Software Engineering Internship Program (2027)

Wikimedia Foundation; Montpelier (VT); Remote; USD 47,000 - 58,000; Full time

Job summary

Wikimedia Foundation is offering a Software Engineering Internship Program that is fully remote in the United States. The four‑month, 40‑hour‑per‑week internship embeds you in an engineering team, with a dedicated mentor and a primary project to deliver clear outcomes.

You will learn the inner workings of our open source code that powers Wikipedia and related projects, contributing to high‑impact software used by billions of users.

Qualifications

• Basic experience with at least one back end or front end programming language (e.g PHP, Javascript, Python) OR a mobile app language (Kotlin, Swift), OR a demonstrated interest in cybersecurity and/or privacy.
• Basic experience with databases.
• Basic experience with at least one scripting language.
• Basic querying and data manipulation with SQL or other query languages.
• Linux/command-line knowledge.
• Understanding of networking, operating systems, or distributed systems concepts (latency, throughput, error rates).
• Effective and inclusive communication skills with diverse cultural and language communities.
• A desire to make meaningful contributions to knowledge equity, free culture, and open access to global education.

Skills

PHP

JavaScript

Python

Kotlin

Swift

Cybersecurity

Job description

Software Engineering Internship Program

Location: Remote (US)*

The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that operates Wikipedia – one of the most popular websites in the world, accessed by over 1.8 billion unique devices every month. It is the only non-profit in the top 50 websites, supported by a community of millions of individual donors around the world.

We are looking for graduates, non-graduates, or those seeking a career change who are interested in developing software engineering skills through an immersive \"learn on the job\" internship program. As an intern, you will be embedded into an engineering team within our Product and Technology departments and assigned a primary project with clear deliverables. Alongside your manager and dedicated mentor, you will learn the inner workings of our open source code that helps to create \"a world in which everyone can freely share in the sum of all knowledge\". You will work with software that serves over half a billion page views per day through Wikipedia (and other Wikimedia projects). Additionally, you will have the opportunity to learn about various departments at the Foundation and connect with the wider volunteer movement and community.

We're also welcoming applicants from communities where access to free knowledge and Wikimedia projects are just emerging.

Successful candidates must be able to commit to a four month, 40hr/week internship which will fall between late February to late June 2027. We will provide laptops and necessary software installed for the duration of the program. This role is 100% remote, and in some cases there may be potential opportunities to participate in in-person events to meet other fellow interns and teams.

Teams

• Mobile Apps Engineering Team - The Mobile Apps team's primary objective lies in constructing native Android and iOS applications for the Wikimedia Foundation.


• Editing - The Editing team is part of the Contributors group. They work on tools for editing across MediaWiki, principally VisualEditor, DiscussionTools, and Edit check. The team is currently working on Suggestion Mode, a feature for the VisualEditor that proactively suggests actions that people can consider taking to improve Wikipedia articles.


• Data Platform Engineering - The Mission of the Data Platform Engineering team is to empower Wiki Communities and the Wikimedia Foundation to gain insights, conduct research, and build compelling user experiences, through access to privacy-aware data and data platform services. The Data Platform is a collection of systems and services providing end-to-end capabilities for our data producers and consumers to collect, discover, and use data.


• Release Engineering - The Release Engineering team enables developers to confidently build, test, and deploy code changes across Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia, by creating the tools, infrastructure, and automation that keep software delivery fast and reliable.


• Tools Infrastructure - The mission of the Tools Infrastructure team is to provide a free, reliable, secure and scalable Cloud hosting platform to support Wikimedia contributors and developers to run tools, bots, data pipelines, and services that support Wikipedia and its sister projects.


• Observability - The Observability team's mission is to provide insight into the health, performance and behaviour of production code and systems for teams within the Wikimedia Foundation and for volunteers at large.

Qualifications and Experience

• Basic experience with at least one back end or front end programming language (e.g PHP, Javascript, Python) OR a mobile app language (Kotlin, Swift), OR a demonstrated interest in cybersecurity and/or privacy.


• Basic experience with databases.


• Basic experience with at least one scripting language.


• Basic querying and data manipulation with SQL or other query languages.


• Linux/command-line knowledge.


• Understanding of networking, operating systems, or distributed systems concepts (latency, throughput, error rates).


• Effective and inclusive communication skills with diverse cultural and language communities.


• A desire to make meaningful contributions to knowledge equity, free culture, and open access to global education.

About the Wikimedia Foundation

The Wikimedia Foundation is the nonprofit organization that operates Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia free knowledge projects. 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 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 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 in 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$34.32 to $42.13 per hour with multiple individualized factors, including cost of living in the location, being the determinants of the offered pay.