Software Engineer – Full Stack – Volunteer
Engineering Team
Position Description
Translation Commons is dedicated to preserving and promoting linguistic diversity by providing digital support for all the world’s languages, ensuring that all linguists, languages, and cultures can fully participate on the internet. Our mission is crucial for unrepresented languages to thrive in a global communications network. We are looking for a versatile and dedicated Software Engineer – Full Stack to join our team. This pivotal volunteer role will involve contributing to the entire spectrum of our Language Preservation Platform, from database management and backend logic to intuitive frontend user interfaces. You will play a crucial part in building and maintaining systems that empower country governments and UNESCO to visualize, update, and collaborate on endangered and native languages. This is a volunteer and remote opportunity, offering a chance to make a significant impact on global linguistic diversity.
Key Responsibilities
-
Database Administrator
- Design, maintain, and optimize scalable database schemas for structured language data.
- Collaborate with linguists and engineers to model language metadata and reporting metrics.
- Ensure data accuracy, consistency, and compliance with language documentation standards.
- Develop automated pipelines to ingest, validate, and normalize language data from governments and institutions.
- Provide internal documentation and training for volunteers contributing to the database. Backend Developer
- Architect and implement RESTful APIs for interacting with language, region, and contributor data.
- Implement authentication and access control for different user roles (e.g., government, linguist, contributor).
- Integrate third-party services (e.g., UNESCO APIs, Firebase, analytics tools) into backend workflows.
- Implement logic for language vitality classification (e.g., endangered, extinct) using defined criteria or AI tools.
- Collaborate with the database team on schema evolution and backend performance optimization. Frontend Developer
- Build intuitive and accessible user interfaces to view, search, and manage language data by country or region.
- Create interactive data visualizations (e.g., maps, charts, filters) to showcase language status and trends.
- Develop multilingual interfaces to support collaboration from diverse global communities.
- Implement real-time updates and UI responsiveness by integrating with backend APIs.
- Champion accessibility, responsiveness, and internationalization in UI/UX design.
Desired Skills and Experience
-
Database Management
- Proficiency with MongoDB (preferred) and SQL databases.
- Experience with Python scripting for data transformation, validation, or ETL pipelines. Backend Development
- Experience with Node.js and Express.js.
- Strong understanding of RESTful API design, middleware, and security best practices. Frontend Development
- Solid experience with React.js, along with HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript.
- Familiarity with frontend libraries for data visualization (e.g., D3.js, Chart.js, Leaflet). General Software Engineering
- Strong skills in data modeling, schema design, and scalable application architecture.
- Detail-oriented mindset focused on data integrity and code maintainability.
- Understanding of accessibility, internationalization (i18n), and responsive web design principles.
Nice To Have
- Experience with Firebase, GraphQL, or real-time databases.
- Interest or background in linguistics, language technology, or digital humanities.
- Familiarity with Agile development in distributed/volunteer teams.
- Prior contributions to open-source or nonprofit tech initiatives.
