Tech Lead

Summary

Join the Wikimedia Foundation as a Technical Lead for Wikidata Platform and shape the future of how users query and access Wikidata at scale. Guide the technical vision and architecture to maintain stable, reliable, and sustainable data access. Share responsibility with the Staff Product Manager and Engineering Manager for the delivery, development, and operations of Wikidata platform products and services. Collaborate with Wikimedia Deutschland (WMDE) product management and engineering counterparts. Lead the design, development, and deployment of Wikidata’s query platform architecture. This is a remote position with some travel required, open to candidates residing in a range of different locations in the world.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience building and scaling API-driven data platform products with technical userbases
• 4+ years of experience in data engineering, specifically with production deployments at scale
• Deep understanding of database and knowledge graph representation technologies and standards
• Proficiency in Java, C++, or other programming languages for database interactions. Ability to set up, scale, and investigate systems is more important than expertise in a particular language
• Experience navigating issues associated with privacy-sensitive data and familiarity with security best practices in implementing database query services
• Past success in breaking down ambiguous projects into clear tasks
• Ability to work with multiple stakeholder teams to deliver results through lateral influence and collaboration
• Knowledge of highly scalable data processing frameworks (Spark, Kafka, Flink, etc.)
• Commitment to the mission of the organization, our values, and guiding principles
• Strong collaborative problem-solving skills and ability to lead a technical team effectively to deliver a project from idea to production
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, with an ability to clearly and proactively communicate plans and results to stakeholders and collaborators
• Ability to navigate and make decisions in circumstances with limited, incomplete, and conflicting information
• Ability to generate simple and elegant solutions in a complex environment where resources are limited and our guiding principles are ambitious
• Curiosity and commitment to continuous learning
• Ability to grow impact through mentoring and development of other engineers
• Resilience and patience in a large and complex ecosystem of stakeholders
• Emotional intelligence, kindness, and the ability to listen, understand, and respond to multiple perspectives

Responsibilities

• Stability, performance, and scalability of the Wikidata Query Service (WDQS) architecture and data pipeline
• Articulating a vision for Wikidata Platform’s query infrastructure that supports continued growth and future sustainability
• Developing new query methods, APIs, algorithms, and indexing strategies to optimize graph search capabilities for priority use cases
• Collaborating with the Staff Product Manager, Engineering Manager, and other cross-functional colleagues to design system requirements and ship iterative improvements to meet user needs
• Maintaining an understanding of current developments in structured knowledge representation technologies in order to propose innovative solutions
• Persevering through setbacks to ensure team goals are met, or communicating when a pivot may be necessary
• Developing an understanding of our movement and how it drives our work
• Developing best practices for interacting with platform query services
• Performing data analysis to uncover insights and patterns

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with containerization (Docker, Kubernetes) and CI/CD pipelines
• Experience with open source, open data, or open knowledge communities
• Experience as a contributor on Wikipedia, Wikidata, or in Wikimedia project communities
• Experience delivering data platform capabilities that you can share with us during interviews

Benefits

• The anticipated annual pay range of this position for applicants based within the United States is US$ 129,347 to US$ 200,824 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