Director of Site Reliability Engineering

Director of Site Reliability Engineering (Remote)

Summary

The Wikimedia Foundation is seeking a Director of Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) to lead globally distributed teams managing the infrastructure powering Wikipedia and its sister projects. This role involves ensuring site reliability, leading transformative platform initiatives, and nurturing a high-performing team of over 50 engineers across seven specialized teams.

Responsibilities

• Operational Leadership: Ensure the health, reliability, and security of Wikimedia’s public-facing services, including safeguarding against outages, breaches, and data loss.
• Collaboration: Partner with engineering teams to align platform development with Wikimedia’s user experience goals while ensuring operational support and compliance.
• Team Development: Inspire and mentor team leaders and engineers, fostering a culture of collaboration, trust, and innovation.
• Strategic Planning: Drive the technical direction of infrastructure, platforms, and operational practices.
• Advocacy for Free Knowledge: Align engineering solutions with Wikimedia’s mission and guiding principles.

Qualifications

• Experience:
  • 8+ years in Site Reliability Engineering or related fields.
  • 5+ years managing infrastructure teams responsible for large-scale, high-traffic systems.
  • Proven leadership of distributed engineering teams, including mentorship and alignment across teams.
  • Expertise in interfacing SRE teams with design, product, and engineering functions.
• Technical Expertise:
  • Knowledge of infrastructure technologies and scalable architecture.
  • Familiarity with high-traffic environments (on-premise and cloud infrastructure).
  • Proficiency in large-scale website architectures (e.g., caching, storage, monitoring).
• Management Skills:
  • Ability to lead diverse, globally distributed teams.
  • Strong project management and budget planning experience.
  • Experience with open-source solutions and volunteer communities is a plus.
• Communication:
  • Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to align technical goals with organizational strategy.
• Travel:
  • Ability to travel 2–3 times annually.

Desired Attributes

• Cross-cultural awareness and experience with international teams.
• Familiarity with follow-the-sun operations for globally distributed teams.
• Hands-on experience negotiating infrastructure contracts and managing vendor relationships.
• Commitment to free and open knowledge principles.

About the Wikimedia Foundation

The Wikimedia Foundation is a nonprofit organization that operates Wikipedia and other free knowledge projects. Its vision is to make knowledge freely accessible to everyone worldwide. The Foundation is a globally distributed, remote-first organization, with employees across 40+ countries, working toward building equitable access to knowledge.

Compensation and Benefits

• Salary Range (US Applicants): $172,976–$269,298 (adjusted for non-US hires based on location).
• Competitive benefits, including flexible hours and professional growth opportunities.
• Remote-first culture with a commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Application Process

If you require accommodations during the application process due to a disability, contact recruiting@wikimedia.org or call +1 (415) 839-6885.

Apply now to lead the team powering one of the world’s largest and most impactful websites!