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Mediawiki Developer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

$90K - $119K/yr

Senior Software Engineer, MediaWiki Content Platform Team Remote Summary The Wikimedia Foundation is looking for a software engineer to join our team, reporting to engineering management. As a ...

Sr. Developer - Non-Niche

Atlanta, GA ยท On-site

$52.75 - $64.50/hr

... developer with administrative-level experience using IAM tools to migrate documentation into dev ... Preferred Skill Experience or Familiarity with MediaWiki development All qualified applicants will ...

... developer portal. Qualifications * Experience documenting web service API endpoints and designs ... Experience maintaining documentation content using MediaWiki sites, Confluence, and/or Drupal ...

This role supports geographically distributed teams of 5-10 Test Engineers & 3 Technical Writers ... Familiarity with MediaWiki. About the Wikimedia Foundation The Wikimedia Foundation is the ...

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Mediawiki Developer information

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$47K

$136.3K

$310K

How much do mediawiki developer jobs pay per year?

As of Sep 13, 2026, the average yearly pay for mediawiki developer in the United States is $136,257.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $75,000.00 and $155,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is a MediaWiki developer?

A MediaWiki Developer is a software engineer who specializes in developing, customizing, and maintaining the MediaWiki platform, which is the open-source wiki software behind Wikipedia and many other wikis. Their responsibilities include creating new extensions, fixing bugs, upgrading versions, improving performance, and integrating MediaWiki with other systems. MediaWiki Developers often work with PHP, JavaScript, and other web technologies, and contribute to both individual projects and the broader MediaWiki community.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a MediaWiki developer, and why are they important?

To thrive as a MediaWiki Developer, you need expertise in PHP, SQL, web development, and a deep understanding of the MediaWiki platform, often supported by a degree in computer science or related field. Familiarity with version control systems like Git, experience with Linux servers, and knowledge of MediaWiki extensions and APIs are commonly required. Strong problem-solving abilities, effective communication, and collaboration skills help developers tailor solutions and work efficiently with both technical and non-technical stakeholders. These skills ensure robust, scalable, and well-maintained MediaWiki installations that meet organizational and user needs.

What are some common challenges faced by MediaWiki developers when customizing and maintaining large-scale wikis?

Mediawiki Developers working on large-scale wikis often encounter challenges such as ensuring optimal performance as the number of pages and users grows, managing complex permission structures, and integrating third-party extensions without compromising stability. Additionally, maintaining documentation and keeping up with frequent updates to Mediawiki core and extensions requires consistent effort. Collaborating with content editors and administrators to balance usability with technical constraints is also a key aspect of the role.

What is the difference between Mediawiki Developer vs Mediawiki Administrator?

AspectMediawiki DeveloperMediawiki Administrator
Primary RoleDevelops, customizes, and extends Mediawiki software and pluginsMaintains, manages, and oversees daily Mediawiki site operations
Skills & CertificationsProficiency in PHP, JavaScript, Mediawiki API, and scriptingKnowledge of server management, user permissions, and Mediawiki configuration
Work EnvironmentTypically in development teams, coding and testingOften in IT or support teams, managing live sites
Industry UsageUsed by organizations customizing Mediawiki featuresUsed by organizations maintaining Mediawiki sites

Mediawiki Developers focus on creating and customizing Mediawiki software, while Mediawiki Administrators handle the ongoing management and maintenance of Mediawiki sites. Both roles require technical knowledge but differ in their primary responsibilities and skill sets.

What are popular job titles related to Mediawiki Developer jobs?

For Mediawiki Developer jobs, the most frequently searched job titles are:

Infographic showing various Mediawiki Developer job openings in the United States as of September 2026, with employment types broken down into 50% Full Time, and 50% Contract. Highlights an 100% In-person job distribution, with an average salary of $136,257 per year, or $65.5 per hour.

