Senior Site Reliability Engineer, Data Engineering

Summary: The Wikimedia Foundation is looking for a SRE Data Engineer to join our team, reporting to the Director of Fundraising Technology. As a Senior SRE Data Engineer, you will be responsible for building, maintaining, and operating the data infrastructure that supports the Foundation's fundraising program, which supplies the operating costs of Wikipedia, its sister projects, and helps fund the Wikimedia Endowment. The ideal candidate will be an experienced Data Engineer/Site Reliability Engineer with excellent communication skills and versed in fundraising strategies. We are a fully remote and internationally distributed team.

Responsibilities:

• Deployment, configuration, and maintenance of the distributed data systems that comprise our data and analytics platform, including:
  • Trino/Starburst
  • MariaDB
  • Dagster
  • dbt
  • Superset
  • Metabase
• Implement data quality monitoring to alert the team of potential data issues.
• Close collaboration with the rest of the Fundraising team to integrate and use data from various self-hosted and third-party data sources, including:
  • CiviCRM (CRM)
  • Zendesk (donor relations system)
  • Acoustic (email and SMS marketing provider)
• Provide engineering support during high-traffic or critical campaigns.
• Write, use, and update internal documentation of systems and processes.
• Ensure compliance with regulations and policies, such as:
  • Donor Privacy Policy
  • GDPR
  • PCI DSS
• Create and manage users and permissions to maintain data access control.
• Advise on best practices for data input, manage manual uploads, and develop processes for data consistency.
• Work closely with Fundraising Analytics to gather, scope, and prioritize data enhancement requests.

Skills and Experience:

• At least 2 years of experience in an SRE/Operations/DevOps role.
• Experience supporting high availability distributed production systems.
• Experience with database administration and support.
• Comfortable with configuration management and orchestration tools (e.g., Puppet, Ansible, Chef, SaltStack) and observability infrastructure (monitoring, metrics, and logging).
• Proficient in shell and scripting languages (e.g., Python, Go, Bash, Ruby).
• Good understanding of Linux/Unix fundamentals and debugging skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• BS or MS degree in Computer Science or equivalent work experience.

Qualities that are important to us:

• Commitment to the mission of the organization and our values.
• Commitment to our guiding principles, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Cross-cultural sensitivity and awareness with collaborative working experience.

Additionally, we'd love it if you have:

• Experience with PCI compliance standards.
• Experience implementing containerization solutions (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Experience with package management for operating systems (e.g., Debian).
• A history of contributing to Open Source projects.
• Prior participation in the Wikimedia movement or the free culture movement.

About The Wikimedia Foundation: The Wikimedia Foundation is the nonprofit organization that operates Wikipedia and other Wikimedia free knowledge projects. Our vision is to enable free sharing of knowledge worldwide. We host Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects, build software experiences, support volunteer communities, and advocate for policies that enable free knowledge to thrive. As a U.S. 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, we rely on donations from individuals around the world.

As an equal opportunity employer, we value a diverse workforce and continuously strive to maintain an inclusive workplace. We encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds and do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, or any other legally protected characteristics.

The Wikimedia Foundation is remote-first, employing staff members across 40+ countries. Salaries are competitive, equitable, and aligned with our values. The anticipated annual pay range for this position in the U.S. is $109,047 to $169,455, influenced by various factors including location. For non-U.S. employees, the pay range will be adjusted accordingly and hired through a local Employer of Record (EOR).

Applicants requiring assistance during the application process due to a disability may contact us at recruiting@wikimedia.org or +1 (415) 839-6885.