I received a couple of questions that I respond to publicly as they may be questions by others as well. (Please continue asking specific questions privately in this case and if appropriate, I will respond in this public thread.)
Q. How flexible is the start date? If I can only start in September 2026, will you consider my application? A. Generally speaking, we will not proceed with applications where the applicants expect a late start date. We need someone in this position soon and the start date is set based on that. That being said, if the expected delay on start time is within a few weeks and everything else in the application looks good to us and we do not have competing applications, we will consider applicants with slightly later start dates.
Q. How hard are the requirements for "3 or more years of strategic technical leadership ..." and "PhD degree and a minimum of five years of work experience in a related field"? A. I have learned that hiring successfully partly relies on being able to make trade-off decisions about the candidates and I expect this hiring to be no different. As a result, it is hard to answer this question without seeing the full application. That being said, I can say that the principal research scientist is a very senior and strategic role and if in the list of skills and experiences you find multiple items that you currently don't have, this role is likely not the right role for you at this time (a research scientist, or a senior research scientist may be more appropriate). If you are in doubt, you can always apply. Our Recruiting team reviews every application and we can make that determination on our end. If you are in the early stages of your career and want advice on how to build towards such a role in the future, feel welcome to schedule a one-on-one office hour https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Research/Office_hours with us. I also encourage you to check out the list of People https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:People active in the Wikimedia research community and reach out to them for tips and advice. I have found this community supportive of the growth of earlier stage researchers.
Q. Do you currently have another position open in the Research team that I can apply to? A. Not at this point. When we have openings, we notify this list. You can also watch https://wikimediafoundation.org/jobs/
Best, Leila
On Mon, Feb 9, 2026 at 11:01 AM Leila Zia lzia@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hi all,
I hope this email finds you well.
We are hiring a Principal Research Scientist at the Wikimedia Foundation's Research team for the area of knowledge integrity.
Job posting: https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/7597104 Application deadline: March 8, 2026
Please spread the word in your network or apply if interested. Please note that if you have applied for the research scientist position which was shared https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wiki-research-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/I34FXWDOLNKY7SI3SRKDPJVZ26FUHFTR/ in December 2025, you are automatically considered for this new position and there is no need to apply again. We will reach out to you if we need additional information from you.
If you have questions, don't hesitate to reach out.
Best, Leila
-- Leila Zia Head of Research Wikimedia Foundation