Legal Counsel

JOB TITLE

Summary

Wikimedia envisions a world where the sum total of human knowledge is available to everyone.  The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit home of Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and other free educational projects, serves as the hub of a global movement of hundreds of thousands of contributors collaborating to collect and share the sum of all human knowledge with the world. Protecting the privacy of Wikimedia readers, contributors, and donors is a key element of our work as an organization.

Our Legal team counsels the Foundation as they create tools and features for Wikipedia, secure the websites, and collaborate with volunteer developers to design and build the future of the projects. We are looking for a junior to mid-career attorney with interest and experience in matters relating to product and privacy counseling to join our in-house legal department as Legal Counsel, reporting to the Associate General Counsel.

You are responsible for:

• Advising product, engineering and design teams on legal issues related to feature development, launches, experiments and ongoing platform operations.
• Supporting legal review of new products, product changes, and technical initiatives around the Wikimedia projects.
• Supporting the draft, review and maintenance of user-facing terms, disclosures, policies, FAQs and internal guidance.
• Counseling on product, privacy, data use, consumer protection, intellectual property, accessibility, online safety and related product issues.
• Partnering with cross-functional teams to identify legal risk early and develop practical, mission-aligned solutions.
• Monitoring and helping assess legal and regulatory developments that may affect Wikimedia’s projects globally.

Skills and Experience:

• J.D. from accredited U.S. law school or equivalent foreign degree, and admission to practice law in that jurisdiction.
• 2-5 years experience with legal review of technical products or online services.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and attention to detail, full fluency in written and spoken English.

Qualities that are important to us:

• Dedicated, hardworking, passionate, and able to complete projects independently.
• Ability to learn on the job, spot issues, think fast, and comfortably deal with complex and ambiguous issues with sound judgment.
• Comfortable in a highly collaborative, multicultural, transparent environment.
• Ability to assess and manage complex risks, and triage issues appropriately.
• Mission-driven with a public service orientation and high personal integrity.
• An understanding of, and commitment to, a free and open internet, to the open source and free culture movements, and to Wikimedia’s mission.

Additionally, we’d love it if you have:

• Experience with open source, free culture, free software, or online communities.
• A degree in computer science, engineering, or related experience, and have a good understanding of software engineering processes and issues.
• Experience with public policy, government relations or other policy-facing functions.
• Ability to speak other languages, experience living or working outside the United States, or past work on international legal issues are a major plus.

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 40+ countries*. 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 $90,572  to $137,155 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, France, 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.

More information

U.S. Benefits & Perks

Applicant Privacy Policy

Wikimedia Foundation

What does the Wikimedia Foundation do?

What makes Wikipedia different from social media platforms?

Our Projects

Our Tech Stack

News from across the Wikimedia movement

Wikimedia Blog

Wikimedia 2030