Volunteer Dev Coordinator - Needpedia

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About Us:
Needpedia is an ambitious nonprofit organization dedicated to creating an open, transparent platform where citizens and experts can collaborate on ideas for all problems facing humanity. We are in the final stages of development, will hopefully have 501(c)3 status within the next 2-3 weeks, and are actively seeking people who are interested in helping us grow. Our goal is to empower activists and experts all over the world, enabling them to work together in an organized and highly impactful way.

Position Overview:
We are seeking an experienced developer to help set up a productive and welcoming environment for future volunteer devs. You will play a key leadership role in guiding, mentoring, and coordinating volunteers who are passionate about building an open-source platform that empowers communities worldwide.

Needpedia currently has two other full time volunteers, its founder Anthony Brasher, (myself), and our lead developer Murtaza. Murtaza is generally focussed on core development necessities and objectives, he can help you with technical details. After years of training in conflict resolution and grassroots organizing I designed Needpedia, and can help you with people, conflicts, recruiting, and organizational strategy.

As the Volunteer Dev Coordinator it'll be your responsible to focus on creating structured workflows, setting up development processes, and providing technical guidance to volunteers of all skill levels. This role is critical to our mission of creating a space where developers, activists, and technical enthusiasts can work together efficiently.

Once Needpedia goes public, people will be invited to use its "layer system" to create spaces for various related fields of expertise. This means there will be countless ideas that have a "layer" added to them which is totally dedicated to devs, (many people's ideas are software related), and with our search functions devs can easily find those layers and begin evaluating and potentially begin collaborating on them. While this would not be a core component of your job, we anticipate it will be an important aspect of volunteering for a lot of devs, and serves as an example of how quickly the people you're working with might find themselves collaborating with people from other walks of life.

Key Responsibilities:

• Mentor and guide volunteer developers, ensuring they have clear tasks and goals.
• Set up development workflows, including project boards, (on Github and Needpedia), task assignments, and code review systems.
• Create a welcoming and supportive environment where volunteers can grow their skills.
• Lead the technical roadmap in collaboration with the Needpedia leadership team.
• Help define tasks and break down larger projects into manageable pieces for volunteers.
• Collaborate closely with volunteers of varying experience levels, from complete beginners to seasoned developers.
• Assist in recruiting and onboarding new volunteers into the technical team.

What We're Looking For:

• Experience in open-source project management, mentoring, or leading software development teams.
• Comfortable guiding volunteers: You should enjoy working with people of all skill levels, from novices to experts, ideally. -However, if you really want to specialize in a particular skill level we can work with that too.
• Familiarity with GitHub.
• Experience in developing workflows that promote productivity and transparency in a collaborative setting.
• Strong communication skills to ensure clarity and direction in a remote team.
• Passion for nonprofit work and creating tools that empower activists, citizens, and experts alike.

Why Join Us?
As a Lead Developer/Volunteer Coordinator, you’ll have the opportunity to:

• Be at the forefront of a platform that is designed to change how communities collaborate on global challenges.
• Work with a passionate team of volunteers who are eager to contribute to meaningful change.
• Gain valuable experience in leading a remote, open-source development team.
• Help shape the future of Needpedia and create a sustainable environment where volunteers can thrive.

How to Apply:
If you’re excited about the possibility of leading and mentoring a diverse team of developers on a project that could reshape how people collaborate, we want to hear from you! Please send your resume and a brief statement about why you’d like to contribute to Needpedia @ gmail.com (without the spaces)