Overview

The Learning and Development team ensures that our people are equipped with the mindsets and skills required to engage with the complex challenges before us through leadership development and manager trainings, and fosters a culture of healthy performance where we support and challenge each other in pursuit of our mission.

The Learning and Development Specialist will be instrumental in our organization’s future success. The Specialist will partner closely with the L & D Director and Lead to support the planning, design, implementation, and assessment of both new and existing Learning and Development programs. The role will be initially focused on coordination, research, administration, and logistics, and implementation activities for programs, with increasing opportunity to contribute to design and direction.

We’d like you to do these things:   

  • Support healthy performance – You’ll work with the team to evolve our performance review process, and bring a nuanced perspective on performance and development; you will be in charge of all performance management related logistics, including communications, timelines, and support.
  • Admissions process and logistics for Wikilead, our in-house leadership development program – You are responsible for communicating the criteria for admission, and managing the participant nomination, interview, and selection processes. You will also manage and coordinate all associated communications. You will work with T & C department staff to process associated contracts and secure the space and dates for all Wikilead trainings.
  • Running the Wikimedia Foundation engagement survey and analyzing and sharing results with executive and other stakeholders – You are responsible for launching, monitoring, reminding, and closing the employee engagement survey. You will also analyze the data organizationally and for departments, and share your findings to the corresponding department leaders. You may be asked to help present the results along with the Diversity and Inclusion lead. You are responsible for meeting with executive leaders 1:1 and helping them understand what the numbers do and do not say.
  • Schedule, execute, and follow-up on exit interviews, including tracking trends.
  • Administer the individual education program, including tracking requests, coordinating approvals, creating and maintaining a library of education resources for staff to access and share.
  • Evaluate the employee experience through the lens of our values, working with partners in T & C and throughout the organization to continuously improve
  • Support our growing program of staff development
  • Develop, support, and execute trainings, under the supervision of L & D Lead and Director
  • Contribute to building the L & D function, including evolving our programs, metrics, and tooling in line with the business needs of the organization

The above job duties are not exhaustive. You will have the opportunity to shape the future of the role.

We’d like you to have these skills:

  • 2+ years experience in a Learning & Development, People, or Culture role, ideally for an international organization.
  • BA/BS degree in a related field
  • Ability to work in an open, transparent, and collaborative environment, while respecting HR confidentiality
  • Program research, design, and planning
  • Creative thinker with the ability to take ideas into implementation
  • Demonstrated experience with performance management systems, processes and approaches
  • Experience with learning and training metrics and evaluation
  • Strong collaboration skills – experience with teamwork approaches
  • Ability to listen with true curiosity to understand others’ perspectives, and communicate your own perspective clearly and non-judgmentally
  • Passion for learning and supporting people’s growth
  • Balance of detail-orientation (logistics and implementation work) and ability to see the bigger picture and contribute to team goals and quarterly plans

And it would be even more awesome if you have this:

  • Experience working on a remote team
  • Leadership development experience
  • Experience with employee engagement
  • Facilitation and/or coaching experience
  • Working knowledge of adult development and deliberately developmental organizations
  • A sense of humor is always appreciated!

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

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

* for benefits eligible staff, benefits may vary by location