Senior Program Officer, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)

Wikimedia Foundation; United States; Remote; USD 86,000 - 131,000; Full time

Job summary

The Wikimedia Foundation is seeking a Senior Program Officer to lead regional funding programs serving Wikimedian communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. This role focuses on trust-based grantmaking, regional strategy, and collaborative decision-making across Foundation teams.

You will analyze patterns, design scalable activities, manage a diverse grant portfolio, and represent the Foundation with partners and communities worldwide, with occasional international travel.

Qualifications

• Solid knowledge of trust-based philanthropy or community-based grantmaking.
• Experience in participatory decision-making structures.
• Experience in grantmaking, particularly in an international context.
• Experience in nonprofit capacity building as a funder, consultant, or nonprofit leader.
• Strong strategic and analytical skills and creative problem-solving ability.
• Excellent organizational skills and judgment; ability to prioritize work, manage time and multiple priorities, and meet deadlines.
• Proven ability to build constructive partnerships with the Wikimedia community, stakeholders, and fund-seekers; experienced in facilitating volunteer communities.
• Open and transparent communication style; able to engage in dialogue publicly and non-polarizingly.
• Experience managing high‑complexity projects and stakeholders.
• Willingness to travel internationally 1–3 trips per year when possible.
• Experience working with online communities is a plus.
• Passion for or experience contributing to Wikipedia/Wikimedia projects.
• Additional language proficiency is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Implement the Community Resources grantmaking strategy considering community needs, opportunities and regional context.
• Analyze regional/global patterns to shape funding rationales and priorities.
• Design program activities with colleagues to achieve scalable impact.
• Manage regional grant portfolio to ensure alignment with strategy and impact goals.
• Lead annual grant planning; review proposals and inform funding decisions with regional committee.
• Collaborate across Foundation teams to support program objectives.
• Represent the Foundation as an ambassador for regional knowledge and priorities.
• Build, onboard and develop regional funding committees for participatory grantmaking.
• Set agendas and facilitate inclusive funding deliberations.
• Provide context, analysis, and synthesis of committee feedback into funding recommendations.
• Provide constructive feedback to applicants and grantees on outcomes and expectations.
• Build trust-based relationships with communities, grantees, and applicants; act as liaison between WMF and partners.
• Understand community needs and dynamics; support conflict resolution as needed.
• Support capacity building of grantee partners; connect them with best practices.
• Design and support convenings, collaborations and knowledge sharing; engage regional philanthropic spaces.
• Share learnings with colleagues and movement partners; inform resource allocation.
• Review grantee progress and ensure completeness of reports; discuss concerns and provide guidance.

Skills

Trust-based philanthropy

Participatory decision-making

Grantmaking

Nonprofit capacity building

Strategic analysis

Organization & project management

Community engagement

Clear communication

Managing complex programs

International travel readiness

Online community experience

Wikipedia/Wikimedia passion

Additional language skills

Job description

Remote

The Wikimedia Foundation is a non-profit organization supporting Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. The Foundation operates one of the world’s top five websites and has global reach and impact. At the core of the projects are volunteers who curate the knowledge that the world has come to rely on.

The Community Resources team is the primary funding function of the Wikimedia Foundation ensuring that we support the Affiliates and volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Movement by offering institutional and individual funding to help achieve the Movement’s goals. To support the movement’s commitment to Knowledge Equity, the team prioritizes proactive outreach to communities that structures of power and privilege have left out.

The Senior Program Officer will implement the regional funding programs serving Wikimedian communities in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Implement the Community Resources grantmaking strategy while taking into consideration community needs, opportunities, movement trends, and the regional geopolitical and cultural context.
• Analyze regional and global patterns to shape funding rationales and priorities.
• Design program activities with colleagues to achieve significant, scalable impact.
• Manage, implement and monitor the regional grant portfolio to ensure alignment with strategy, criteria, and impact goals.
• Lead annual grant planning: identify and support prospective and returning grantees, review proposals, co-develop funding rationales with the regional funding committee. This also includes conducting organizational assessments (financial and narrative) to inform funding rationales.
• Work collaboratively across Foundation teams to support implementation of funding program and team objectives.
• Represent the Foundation internally and externally as an ambassador for regional knowledge, priorities and insights.

Committee Development

• Build, onboard, and develop regional funding committees aligned with regional needs and opportunities to enable transparent decision-making as part of participatory grantmaking approaches.
• Set agendas for committee discussions (priorities, financial analysis, partner and regional insights) and facilitate inclusive funding deliberations.
• Provide context, analysis, and synthesis of committee feedback into funding recommendations and decisions.
• Provide constructive feedback to applicants and grantees on outcomes and expectations linked to funding decisions.

Community & Funding Partner Management

• Build and sustain trust-based relationships with communities, grantees, and applicants across the region; act as primary liaison between WMF and partners.
• Understand community needs, dynamics, and challenges; support conflict resolution or sensitive discussions when required.
• Support community, organizational/institutional strengthening of grantee partners; connect them with relevant and needed best practices and resources.
• Design and support convenings, collaborations, and knowledge sharing to enable learning amongst partners within the portfolio, with the community and ecosystem.
• Engage regional philanthropic spaces and leaders to strengthen grantee support and advance meaningful and mission-aligned philanthropy practices.

Evaluation and Learning

• Review grantee progress through conversations, reports, and site visits, and share insight reports.
• Reviews and approves grant reports, following up when necessary to ensure completeness, discussing concerns, and offering appropriate guidance and support.
• Identify trends, gaps, and opportunities from grantmaking data to inform the grant strategy, regional priorities, and resource allocation.
• Share learnings with colleagues, committees, and movement partners; contribute to strategic conversations on resource allocation.

Skills and Experience:

The right person is better than the right set of experiences. These are the traits we’ve identified that make great additions to our team so far.

• Solid knowledge of trust-based philanthropy or community-based grantmaking;
• Experience in participatory decision-making structures
• Experience in grantmaking, particularly in an international context
• Experience in nonprofit capacity building as a funder, consultant, or nonprofit leader;
• Strong strategic and analytical skills and creative problem-solving ability;
• Excellent organizational skills and judgment; ability to prioritize work, manage time and multiple priorities, and meet deadlines; attention to detail and accuracy; the ability to set realistic goals and objectives;
• Proven ability that would translate to creating constructive partnerships with the Wikimedia community, stakeholders, and fund-seekers: skills in facilitating engaging, motivating, coordinating and supporting volunteer communities, and in negotiating the sometimes chaotic and contentious nature of free-thinking communities
• An open and transparent communication style; ability to engage and have dialogue with individuals in a public setting and in a non-polarizing way
• Experience managing high complexity projects and stakeholders
• Willingness to accommodate scheduling requirements of frequent interactions across time zones, with individuals and organizations across the world
• Proven English proficiency in written and spoken communication, including speaking in front of large groups and reacting publicly in high-pressure situations, and comfort in producing widely distributed written material
• Demonstrated commitment to and belief in equity, inclusion, and diversity
• A global perspective, with significant experience living or working internationally
• This position may require 1-3 international trips each year when circumstances allow.

Additionally, we’d love it if you have:

• Experience working with online communities, particularly in the free knowledge movement
• Passion for or experience contributing to Wikipedia/Wikimedia project
• Besides English, proficiency in another language would be an added value.

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 US$ 85,761 to US$ 130,513 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 [e-mail] or [phone].

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey.Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential file.

As set forth in Wikimedia Foundation’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service‑connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three‑year period beginning on the date of such veteran’s discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

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