Senior Software Engineer, API Platform 

Summary

The Wikimedia Foundation is looking for a Senior Software Engineer to join our Platform Engineering Team. As a Senior Software Engineer in this team, you will be responsible for working closely with our engineering teams across the foundation to build and deliver the WMF API Gateway, API portal, and API Management services, while also mentoring and growing junior Engineers.

This role will directly support our application platform serving the world’s favorite encyclopædia to millions of people around the globe. Wikipedia and its sister projects are powered strictly by Free and Open Source software, with MediaWiki at its core, surrounded by an ecosystem of microservices in PHP, NodeJS, Python, and Go.

 We are a distributed and diverse team of engineers with a drive to explore, experiment, and embrace new technologies. During the past few years we have been transitioning our platform from a monolith to a hybrid microservices architecture, and started migrating our microservices onto Kubernetes running on bare metal. This work underpins our goals of modernizing our platform to help build and support the future work of the WMF, its sister projects and the global community.

If you find what we do interesting, if you are up to the challenge of improving how APIs function for one of the Internet’s top 10 websites, and you enjoy the idea of working with a globally distributed team, you might be just the person we need. Come as you are! 

You are responsible for:

• Participating in the development of integration of the WMF API Gateway, including:
• Feature identification and implementation (ex: rate limiting, throttling, etc.)
• API Protocols and Architecture Style support guidelines (ex: REST, SOAP, RPC, Kafka, etc.) 
• Migration of existing APIs to the API Gateway
• Integration of the API Gateway into our security strategy
• Developing easy-to-use self service pathways for API consumers via our web API portal
• Development of a GraphQL data platform that can be leveraged by web and native app feature teams to build consumer-driven products
• Assessing and addressing technical risks
• Share our values and work in accordance with them

Skills and Experience:

• 5+ years Expertise in web services and web technologies
• Experience building or managing an API Gateway (ideally with Envoy experience)
• Demonstrated experience building out API Gateway features including, rate limiting, authentication, throttling, etc.
• Experience with API Lifecycle Management
• Ability to partner and work closely with internal teams, including developers, engineers, architects, security, and product teams.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in relevant work experience

Qualities that are important to us:

• Problem-solver with a passion and willingness to learn and dive-deep into technical details
• Possess a growth mindset with ability to identify additional skills, knowledge, and/or expertise required and the drive to develop themselves where needed

Additionally, we’d love it if you have:

• Familiarity with Envoy API Gateways
• Working with on-premise technology stacks
• Experience working with microservice architectures
• Experience with open-source technology 
• Experience interacting with free and open-source software projects and communities
• Experience editing Wikipedia or contributing to other wiki projects
• Remote work experience with a highly distributed team

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 [email protected] or +1 (415) 839-6885.

More information

U.S. Benefits & Perks
Wikimedia Foundation
Applicant Privacy Policy
News from across the Wikimedia movement
Blog
Wikimedia 2030
Our Commitment to Equity
This is Wikimedia Foundation 
Facts Matter
Our Projects
Our Tech Stack