Senior Software Engineer, MediaWiki Content Platform Team

San Francisco, CA โ€ข On-site

Wikimedia Foundation
Software Developmentย โ€ขย 201 - 500 employees

$144K - $190K/yr

Other

Posted 11 days ago


Key responsibilities

  • Designing and delivering improvements to Wikipedia's wikitext processing infrastructure.

  • Iterating on new features through collaboration with engineers, product managers, designers, client teams, and community members.

  • Creating and maintaining internet APIs with server scripting languages.


Job description

Senior Software Engineer, MediaWiki Content Platform Team

Remote

Summary

The Wikimedia Foundation is looking for a software engineer to join our team, reporting to engineering management. As a software engineer, you will be responsible for engineering software that supports our product user experiences. In this role, you will work in a fully-remote environment (with occasional travel for team, department, or organization events), where we value teamwork and a consensus-oriented approach. You get to write open source code for collaborative experiences supporting well over half a billion pages accessed per day, and you get to do it at a place that believes weโ€™re all more successful when everyone has a good work-life balance.

On the Content Platform team, we work to support and evolve all things wikitext, the markup language behind Wikipedia. We aim to make wikitext easier to write, faster to parse, and less error-prone for humans. We also strive to support editing and content analysis tools with structured representations. We also maintain the web services associated with content rendering and transformation.

In this role, you will work in a mostly-remote environment. To ensure there are enough opportunities to communicate, the preferred timezone for this candidate will be GMT-4 to GMT+2.

You are responsible for:
  • Designing and delivering improvements to Wikipedia's wikitext processing infrastructure, balancing user experience, performance, backwards compatibility, and maintainability
  • Iterating on new features through collaboration with fellow engineers, product managers, designers, client teams, and community members
  • Creating and maintaining internet APIs with server scripting languages
  • Instrumenting components to monitor feature and quality characteristics
  • Leveraging caching and persistence technologies
Skills and experience:
  • 5+ years of related professional experience in software engineering
  • Experience with one or more of: parser generators, interpreters, language runtimes, compilers, or bringing a language feature through a product cycle
  • Demonstrated ability to own complex technical projects from problem definition through implementation and delivery, including making and communicating architectural decisions and navigating ambiguity
  • Experience designing and maintaining reliable, performant software components used by other teams, products, or large numbers of users
  • Strong engineering practices: you enjoy writing unit and integration tests, proactively addressing security and code review feedback, and balancing architectural tradeoffs
  • Ability to work effectively across team and organizational boundaries, identify and resolve technical dependencies, and bring projects to completion with limited direction
  • Experience mentoring other engineers and raising the technical quality of a team, through code reviews, design discussions, documentation, or direct mentorship
Qualities that are important to us:
  • A desire to make meaningful contributions to knowledge equity, free culture, and open access
  • An emphasis on communicating clearly in both synchronous and asynchronous channels
  • Self motivated with an ability to navigate through ambiguity and bring a project to completion with limited direction
Additionally, we'd love it if you have this:
  • Familiarity with the HTML5 spec and DOM manipulation
  • Expertise in Node.js and related technologies
  • A history of open source contribution
  • Bachelor's, master's, or doctorate degree in computer science, software engineering, or other STEM field (or equivalent certification)
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.

Salaries at the Wikimedia Foundation are set in a way that is 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$116,633 to US$181,243 with multiple individualized factors, including cost of living in the location, being the determinants of the offered pay. For applicants located outside of the US, the pay range will be adjusted to the country of hire. We neither 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.

*Please note that we are currently able to hire in the following:

US States: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia*, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico*, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming (*US Territory or Federal District)

Countries: Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya*, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Poland, Singapore*, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Our non-US employees are hired through a local third party Employer of Record (EOR) and must have current work authorization in their location. (*citizens/permanent residents only)

We periodically review this list to streamline to ensure alignment with our hiring requirements.

All applicants can reach out to their recruiter to understand more about the specific pay range for their location during the interview process.

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 recruiting@wikimedia.org or +1 (415) 839-6885.

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