Lead Product Manager - Abstract Wikipedia

Employment Type: [Not specified] Location Type: [Not specified] Salary: [Not specified]

Position Overview

The Wikimedia Foundation is seeking a collaborative Lead Product Manager to support its groundbreaking Abstract Wikipedia project. This initiative aims to enhance access to encyclopedic knowledge by enabling more individuals to contribute and share information across a multitude of languages. Abstract Wikipedia envisions a future where Wikipedia articles are created in an abstract form and then translated into any language through a community-edited natural language system. The technical foundation for this vision is Wikifunctions, an open-source catalog of code functions.

This is a unique opportunity to shape the future of the internet and significantly expand access to free knowledge. The Lead Product Manager will be instrumental in translating the vision of Abstract Wikipedia into tangible impact, working with an international team distributed across time zones UTC-4 to UTC+1.

Responsibilities

• Develop a product roadmap that balances short-term execution with long-term strategic goals.
• Build alignment among stakeholders and the community to define and execute the product vision and strategy.
• Own the end-to-end product lifecycle, from ideation through launch and iteration.
• Utilize qualitative and quantitative methods to inform decisions, identify opportunities, and measure impact.
• Deeply understand community needs and release features iteratively to deliver value and validate hypotheses.
• Establish and refine product development processes and best practices.
• Apply structured thinking to product discovery, prioritization, and decision-making.
• Lead the prioritization of new products, services, and the product backlog.
• Communicate trade-offs effectively to drive product decisions and advance the team.
• Communicate a clear product vision to both internal and external audiences.

Skills and Experience

Required:

• Minimum of 7 years of product management experience in software development.
• A structured yet flexible approach to product development, capable of adapting methodologies to team and organizational needs.
• Proven experience in developing and refining product management frameworks, demonstrating a deep understanding of product strategy, execution, and decision-making.
• A track record of breaking down ambiguous projects into clear, actionable tasks with a bias toward action.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly and proactively communicate plans and results to stakeholders and collaborators.
• Excellent follow-up, attention to detail, time management, and project management skills.
• Ability to interact effectively and build productive working relationships with management, peers, and communities.
• Interest in and ability to work remotely with a distributed team across different time zones.
• Comfort with evolving requirements and priorities in a dynamic environment.

Additionally, preferred experience includes:

• Experience with natural language processing, computational linguistics, or knowledge management technologies.
• Experience with multilingual products or platforms, including a good understanding of internationalization and localization.
• Experience editing Wikimedia projects.

About the Wikimedia Foundation

The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that operates Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia free knowledge projects. Our vision is a world where every single human can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. We believe that everyone has the potential to contribute to our shared knowledge and should have free access to it. We host Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects.