OSI Seeks to Hire Executive Director

It is with great pride and excitement that I announce that OSI, as of today, is embarking on a search for an Executive Director.

This is the culmination of many years of work and dedication on the part of countless individuals, and should be taken as a sign that OSI is maturing as an organization. We are following in the footsteps of many organizations that have come before us: nonprofits often start as a scrappy band of volunteers, which then hire staff for day-to-day operations, and eventually the staff are empowered to lead the organization.

OSI as we know it today didn’t exist until 2013. From 1998 to 2013, the organization was volunteer-driven and operated. From 2013 to 2020, OSI hired its first full-time staff member which kept the volunteer directors in the driver’s seat while placing the responsibility for operations in the capable hands of staff. Over the last seven years, OSI sustained its core mission, shaped policy around the globe, worked tirelessly to mitigate open washing, built an alliance of more than 125 organizations representing hundreds of thousands of people, provided a home for projects like ClearlyDefined, and rolled out programs like FLOSS Desktops for Kids and Open Source Technology Management courses with Brandeis University.

We have seen incremental progress every year, with OSI expanding its programs and refining its operations. And yet, over the last couple of years, there has been broad agreement: the open source software ecosystem needs a bolder and more responsive OSI.

Hiring an Executive Director, a person who is empowered to lead, is an essential next step.

Now, let’s get down to brass tacks. This is a full-time, permanent position, for a US-based person, reporting to the Board of Directors, which comes with a competitive salary–$150K USD and up, commensurate with experience–and benefits. Though we know these processes can take a long time, we are accepting applications starting today, hope to begin interviewing candidates in late January, and aim to bring on the new Executive Director by July.

Might you be the person we’re looking for? Please, apply now! Maybe you know someone who’d be a good fit? Please, pass it on!

Help us get the word out by sharing this post with your networks. We’re accepting applications through April 15th and aiming for a July 2021 start date. Read more about what it’s like to work here, in this post. And if you have any thoughts or opinions on where we should be share this opportunity to ensure we reach a broad range of applicants, please let us know!

Please direct all inquiries to gm@opensource.org.

In service,

Josh Simmons
President
Open Source Initiative