Opportunities

Creative Commons is growing. Check this page from time to time to learn about new employment opportunities with us.
If you are interested in applying, please email a cover letter and resume to: jobs@creativecommons.org. Be sure to include the title of the position in the subject line. Thank you for your interest in our organization. Please NO phone calls, NO recruiters.

Open Positions:

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Chief Executive Officer

“We’ve had a great first decade. Come help us imagine and build a new Creative Commons for the next decade and beyond …” – Creative Commons Board of Directors

Creative Commons (CC), a San Francisco Bay area based nonprofit that promotes the global sharing and use of creativity and knowledge, seeks a visionary leader, hands-on manager, and public advocate to position the organization to support the next generation of content creators and users.

CC was founded in 2001 by a group of legal and technical experts who were determined to harness the power of the Internet to build a more vibrant commons of creativity and knowledge. In its first decade, CC pursued this mission by developing and deploying a suite of open content licenses that enables widespread sharing and reuse of creative works. The Creative Commons License Suite has been internationally embraced by content creators wishing to freely share their copyrighted works while retaining some control of how such works are used and shared by others. CC licenses enable creators to decide which rights they reserve and which rights they waive for the benefit of other creators and users.

With a $3M 2014 operating budget, an additional budget of $1.5M for fully funded projects to be completed in 2014, and a staff of 20, Creative Commons functions as the hub of a network of volunteer affiliate organizations in over 75 countries on six continents. CC licenses provide the terms of use for more than 500 million works published on the Internet. Globally accessible works include novels, blogs, photos, movies, music, educational materials, scholarly articles, and much more. These works are published by individuals, companies, galleries, libraries, archives, museums, universities, governments, intergovernmental organizations, and a range of other institutions. Millions of articles, videos, and photos licensed under CC terms can be found on popular Internet sites such as Wikipedia, YouTube, and Flickr. Institutional adopters of CC licenses include universities that are part of the OpenCourseWare consortium, Al Jazeera, Whitehouse.gov, the Public Library of Science, UNESCO, the World Bank, and many more.

With the recent completion of version 4.0 of the Creative Commons License Suite, CC is at an inflection point in its history. In the coming years CC will pursue strategies that expand the commons and make shared creativity and knowledge more accessible to creators and users alike. The organization recognizes that many paths lay open for pursuing these objectives, and the search for a new chief executive offers a timely opportunity to explore new ideas for services, products, advocacy, policies and programs that a) are consistent with CC’s mission, b) leverage CC’s competencies, and c) preserve and extend the Internet’s capacity as a platform for creating and sharing knowledge. The visionary new leader who joins CC will oversee activities that combine continued stewardship of CC’s licenses with pursuit of new opportunities. The resulting mix of CC activities under the new CEO’s leadership could include:

  • Stewarding the Creative Commons License Suite: maintaining the License Suite, supporting the affiliate network, and encouraging license adoption globally.
  • Marketing, Branding & Communications: marketing the value of CC and leveraging the CC brand as a mark of openness and sharing.
  • Increasing Adoption and Use: developing self-service license-selection and other support tools, cultivating portals for accessing CC licensed creations, and identifying new ways to attract contributors to and users of the commons.
  • Pursuing Initiatives Focused on Specific Content Verticals: building on traditional areas of strength in education, science, culture, and governmental information to foster adoption of the Creative Commons License Suite and community values in a variety of vertical content markets through programs directly managed by CC, pursued in partnership with others, or incubated by CC and then spun off.
  • Advocating for Commons-Promoting Policy: identifying and supporting partners, policies and practices that are important to the ecosystem of sharing and reuse of creative works.
  • Standard Setting: realizing CC’s potential to act as a standard setting organization that both non-profit and commercial enterprises across multiple verticals look to as the source of best practices for sharing content on commons-promoting, interoperable terms.

In developing the activities that will build on CC’s accomplishments and define its next decade, the new CEO will be supported by an expanded Board of Directors and Advisory Council that will provide both continuity and new capacity to raise revenue, shape advocacy and other programs, improve financial management of the organization, and connect with CC’s global community. With support from these groups of expert volunteers, the CEO will lead staff and all CC programs and advocacy while creating a stable, diverse and sustainable base of funding for the organization.

Creative Commons ultimately measures its success by the vitality of the global commons, which depends on the amount, usefulness, and actual use of shared creativity and knowledge. The CEO will leverage the knowledge, resources, experience and capabilities of the organization and its global network to promote the health of the commons and ensure that the Internet continues to develop as a place of innovation, collaboration and creation for the benefit of all people.

How to Apply

Click here for a complete description of responsibilities, ideal experience, and qualifications for the CEO.

For more information please contact:
Lisa Grossman
(650)323-3565 or lisag@moppenheim.com

Mark Oppenheim
(415)762-2640 or marko@moppenheim.com

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Regional Coordinator, The Arab World

Creative Commons is a global nonprofit organization that enables the sharing of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools. Our easy-to-use copyright licenses provide a simple, standardized way to give the public permission to share and use your creative work on the conditions of your choice.

