The Free Software Foundation (FSF), a Boston-based 501(c)(3) charity with a world wide mission to protect freedoms critical to the computer-using public, seeks a motivated and organized tech-friendly Boston-based individual to be its full-time outreach and communication coordinator.

This position, reporting to the executive director, works closely with our campaigns, licensing, and technical staff, as well as our board of directors, to edit, publish, and promote high-quality, effective materials both digital and printed.

These materials are a critical part of advancing the FSF's work to support the GNU Project, free software adoption, free media formats, and freedom on the Internet; and to oppose DRM, software patents, and proprietary software.

Some of the position's more important responsibilities include:

stewarding the online publication and editing process for all outreach staff; including copyediting, formatting, posting, and maintaining material on our Web sites; and sending out e-mail messages to our lists;

producing and improving our monthly e-mail newsletter the Free Software Supporter;

improving the effectiveness of our audio and video materials use;

editing and building our biannual printed Bulletin;

promoting our work and the work of others in the area of computing freedom on social networking sites;

helping to produce fundraising materials and assisting with our fundraising drives;

cultivating the community around the LibrePlanet wiki and network, including the annual conference;

working with and encouraging volunteers; and

being an approachable, humble, and friendly representative of the FSF to our worldwide community of existing supporters and the broader public, both in person and online.

A successful candidate will have strong editing skills, especially in the area of copyediting, and will take pride in working with a team to create consistently polished and effective materials.

While this is a job for a person who is passionate about technology and its social impact, it is not primarily a technical position. The main technical requirement is a willingness to learn to use many new and possibly unfamiliar pieces of software, with a positive attitude. That being said, experience with CiviCRM and GNU/Linux will be considered a big plus, and experience with any of the following technologies should be mentioned: Plone, Drupal, Ikiwiki, Subversion, Git, CVS, Ssh, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, Emacs, LaTeX, Inkscape, GIMP, Markdown, or MediaWiki.

Because the FSF works globally and seeks to have our materials distributed in as many languages as possible, multilingual candidates will be noticed. English, German, French, Spanish, Mandarin, Malagasy, and a smattering of Japanese are represented among current FSF staff.

With our small staff of twelve, each person makes a clear contribution. We work hard, but offer a humane and fun work environment.

Benefits and salary

The job must be worked on-site at the FSF's office in downtown Boston.

This is a union position. The salary is fixed at $51,646.40 and is non-negotiable. Other benefits include:

full family health coverage through Blue Cross/Blue Shield's HMO Blue program,

subsidized dental plan,

four weeks of paid vacation annually,

seventeen paid holidays annually,

public transit commuting cost reimbursement,

403(b) program through TIAA-CREF,

yearly cost-of-living pay increases, and

potential for an annual performance bonus.

Application instructions

Applications must be submitted via email to hiring@fsf.org. The email must contain the subject line, "Outreach and Communications Coordinator". A complete application should include:

resume,

cover letter,

writing sample (1000 words or less),

links to published work online, and

three or more edits you would suggest to this job posting.

All materials must be in a free format (such as plain text, PDF, or OpenDocument, and not Microsoft Word). Email submissions that do not follow these instructions will probably be overlooked. No phone calls, please.

Applications will be considered on a rolling basis until the position is filled. To ensure consideration, apply before 10:00am EST on Wednesday, July 1st.

The FSF is an equal opportunity employer and will not discriminate against any employee or application for employment on the basis of race, color, marital status, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, handicap, or any other legally protected status recognized by federal, state or local law. We value diversity in our workplace.