Background and role context

rOpenSci seeks a Community Manager to support and build our vibrant and inclusive community of researchers and software engineers and help expand the scope and impact of our work in open science.

rOpenSci’s mission is to expand access to scientific data and promote a culture of reproducible research and sustainable research software, primarily in the R programming language. We do this through the development of software technical infrastructure and cultivating a community of mutual support amongst researchers and research software engineers. We’re an established community with more than a decade of history, more than 300 packages and hundreds of members having an impact on open and reproducible research. We’re looking for a new community manager to help us to consolidate our existing efforts and ensure that we’re supporting an increasingly diverse membership.

In your role as the community manager, you will be the face of the organization welcoming new members. You will help new and experienced members collaborate with each other and contribute to communal projects such as software peer-review, R infrastructure development, and internationalization. You will help guide the direction of the organization by organizing community events and partnerships and actively gathering input about member needs and emerging priorities. You will also play a key role in implementing rOpenSci’s new project empowering Community Leaders from historically excluded groups (HEGs) in collaboration with the Center for Scientific Collaboration and Community Engagement (CSCCE).

Key responsibilities

Specifically, your responsibilities will include:

• Community Engagement

  • Supporting the technical community by facilitating our online spaces (Slack, forums, Twitter), onboarding new members, and connecting researchers and developers with resources within the community.
  • Organizing peer-mentorship groups and facilitating tutorials, office hours, and 1-to-1 training between fellows, staff, and community members.

• Communications

  • Writing and cultivating a steady stream of community contributions to our blog in both technical and community topics, and maintaining our social media feeds (primarily Twitter).
  • Writing and editing documentation to help members navigate our community and technical projects.
  • Facilitating our internal staff meetings and communications.

• Program management

  • Organizing events such as community calls and co-working sessions.
  • Working with rOpenSci staff and partners to develop and implement technical, community, and leadership skills training.
  • Supporting project evaluation, reporting, and new project development.

• Outreach and advocacy

  • Acting as a liaison to other community groups and historically excluded groups (HEGs) affinity organizations.
  • Representing rOpenSci in online spaces and conferences, giving presentations, and engaging with the research community to support our mission and recruit new contributors.

About You

Here’s what we’re looking for in our community manager. Please briefly address all of these in your cover letter:

• A background in science and a passion for open science. Although prior research experience is not necessary, you must have a bachelor’s degree equivalent or greater in the sciences and an understanding of the ecosystem of scientific publication, open data, and reproducibility where we aim to make our impact.

• Demonstrated experience in community-building. Strong communication and engagement skills are a must. Show us that you know how to bring people together to achieve common goals and mutual support. This can include organizing participatory events such as workshops or hackathons, running a technical support group, and/or building community in online spaces such as forums, chat groups, social media.

• Comfort with open source and technical topics. While the position does not involve any software development, our community is primarily researchers and software engineers using the R language and tools such as Git and GitHub. These are both the core collaborative work of our community and the stack on which we base our internal processes. You must be comfortable enough to use these tools and/or learn them with the support of our team. Experience in the R language and community is valuable but not required — enthusiasm for learning and experience in other computer languages or technical communities is sufficient.

• A commitment to diversity and inclusion. This work will involve collaborating with partners and leaders in affinity groups for historically excluded communities and two-way work to facilitate peer mentorship and leadership to improve diversity and inclusion in the open-source ecosystem. A strong commitment to values of diversity, equity, and inclusion is a must. Experience as an organizer of or contributor to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs is highly valued.

• Comfort with evolving projects and providing support and advocacy in a service-oriented manner. Building community is often responsive work that requires knowing when to gather input and when to take action.

• Comfortable with remote work. We are a fully globally remote team and work asynchronously. We’ll support costs related to a home office or co-working space.

Other desired qualifications include written and spoken proficiency in Spanish, as Spanish-speaking communities are a key constituency.

About rOpenSci

rOpenSci is a not-for-profit organization with the mission to expand access to scientific data and promote a culture of reproducible research and sustainable research software. We are fiscally sponsored by the University of California, Berkeley, and NumFOCUS Inc. rOpenSci staff and community are fully remote, with core team members in North America and Europe and a global community of contributors.

Salary, Benefits, and Logistics

This is a long-term, full-time contract position with a salary range of $70,000-$85,000, commensurate with experience, skills, and local benefits requirements. Outside the United States, total compensation may need to be adjusted in accordance with legal and financial costs associated with international hiring and contracting for a United States-based entity. All qualified applicants are highly encouraged to apply, and we will make every effort to be transparent about the impact of costs on potential compensation during the interview process. Contracting will be arranged through NumFOCUS, Inc. This position reports to rOpenSci’s executive director.

The position is 100% remote. Costs related to a home office or co-working space will be supported. We provide professional development opportunities, including support for joining the next version of CSCCE’s Community Manager training program. There are no geographic restrictions but candidates must be able to meet regularly with staff in U.S. Pacific Time and have the flexibility to participate in occasional meetings and events in many global time zones. We work without fixed work hours, with both asynchronous communication and synchronous meetings, using tools such as Zoom, Slack, GitHub, and Google Workspace. The position is open until filled.

How to apply

Please apply via the form below (also found at https://bit.ly/ro-comm-mngr-application). You will be asked to upload a cover letter and a resume or CV as a single PDF document with a filename of the format “FirstName_LastName.pdf”. Please limit the letter and resume to no more than two pages in length each. Applications will receive an automated message of receipt. Only applicants selected for an interview will be contacted.