We’re looking for a part time contractor to assist the CC Global Network team with organizational planning, strategic communications, community building, and fundraising in the Arab World in support of the organization’s mission, goals and objectives. Primary focuses of the position in 2014 include affiliate support, community development, and coordinating collaborative projects.

Essential duties and responsibilities

  • Support and encourage Creative Commons’ Arab World affiliate teams, including facilitating the accomplishment of objectives expressed in the Affiliate Memoranda of Understanding
  • Cultivate and support sustainable regional initiatives that advance the organization’s mission
  • Advise CC and affiliates on regional resource needs
  • Identify and assist with regional fundraising opportunities
  • Foster relationships with region’s professional organizations, advocacy groups, and other individuals and community organizations to promote use of Creative Commons licenses and public domain tools
  • Identify and foster new potential affiliate teams, particularly in priority areas and jurisdictions
  • Represent Creative Commons in regional and international fora
  • Promote consistent messaging; publicize CC-related activities
  • Encourage coordinated and harmonized translation of CC materials, where appropriate
  • Facilitate planning and implementation of a regional web presence
  • Field requests for information and interviews with key stakeholders and commentators
  • Identify and coordinate opportunities for policy statements relevant to region and/or globally
  • Co-organize regional meetings, when appropriate, and play a key role in planning global meetings
  • Facilitate and support self-organization and the development of inter- and intra-regional governance and leadership
  • Coordinate the preparation of an annual regional roadmap in collaboration with CC and affiliates in the region (the regional roadmap describes goals, objectives, and risks in the region; it includes strategic events and partnerships, fundraising opportunities, license and tool adoption, community building activities, and inter-regional activities)
  • Prepare regular reports regarding objectives, successes, and challenges

Skills and qualifications

  • Lives or travels frequently within the region
  • Ability to communicate in Arabic and English required. Competency in French a plus.
  • Familiarity with the open movement and issues relating to copyright, technology, and creativity on the web
  • Community management experience a plus
  • Ability to work independently, as part of a team, and across teams
  • Confidence in representing the organization in a wide range of public fora
  • Exceptional management skills including time, project, and staff
  • Excellent writing, editing, and verbal communication skills
  • Ability to respond in a flexible and time-sensitive fashion to requests and assignments

Education requirements

Four-year college degree or equivalent experience; advanced degree preferred.

Experience requirements

3-5 years of involvement in free/open culture movement, ideally within the CC affiliate network.

Job environment

Located remotely, working in the Middle East region. Position will require travel, including international and occasional on-site visits to Creative Commons headquarters in Mountain View, California, USA.

How to Apply

Please email your cover letter and resume to “jobs@creativecommons.org” with the subject heading of “Regional Coordinator Application.”

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Web Developer/ Systems Administrator

Creative Commons is looking for a full time Web Developer/Systems Administrator to develop and maintain the sites and systems that power CC on the Web.

This is a unique role which requires a focus on building scalable, rock-solid architecture to power our high-traffic websites, as well as an ability to move higher in the stack to implement new features or develop new websites and services.

Creative Commons has an office in Mountain View, CA and some staff that live in other states and countries. This position is open to both candidates located in Mountain View and candidates living within 4 hours of the US/Canada pacific time zone (GMT – 8).

This role works closely with the rest of the Creative Commons staff to support their IT needs, and must be able to prioritize tasks and requirements coming from different stakeholders including Creative Commons affiliates and community members who depend on or help maintain the sites.

Essential duties and responsibilities

  • Maintenance of core server infrastructure, both physical and virtual
  • Development, testing, and documentation of websites and web services
  • Support, tuning, maintenance, and documentation of our operating processes including builds, code deployment, patch management, and troubleshooting of issues
  • Monitoring services and writing automation tools to enable robust, scalable services
  • Handle problems from communication to implementing solutions, to post-mortems and process changes to prevent recurrence
  • Help coordinate on-site and remote desktop support occasionally, as needed

Skill Requirements

  • Demonstrated proficiency in HTML, CSS, Javascript and PHP
  • Comfortable with LAMP stack, and common LAMP apps (WordPress, MediaWiki, etc)
  • Experience & passion supporting a production infrastructure
  • Solid scripting knowledge (Python, Ruby, Perl, shell)
  • Passion to automate and document everything
  • Ability to troubleshoot complex issues
  • Knowledge of network services and protocols (SMTP, DNS, LDAP, etc)

Preferred Skills

  • Config management and orchestration experience (Puppet, Chef, CFEngine, etc.)
  • Experience deploying and optimizing services on AWS
  • Track record of participation in open source communities
  • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science (but real-world experience is preferred)

Work Environment

  • Collaborative, community-building atmosphere
  • Office is an open pod setting in downtown Mountain View, walking distance to a myriad of restaurants, and easily accessible via car and public transportation
  • We have a shared kitchen, catered lunches a few times per month, and host a monthly happy hour for staff and guests
  • CC provides everything you need to do your best work which includes ergonomically sound equipment and a flexible work schedule
  • Travel required (including international)

How to Apply

Please email your cover letter and resume to “jobs@creativecommons.org” with the subject heading of “Web Developer/Systems Administrator Application.”