Handbook/Generic Team Roles

We have a range of common roles within the OKFN team and the generic role profiles for these are described here. These also act as descriptions of roles which people may choose to speculatively apply for via http://okfn.org/jobs

Project Manager Job Description
The project manager will:
 * Represent the project at meetings with partners and clients
 * Manage the project team, keeping in touch with developers and the wider community
 * Plan iterations with developers of project work and handle reporting (and track issues)Ensure project documents are complete, current, and stored appropriately
 * Communicate project progress to partners and clients as well as the OKF community and wider public
 * Manage project budgets
 * Track team hours and expenses

Person Specification
The OKFN is a rapidly-expanding, radically-thinking group of people passionate about open data and collaborative working. You are:


 * A leader who is both motivated and motivational
 * Excellent at methodical multi-tasking
 * Quick to identify consequences and cost appropriately
 * Aware of the potential of inter-project dependencies
 * Particular about communicating with clients and colleagues
 * Keen to engage interested parties
 * In pursuit of better ways of working
 * Some technical knowledge/experience required for current roles.
 * Experience with coding (especially with web-applications and relational databases) would be a plus but not required.

Community Coordinator Job Description
Someone highly articulate, enthusiastic and energetic who is willing to travel. While familiarity with email, blogs and Twitter is desirable, no specific technical knowledge is required. Being able to learn quickly, converse intelligently and evangelise convincingly are much more important than any detailed background knowledge about open knowledge and open data policies.

Duties are negotiable, but projected to include things like:
 * Representing the Open Knowledge Foundation and its various projects and activities at events around the world
 * Expanding and strengthening the open knowledge community around the world – including public officials, civic society organisations, developers, data journalists and others
 * Organising and facilitating events, workshops and meetings about open knowledge – bringing together key stakeholders from different areas
 * Following key developments on mailing lists, blogs and Twitter – and inviting people and organisations to participate in  relevant projects, activities and events
 * Blogging about open knowledge around the world – and soliciting for guest blog posts from key stakeholders
 * Connecting people, groups and projects with common interests – and encouraging them to collaborate
 * Promoting key principles and values in the open knowledge community. Such as legal/technical standards for open data  (e.g. ), and the importance of open source tools and infrastructure.
 * Building the OKF around the world – including helping to set up and encourage others to set up local groups and chapters as well as media relations.
 * Doing unexpected stuff spontaneously – like helping to organise something you’ve never done before, to connect people that you’ve never met before, or to pitch something you’ve never thought of before

Person specification

 * Self-driven, organised and a good communicator.
 * Comfortable running a number of projects at the same time, speaking at events and travelling – sometimes at short notice.

Python Web Developer Job Description
The OKF is looking for Python web developers interested in open data to work on CKAN.

CKAN is a web-based product built in Python using SQLAlchemy, Pylons and other libraries. It allows users to submit, search for and find open datasets. As well as powering The Data Hub, CKAN is the catalogue behind the UK Government’s high profile data.gov.uk website and the European Union’s Public Data site. It also powers over 20 other catalogues around the world including those in Norway, Holland and Finland, with more on the way.

If you are a really good web developer with a keen interest in open data, and enjoy working in Python on open source products, we’d love to  hear from you. As well as CKAN and depending on your skills you might also like to work on:


 * The WebStore – our SQLite based solution for allowing people to process data online and plot the results
 * The DataHub – our public catalogue which will include more social features
 * Geospatial features – such as plotting data on maps, and harvesting geospatial data from other sources
 * Drupal integration

Requirements

 * Web app development experience in python (experience with SQLAlchemy, Pylons, Flask highly desirable)PostgreSQLLinux (preferably Ubuntu)
 * Enthusiasm about open data and open knowledge
 * Bonus points for any of these (not essential though): DrupalGeo-spatial work (OpenLayers, OGC standards, CSW servers, WMS servers etc)Experience with agile methodsSysadmin or Devops skillsDebian packaging skillsRedis, Solr, RabbitMQSemantic web/RDFExpert JavaScript, jQuery and CSS
 * We are looking to hire solid developers, particularly those who take pleasure in finishing code and seeing it deployed.

Other Info
We are flexible on employee versus contractor but we normally contract.

Telecommuting London preferred but telecommuting OK (we have teams in Edinburgh, Berlin and elsewhere) but you must be  available to participate in CKAN core meetings 10:30am UK time every  Monday.

Designer / Developer with UX Skills Job Description
We’re looking to hire a Designer / Developer with UX skills to join the CKAN team at the Open Knowledge Foundation. We’re a small group working on a fantastic product that enables communities and open  governments to share and manage data.

CKAN is the leading open source data hub software that powers several govenrment sites including the UK  government’s open data portaland community hubs such as the. With lots of powerful functionality for cataloging and managing data our next  focus is on creating a better user experience for the CKAN  functionality.

About the role

 * You’ll be our first dedicated front end designer / developer. Ideally, you’ll be excited to work in open data on an open source  project which is being widely used.
 * You’re keen for the chance to direct the overall user experience of a whole product, overseeing everything from navigation and information  architecture to the UI on individual features and look of the site.
 * You’ll help us to collect, understand and implement user feedback to help data wranglers and publishers become more productive using CKAN.

Responsibilities

 * Own the look and feel of CKAN product and the instance
 * Create the user interface of new features as well as upgrading old ones (producing mockups and designs then implementing using HTML/CSS)
 * Improve the information architecture and user flows through the site
 * Assist in theming of new CKAN instances
 * Consult on creating personalised themes for clients

Experience
Required: Great JavaScript, CSS, HTML, JQuery skillsRequired: Development of information architecture and user experience (UX) for webapps Desirable: Graphic design skills (e.g. Photoshop etc)

Open Access Systems Personnel
See: http://wiki.lib.sun.ac.za/index.php/SUNScholar/Capacity_Building