Vice President of People Experience

Title: Vice President of People Experience 

Level: M6 

Reports to: Chief People Officer

Location: Fully remote with some travel required

Summary

The Wikimedia Foundation is seeking a Vice President to join the People department. We believe that our people are our most important asset, and the policy and practice work of our People department is critical to identifying, supporting, developing, and retaining excellent colleagues who advance the Foundation’s mission. This role will work side-by-side with the Chief People Officer to develop and implement a talent philosophy that supports our mission and organizational culture while simultaneously:

• Achieving measurable business and social impact goals; and

• Leading our talent colleagues as they navigate our HR systems and processes

Specifically, you’ll be an energetic leader, strategic thinker, and problem solver across strategic and tactical human resource planning, talent management, and culture.You’ll learn from the Foundation’s leaders and managers and then tailor critical HR support for each business line’s growth and evolving needs. In parallel, you will be driving culturally- and values- aligned HR investments that allow for a stellar employee experience and position Wikimedia as an employer of choice in the global nonprofit, technology, and advocacy fields.

Key areas of responsibility will include effective oversight, coordination and implementation of various HR policies and processes, talent management and development, rewards and recognition, and organizational effectiveness. Additionally, the VP, People Experience will lead efforts for employee engagement/relations as well as internal communications.

You’ll partner with and mentor 14 colleagues overseeing business partner activities, people operations, compensation and benefits and HRIS. 

This position requires an individual who can act as a senior consultant to the business, build and execute a strong integrated HR strategy, as well as manage and develop the teams that support each department’s unique business needs, culture and objectives. The ideal candidate must demonstrate a combination of strong business and coaching acumen -- acquired within a large (hundreds of staff), complex (multi-program/initiative), global and geographically dispersed organization -- and a significant human resource functional track record across employee relations, compensation/benefits, people operations and HRIS, and with the knowledge to guide the development of effective HR strategies, policies and practices.

You’ll provide a pragmatic perspective based on business and organizational transformation, active collaboration, agility, and the ability to successfully partner with and advise senior departmental leaders. You’ll be a forward thinker with the ability to assume responsibility without direct supervision, exercise initiative and judgment, and make decisions within the scope of assigned authority. We need you to take a “roll up your sleeves” approach to day-to-day work, and also act as a strategic advisor to the senior leadership team in furthering the organization's goals. You should definitely pay high attention to detail, be a great multitasker, and quickly adapt to a changing work environment.

Key Responsibilities

Organizational Development

• Develop, maintain and lead our organization-wide leadership, culture and values agenda

• Be a thought partner to the VP, Growth & Belonging to help execute a global diversity and inclusion vision, strategy, and project plan supportive of hiring, retaining, and developing a diverse, and globally-dispersed, talent pipeline

• Partner with the VP, Growth & Belonging to analyze employee survey results for effective integration into the organizational process, and partner with organizational leaders to implement changes as needed as needed

• Provide advice and direction to senior people managers across the Foundation on various aspects of HR and people practices

• Partner with People Department leadership to leverage workforce analytics and various business metrics to support business decisions and to track progress against performance expectations

• Establish and implement change management frameworks and best practices to support the company’s need to scale while maintaining our core values and culture

• Partner effectively with colleagues on policy development (for example with VP, Growth & Belonging on employee relations or with People Department leadership, Legal and Finance on competitive rewards)

• Inform organizational direction in collaboration with a cohort of VP peers

Department Leadership in collaboration with the Chief People Officer:

• Define the direction of the People department in support of the organizational mission, vision, and values; facilitate input from directors and other department leaders

• Deliver a departmental development plan to support and develop staff and key capacities. This plan and should be forward-looking and include the proposed skills, capacities, and structures needed for a 3-5 year timetable

• Anticipate and identify policy needs; develop right-sized policies that support the Foundation’s growth and global footprint

• Translate strategic priorities into operational reality, leading to the execution of robust plans which yield measurable and sustainable results

• Recruit, develop, and mentor a diverse team of exceptional people in service of organizational goals. Establish a culture of mutual respect, collaboration, trust, service, excellence, and sustainability that supports them in their work

• Communicate critical information within the department as well as the c-level

• Motivate, develop, coach, and assess people leaders; develop and mentor People department colleagues

Employee Communications and Recognition 

• Partner with the Chief People Officer, Communications department, and leadership team to support internal communications throughout the organization and on company-wide organizational development and change initiatives

• Develop a communications strategy to ensure that employees remain informed, aligned and engaged with the mission and goals of the FoundationEnsure we are providing staff with the communications they need to be aligned, inspired, and connected to the mission

• Work with the Director of Innovation to implement and manage a new rewards system in support of the Foundation’s evolving business direction

The ideal person is:

• Naturally curious, dedicated and detail-oriented with a desire to work in a highly collaborative environment

• An international leader able to raise Wikimedia’s international human resource capabilities through collaboration, thought partnership, risk management, and as a mentor and leader

• A bold thinker who will take strategic plans and a wide variety of human resource concepts and translate them into action

• A fast-thinking tactician who can navigate sensitive, high-stakes global human resource issues with uncompromised values

• An experienced, hands-on team leader with deep organizational development expertise, including the ability to coach, develop and influence Foundation leaders

• An influential and inclusive leader who can establish credibility throughout the organization to be an effective listener and problem solver of People issues, and advance the trust quotient of the People department

• Skilled in maintaining HR policies and processes and ensuring they are implemented in accordance with laws / regulations and company policies, practices and objectives

• Someone who understands “state of the art” for HR and how to apply it in the Foundation’s unique context

We’d like you to have this experience and these skills:

• Significant track record in people operations with fluency in retention, compensation/benefits and extensive knowledge of employee relations. Can point to tangible examples of having designed and implemented employee centric innovations that built culture while achieving business goals.   Experience and excitement in working with global, distributed teams, with insight into the joys and challenges of remote work across cultures

• Deep commitment to inclusion in the workplace, fluency in the broader cultural conversation and demonstrated success in leading change and building an inclusive culture

• Significant experience navigating complex international organizations, movements, or networks, especially those with different, coexisting and interdependent teams that comprise the program model (tech, product development, advocacy/policy, community engagement, etc.)

• Strategic thinker with a calm analytical approach to problem-solving and resource optimization

• Comfort with behind the scenes work, thrives on helping others be their best selves and anticipating their needs before they are spoken 

• A clear, effective communications style, including experience guiding messaging for major organizations, movements, or political candidates

• Informed cultural sensitivities, intellectual curiosity, and a deep passion for the Wikimedia mission of knowledge equity

• A track record of building consensus among large, dispersed stakeholder groups in a highly collaborative, transparent environment

• Ability to read the qualitative signals around mood and morale in a company, and create recommendations 

• Track record of growing and developing peers and junior talent

And it would be great if you had the following:

• The ability to work in a fast-moving, highly-diverse grassroots volunteer environment, while effectively prioritizing and leading a variety of activities

• Significant skilled personal use of creative, collaborative, and social platforms

• Experience working with nonprofit organizations

• Experience with the technology industry including comfort with concepts and vocabulary related to product development and engineering

• Fluency or familiarity with languages in addition to English

• Having lived or worked outside your country of origin

• Experience as a member of a volunteer community

• Familiarity with internet-related issues: open culture/free culture, the free and open source software movement, and online surveillance, privacy, and security

• Experience and/or deep knowledge with global markets (Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Asia)

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$ 230,188 to US$ 274,174 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 countries: Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Peru, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America and Uruguay.  Our non-US employees are hired through a local third party Employer of Record (EOR). 

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

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