Lead Technical Accountant

Summary

The Wikimedia Foundation is seeking a Lead Technical Accountant to join our Accounting team, reporting to the Senior Manager of Accounting and Financial Reporting within Finance and Administration. In this role, you will serve as a key subject matter expert on accounting policy, financial reporting, and internal controls. As a Lead Technical Accountant, you are responsible for providing technical accounting guidance, ensuring our accounting policies remain clear, current, and consistently applied. You are also responsible for leading key components of our annual financial statement audit, Form 990 financial reporting, and internal controls over financial reporting.

You will partner closely with colleagues across Finance and Administration, Legal, Advancement, and other functions to ensure high-quality financial reporting for both the Wikimedia Foundation and the Wikimedia Endowment standalone legal entities.

You are responsible for:

• Simplifying complex financial accounting concepts into actionable strategies and clear guidance for stakeholders.
• Maintaining and improving the Foundation’s accounting and financial governance policies and procedures to enhance the quality of financial reporting and support adherence to generally accepted accounting principles.
• Leading key components of the Foundation’s and the Wikimedia Endowment’s annual financial audits, including preparing audit support schedules and coordinating responses to auditor inquiries.
• Supporting the preparation of the Foundation’s and the Wikimedia Endowment’s Form 990, including gathering data, reviewing schedules, and ensuring information is accurate and complete.
• Researching, evaluating. and documenting conclusions on new or emerging accounting standards, selecting appropriate evaluation methodologies and criteria, and leading cross-functional implementation by designing the adoption approach, establishing timelines, and guiding the accounting team and impacted departments through execution.
• Reviewing and enhancing internal controls over financial reporting, including documenting controls, processes, identifying gaps, and recommending improvements.
• Leading process improvement projects related to accounting and internal controls, independently assessing operational, regulatory, systems, and resource constraints, designing and implementing sustainable enhancements to workflows, documentation, and control environments in partnership with Accounting and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Advising departments on revenue and expense recognition matters by evaluating accounting implications and providing clear guidance.
• Supporting treasury and investment operations, including monitoring cash and investment activity and performing cash forecasting to support liquidity planning and decision-making.

Skills and Experience:

• Active CPA license required (or equivalent international certification with strong US GAAP experience).
• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance plus 8+ years of relevant experience, including experience in public accounting.
• Experience supporting audited financial statements and/or Form 990 preparation strongly preferred.
• Solid understanding of US GAAP, nonprofit accounting, and core financial reporting concepts.
• Proven ability to assess accounting issues and communicate recommendations clearly and concisely.
• Experience collaborating with Accounting, Finance, Legal, and other key business partners.
• Strong time-management skills with the ability to plan, prioritize, and handle multiple deadlines.
• Experience with Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), including designing, documenting, and testing internal controls.
• High attention to detail and a proactive, solution-oriented approach.
• Proven ability to document accounting conclusions in technical accounting memos, and to draft, maintain, and update accounting policies and internal controls in alignment with COSO standards.

Qualities that are important to us:

• You enjoy collaborating with a range of stakeholders and value knowledge-sharing and transparency.
• You can translate complex financial concepts into clear, accessible language for non-experts.
• You are committed to the Foundation’s mission and excited to support it through strong financial stewardship.
• You are comfortable with ambiguity and adaptable to a rapidly evolving environment.
• You thrive in a results-oriented, collaborative culture.
• You are a proactive problem solver and self-starter.
• You can balance multiple priorities in a diverse, global, and remote-first environment.

About the Wikimedia Foundation

The Wikimedia Foundation is the nonprofit organization that operates Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia free knowledge projects. Our vision is a world in which every single human can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. We believe that everyone has the potential to contribute something to our shared knowledge, and that everyone should be able to access that knowledge freely. We host Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects, build software experiences for reading, contributing, and sharing Wikimedia content, support the volunteer communities and partners who make Wikimedia possible, and advocate for policies that enable Wikimedia and free knowledge to thrive.

The Wikimedia Foundation is a charitable, not-for-profit organization that relies on donations. We receive donations from millions of individuals around the world, with an average donation of about $15. We also receive donations through institutional grants and gifts. The Wikimedia Foundation is a United States 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization with offices in San Francisco, California, USA.

The Wikimedia Foundation is a remote-first organization with staff members including contractors based 40+ countries. Salaries at the Wikimedia Foundation are set in a way that is competitive, equitable, and consistent with our values and culture. The compensation for a successful applicant will be based on their skills, experience and location.