Wikimedia Chapters Association/Election committee/Secretary General job description

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Due to recent developments, we have put our search for an Secretary-General temporarily on hold. Updates follow.

The Chapters Association (CA) will be an umbrella organization for Wikimedia chapters established in various regions around the world. The association represents the common interests of those chapters within the Wikimedia movement.

One of its goals is to set, review and enforce standards of accountability and participation among its members. The association will facilitate the exchange of experiences, ideas, and knowledge between chapters and assist them in their organizational development and to develop common programs and projects.

To enhance external communication, coordinate the Wikimedia movement and represent its chapters on official occasions, CA is looking for an experienced and motivated person to become the full-time

Secretary-General (f/m)[edit]

of the Chapters Association. CA is incorporated in Geneva, however depending on your place of residence a relocation might not be necessary.

Job description[edit]

The Secretary-General is to be head of the CA´s Secretariat as defined by the CA´s charter. The Secretariat performs the executive powers of the Association. The Secretary-General will be elected by the Council. The other Members of the Secretariat are appointed by the Secretary-General, with the consent of the Council. The Secretariat reports to the Council on the Association's activities and has the right to submit proposals for Council resolutions.

He/She will be responsible for:

  • Defining the organizational structure, publishing job offers and hiring the officers of the secretariat;
  • Building the strategic plan for the association;
  • Assuring the financial stability of the organization;
  • Coordinating between all association members;
  • Building annual program plans to achieve the CA mission;
  • Handling all formal administrative tasks including finance, communications, legal and technical;
  • and preparing the assemblies of the CA council.

Desired personal traits[edit]

  • Leader – the selected Secretary-General will have to build the organization from its earliest stages according to the outlines set by the CA council.
  • Administrator – some of the tasks of the Secretary-General would be of administrative nature. She/He would have to write detailed program plans, review by-laws, financial reports, program plans and program reports of other organizations.
  • Excellent communication skills – one of the the Secretary-General's primary tasks would be to communicate with member chapters. Those chapters are dispersed in different regions of the worlds representing various cultural habits. The selected Secretary-General would have to be multi-culturally-minded to work effectively with these partners.
  • Willing and able to travel world-wide.
  • Proven experience with building and managing a large diverse organization.
  • Comfortable working with people at all levels of the organization, including community members and volunteers.
  • Experience in other like-minded/ international/ volunteer-driven/ non-profit/ peer-review-driven organizations would be considered as an advantage.
  • The ideal candidate will be hard-working, creative, highly-motivated, and able to operate and effectively manage multiple cultural contexts, time-zones and expectations
  • Incredible diplomatic problem-solving skills in an international environment as well as the ability to deal comfortably and efficiently with ambiguity and an ever changing environment
  • Must be fluent in English; skill in other languages would be considered as an advantage.

Great to have[edit]

  • University degree
  • Experience within the Wikimedia movement. However, according to CA's charter a Member of the Secretariat cannot be a Council Member or hold a position in a Chapter or in the Wikimedia Foundation.
  • Love working with a highly collaborative, consensus oriented environment

Competitive salary package. Please send your cover letter, full CV, salary expectations and last two references in one .pdf file to: chaptersassociation@wikimedia.ch
In case of any questions, please also use email and the address given above.
Publication date: 26.01.2013 - Application deadline: 15.02.2013

Seat and postal address: Wikimedia Switzerland, 8008 Zurich
Office: Wikimedia CH, Escaliers du Marché 2, CH-1003 Lausanne
Web: www.wikimedia.ch