
• Listens to, integrates, and champions ideas from a variety of stakeholders, especially those voices not typically championed
• The ability to manage fast-moving crisis response situations with strong communication skills and calm, measured, strategic actions
• Deep resonance with Wikimedia’s values and mission, ideally with personal experience in a closely related field (open/free knowledge, public policy, neutrality, knowledge access, human rights, technology’s vital role in enabling the mission)

Responsibilities

• Support multi-year strategy and planning efforts focused on priorities that include Wikimedia’s financial model, product and technology efforts, and shared governance with communities
• Set and execute compelling annual and multi-year plans that align investments, resources and talent in response to global trends and organizational objectives
• Communicate clearly, transparently and regularly with the Board of Trustees and key internal and external constituents about Wikimedia’s opportunities, choices and progress toward its goals
• Shape and define cross-functional teams while leveraging product development and industry best practices
• Evaluate product performance, identifying risks and opportunities, prioritizing high value products and optimizing resource allocation
• Apply expertise and insight to find solutions to complex problems
• Experience and capacity to lead and manage a wide range of constituencies, including staff, volunteers, and the Board of Trustees
• Lead a high-performance culture that values inclusion and manages people and teams in line with organizational values
• Assume a hands-on creative leadership role in the planning, executing, delivering and assessing the work of the Product & Technology department
• Drive towards solutions with clear decision-making and accountability
• Demonstrated ability to recruit, cultivate, and retain talent
• Support the organization’s current and future risk profile across areas that include policy, government regulation, technology and security
• Build trusted relationships throughout the global Wikimedia community; listen intently to community members, affiliates and user/thematic groups to develop, adapt and champion strategies that grow volunteer engagement and readership

Preferred Qualifications

• Exceptional character and unquestionable personal integrity
• Impeccable judgement and discernment, with an ability to instill confidence and earn trust
• Someone who possesses high emotional intelligence, and is an attentive, empathetic listener
• Has the deference to recognize that they are a steward of a broad-based, large-scale movement
• Ability to collaborate to make decisions and communicate them effectively in a highly complex environment with numerous stakeholders
• Brings a relationship orientation and a communication style that inspires and galvanizes volunteers to engage, donors to invest, and the public to trust the brand
• Ability to lead calmly through uncertainty, and to influence with empathy and humility
• A lifelong learner; curiosity and critical thinking skills to assess situations through multiple lenses
• Ability to explain goals and strategies clearly to non-specialist audiences and gain their understanding and confidence
• Empathy towards and commitment to work with Wikimedia communities and volunteers
• Strong asynchronous communication and decision-making in a highly consensus-based environment that is geographically distributed
• As a global citizen, has a track record of leading outside of only a North American context

Benefits

• Salaries at the Wikimedia Foundation are set in a way that is competitive, equitable, and consistent with our values and culture
• The anticipated annual pay range of this position for applicants based within the United States is US$253,818 to US$313,433 with multiple individualized factors, including cost of living in the location, being the determinants of the offered pay
• For applicants located outside of the US, the pay range will be adjusted to the country of hire
• We neither ask for nor take into consideration the salary history of applicants
• The compensation for a successful applicant will be based on their skills, experience and location