Senior Software Engineer, iOS at Wikimedia

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. The Wikimedia Foundation is a remote-first organization with staff members including contractors based in 40+ countries.

Summary

The Wikimedia Foundation is looking for a Senior Software Engineer, iOS to join the App Growth team within the Core Experiences engineering group. The App Growth team has a clear and ambitious goal: to make the apps the destination for knowledge lovers and grow our active readership. The team owns the cross-platform feature framework for the app, making decisions about where a feature resides when the app is the primary destination and where its core value is unlocked. This is not a native iOS or Android role. The position focuses on web-first product experiences, APIs, and platform integrations that can be reused across mobile web and native app surfaces, aiming to scale features across platforms and create compelling experiences that deepen reader engagement and increase user retention. This role requires at least four hours of your workday to occur between 14:00 UTC and 21:00 UTC for synchronous communication.

You are responsible for:

• Delivery and enablement: Consistently lead the team in the delivery of medium-complexity initiatives (with support) from technical discovery through delivery. Break down initiatives into features, drive estimation, and manage scope. Identify risks early and help the team make pragmatic tradeoffs across quality, velocity, maintainability, and user impact.
• Implementation: Improve the mobile Wikipedia product experiences that serve a global, multilingual audience on iOS. Lead system design for medium-sized projects and design and build accessible, adaptable, and scalable components.
• Quality, testing, and observability: Consistently build and improve systems & software that are easy to test, observe, and debug. Instrument features that enable deeper analysis by Product Analysts. Contribute to healthier testing and software quality practices.
• Cross-functional collaboration: Partner with product managers, designers, analysts, and native app engineers to shape pragmatic solutions that balance user needs, technical constraints, platform expectations, and delivery timelines.
• Prioritization: Proactively identify high-impact technical opportunities and risks across a quarter, partner with the team to shape priorities and sequencing. Actively keep the team aligned on outcomes, capacity, and shared goals.
• Mentorship: Actively support the growth and success of others. Mentor engineers through thoughtful code review, technical design, pairing, delegation of meaningful ownership, and modeling strong engineering judgment. Encourage teammates to ask questions and raise concerns.
• Culture and standards: Raise team standards in code review, technical design, testing, documentation, accessibility, observability, and decision-making-fostering transparency, empathy, and collaboration.
• Operational Awareness: Plan work with awareness of downstream or upstream effects. Actively support hiring and onboarding.

Qualities that are important to us:

• Clear communicator: You can explain your ideas simply and adapt your communication to different audiences across engineering, product, and non-technical stakeholders in both synchronous and asynchronous channels.
• Autonomy: Operate with high autonomy in a team setting and build autonomy in cross-team settings. You own your work end-to-end and help establish a culture of responsibility and follow-through.
• Feedback: You create a feedback-friendly environment. Model giving and receiving feedback with curiosity and empathy. Help others resolve misunderstandings productively.
• Builds strong relationships: Proactively bring the right people into discussions, identify process improvements, and facilitate team ceremonies.
• Comfortable with ambiguity: You are comfortable with ambiguity and can collaborate to solve complex problems with pragmatic solutions. Connect ideas and can regularly balance tradeoffs across related domains to create well-rounded solutions.
• Knowledge sharing: Strengthen team knowledge-sharing practices and consistently help others understand and apply shared knowledge. You enjoy working with others to solve problems and are open to feedback. You inspire trust and progress through support, example, and thoughtful contributions.
• Outcome-oriented: You prioritize work that delivers value to users and aligns with organizational goals. You balance ideal solutions with the constraints of legacy, user expectations, and delivery needs.

Requirements:

• Bachelor's and 5+ years related professional experience with significant experience building iOS applications.
• Strong professional experience and proficiency with Swift, SwiftUI, UIKit, and familiarity with architectural patterns in iOS.
• Experience with iOS performance optimization techniques to ensure smooth, responsive, and high-performing applications under a variety of conditions.
• Experience working in a self-driven, lean environment.
• Commitment to the Foundation's Mission and Values.

Additionally, we would love it if you have:

• Experience adding webview-wrapped experiences to existing native mobile apps (iOS or Android).
• Experience in maintaining cross-platform mobile applications.
• Experience building mobile games or other interactive mobile experiences.
• Experience with data science, machine learning, and/or AI (e.g., familiarity with prompt engineering, Jupyter notebooks experience, etc.).
• Familiarity with Wikipedia / wikitext / markdown editing or content management systems (e.g., MediaWiki, Drupal, WordPress).
• Experience with leveraging agentic coding to scale the work of small engineering teams.
• Bachelor's, master's, or doctorate degree in computer science, management information systems, or STEM field (or equivalent certification).
• Prior experience with MediaWiki or Wikimedia projects.
• A history of open-source contributions.

U.S. Benefits & Perks

The Wikimedia Foundation is a remote-first organization with staff members including contractors based in 40+ countries. Salaries at the Wikimedia Foundation are set to be 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$113,082 to US$175,725. Multiple individualized factors, including the cost of living in the location, will be determinants of the offered pay. For applicants located outside of the US, the pay range will be adjusted to the country of hire. We do not 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.

We provide all team members with additional benefits, which reflect our values and ideals. We balance our programs to meet local needs and ensure fairness globally.

• Distributed work environment with twice-yearly team sprints in person.
• Personal Learning Budget of USD 2,000 per year.
• Annual compensation review.
• Recognition rewards.
• Annual holiday leave.
• Paid Parental Leave.
• Employee Assistance Programme (Wellness Programs).
• Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues.
• Priority Pass for travel and travel upgrades for long-haul company events.

The Wikimedia Foundation is committed to providing equal work opportunities to all team members and applicants. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, caste, religion, age, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by our policies or federal, state, or local laws. 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.