About the Opportunity
This is a globally remote, full-time three-month contract budgeted for a rate in the range of US $300-500 per day. The BASICS Fellow in Python Development will work closely with an open source tool team (SecureDrop) to implement code improvements that will further long-term sustainability of the tool.
About BASICS Specialists
Internews’ BASICS project (Building Analytical and Support Infrastructure for Critical Security tools) is improving the sustainability of critical open source privacy and security tools by building ties between tool teams and the communities they serve. Many powerful and widely used open source security and privacy tools are maintained by individuals or small groups of volunteers who are often under-resourced, lack the ability to receive grant funding, and do not have the means to hire additional support to advance their project’s goals.
Internews will place skilled individuals with open source tool teams as contributing specialists who will help address tool needs. Contributing specialists will be supervised and supported by Internews and connected with a partner from the tool team(s) for mentoring and coordination.
Our Commitment to a Culture of Belonging
Internews is a very diverse organization globally. We value the perspectives that results from the inclusivity of different voices, and the foundation of our work is to support free and open communications between all people. We are an organization of dynamic, mission-driven individuals who are passionate about our core values and about supporting positive change in the world. We pride ourselves on our commitment to innovation and flexibility. We are an EEO employer and strongly encourage people from all backgrounds to apply for any of our open positions.
Scope of Work
This is a paid position on a 3-month full-time contract. The Specialist will be expected to work 40 hours per week contributing to activities such as the following:
- Review the findings of a previously completed accessibility audit of the SecureDrop application and the SecureDrop.org website, and lead the implementation of high priority improvements
- Lead the creation of a translation workflow for SecureDrop implementation
- Support improvements to build and test automation across SecureDrop components, leveraging improvements to build reciprocity
Qualifications We’re Looking For
The ideal candidate will be an intermediate-level software engineer with good working knowledge of Python and familiarity with front-end technologies (especially HTML, CSS).
Preferred Qualifications:
- Prior experience making applications conformant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
- Continuous integration and continuous delivery systems
- Tooling for translation and documentation (e.g., Weblate, ReadTheDocs)
- Open source software packaging (e.g., Debian, RPM)
- Lived experience in Internet environments facing challenges emerging from electricity and bandwidth limitations, censorship, surveillance, and other oppressive, anti-open-internet activities.
The fellow should demonstrate enthusiasm for Open Source software, excitement to learn, and commitment to freedom of speech and journalist safety.
About SecureDrop:
SecureDrop is an open source platform for secure communication between journalists and anonymous sources. SecureDrop is used by 75 media organizations around the world, from mainstream news organizations (NYT, Washington Post, Guardian, Reuters, etc.) to small investigate teams operating in countries with severe Internet freedom and human rights issues or those reporting on corruption around the world (e.g., OCRP, ICIJ, Global Witness). It is available in 20 languages.