Nonprofit Remote Digest - Issue #331

Mar 16, 2020

The Wikimedia Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering the “growth, development, and distribution of free, multilingual content.” The Wikimedia Foundation operates and supports some of the world's largest reference projects that are edited collaboratively, including Wikipedia, one of the most highly visited websites across the globe.

Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. — wikimediafoundation.org

The nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation provides the essential infrastructure for free knowledge.

Crisis Response Manager

Location: San Francisco, Washington D.C., NYC or Globally Remote

Summary

The Wikimedia movement aims to ensure everyone, everywhere has access to free knowledge. In order to better support the growth of a thriving, inclusive free knowledge movement, the Wikimedia Foundation is focused on building strong and diverse communities of knowledge contributors around the world. Our goal of ‘knowledge equity’ includes a particular emphasis on traditionally excluded groups (e.g., women, people of color, minority or marginalized groups, ‘the global south,’ indigenous communities). As an organization we are committed to providing safe spaces for the global, robust, diverse community of volunteers we serve and equitable processes for all participants.

To support these efforts we are looking for a Crisis Response Manager to join our team, reporting to the Vice President, Legal (Community Resilience & Sustainability). The Crisis Response Manager will be responsible for ensuring the organization’s appropriate response to unexpected major safety, security, and political issues affecting Wikimedia volunteers, the Wikimedia Foundation projects, or events, prioritizing the safety of the movement and its participants.

The Crisis Response Manager will lead the Foundation’s efforts in proactively preparing for and addressing these critical challenges. Under the supervision of the VP of CRS, they will coordinate a cross-department incident response taskforce composed of legal, security, community, and communications functions, among others.

They will recommend, coordinate and monitor responses to other, including but not limited to government bans of our sites, threats from state and organized actors, persecution of contributors and readers, challenges to the integrity of editorial community processes through coordinated disinformation campaigns, and misappropriation of grants the Foundation provides by affiliated organizations The successful candidate will bring efficiency and strong people skills to project managing the taskforce under the oversight of the Vice President of Community Resilience & Sustainability. They will bring strategic insight into creative resolution of complicated challenges and the ability to network with allied organizations and individuals in proactively planning to reduce crises. They are seasoned, experienced and able to exercise good judgment in determining the most appropriate method, technique and/or priorities for achieving impact with a wide variety of high-stakes, emergent issues.

You are responsible for:

Building and maturing the organization’s expertise in identifying and addressing emerging threats to Wikimedia’s online communities and affiliated organizations through efforts to curb internet freedom, civic spaces where our communities self-organize, and systematic efforts challenging the integrity of editorial community processes.
Networking with allied organizations and individuals around the world to remain current on emerging geopolitical trends and best practices in human rights response.
Working collaboratively with Wikimedia project contributors and users intensively and, when appropriate, publicly to understand their environments and challenges and to work with them, in coordination with staff from other teams, on defining best practices to maintain safety in their movement activities.
Directing and maintaining the activities of the Crisis Response protocol task force from across multiple departments (technology, finance, trust & safety, communications, etc.), including collaborating with task force members and senior executives on laterally assigning accountabilities and tracking progress.
Being on call 24/7 as required to review emergency alerts to ensure prompt escalation of crises for assessment with what urgency to assemble said task force and alert executives.
Reporting on the activities of the task force to the VP and senior executives on a regular cadence with a critical eye to what works and what doesn’t, focused on ongoing systems improvement.
Operating and refining the systems surrounding our Crisis Response protocol, including coordination with key stakeholders and outside parties as necessary in investigating and resolving specific incidents.
Communicating with key stakeholders in a precise, detailed or high-level communication style, depending on the needs of the audience, organization and community.

Skills and Experience:

Substantial professional experience in project management work, preferably in a geopolitical or humanitarian environment, but at least with exposure to and familiarity with human rights cases.
Strong risk assessment skills.
Experience creatively handling non-routine issues, coordinating the activities of lateral staff and assembling their expertise to identify best approaches to difficult problems. Executing against these approaches while remaining conscious of emerging new factors so that approaches are re-evaluated as necessary for best outcomes.
Ability to remain calm and focused in ambiguous situations and to plan and act in circumstances where individuals may be in grave peril. (Note that this role may include exposure to troubling images and media or direct contact with individuals who have been treated inhumanely.)
Resilience in dealing with difficult subject matter and ability to exercise appropriate self-care in balance to periods of high intensity crisis-containment work.
Strong communication skills, with the ability to summarize essentials for an executive audience and detail precise response plans and debriefing documents and to communicate with compassion and clarity.
Good people skills, with the ability to motivate and focus lateral teams in high intensity work situations. If necessary, the ability to build and manage dedicated support staff to this role.
Adaptability around online communities and technology, with the ability to master new protocols and practices and to remain open to considering unfamiliar tools.

Qualities that are important to us:

An interest in the role of technology in shaping society, culture, and politics and high sensitivity around culture with the goal to respect, preserve and enhance.
Flexibility in working hours as necessary to respond to unanticipated situations, with a willingness to work nights, weekends, or holidays when necessary and a regular ability to meet within UTC-8 business hours.
Willingness to undertake moderate international travel to coordinate with volunteers and affiliate organizations as well as international humanitarian organizations who may be partners in this work.
Written and oral fluency in English. Ability to correspond in other languages (with preference to Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Hindi, Spanish, or Russian) is strongly preferred.

The Wikimedia Foundation is...

...the nonprofit organization that hosts and 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, free of interference. We host 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 financial support 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.

The Wikimedia Foundation is an equal opportunity employer, and we encourage people with a diverse range of backgrounds to apply.

U.S. Benefits & Perks*

Fully paid medical, dental and vision coverage for employees and their eligible families (yes, fully paid premiums!)
The Wellness Program provides reimbursement for mind, body and soul activities such as fitness memberships, baby sitting, continuing education and much more
The 401(k) retirement plan offers matched contributions at 4% of annual salary
Flexible and generous time off - vacation, sick and volunteer days, plus 19 paid holidays - including the last week of the year.
Family friendly! 100% paid new parent leave for seven weeks plus an additional five weeks for pregnancy, flexible options to phase back in after leave, fully equipped lactation room.
For those emergency moments - long and short term disability, life insurance (2x salary) and an employee assistance program
Pre-tax savings plans for health care, child care, elder care, public transportation and parking expenses
Telecommuting and flexible work schedules available
Appropriate fuel for thinking and coding (aka, a pantry full of treats) and monthly massages to help staff relax
Great colleagues - diverse staff and contractors speaking dozens of languages from around the world, fantastic intellectual discourse, mission-driven and intensely passionate people

*Eligible international workers' benefits are specific to their location and dependent on their employer of record