DSF calls for applicants for a Django Fellow

The Django Software Foundation is announcing a call for Django Fellow applications. A Django Fellow is a contractor, paid by the Django Software Foundation, who dedicates time to maintain the Django framework.

The Fellowship program was started in 2014 as a way to dedicate high-quality and consistent resources to the maintenance of Django. The Django Software Foundation currently supports two Fellows –Natalia Bidart and Sarah Boyce– and has approved funding for a new full-time Fellow. This position will be initially for a period of one year, but may be extended depending on fundraising levels.

Beyond keeping Django running, a fellow is a representative of Django itself. They embody the welcoming culture of Django and aid the community to progress the framework. Fellows are often called upon to speak at Django conferences and events.

They are also usually leading Django Sprints occurring in conferences or other setups. Hence a Django Fellow often engages in both informal and formal mentorship.

Responsibilities

Fellow duties include (but are not limited to):

• Monitoring security reports and ensuring security issues are acknowledged and responded to promptly
• Fixing release blockers and helping to backport fixes to these and security issues
• Ensure timely releases including being a release manager for a new version of Django
• Triaging tickets on Trac
• Reviewing and merging pull requests
• Answering contributor questions on the Forum
• Helping new Django contributors land patches and learn our philosophy

Requirements

A Django fellow reviews a very large amount of Django contributions. This requires knowledge in every aspect of web development that the Django framework touches. This turns out to be an intimidatingly-large list of technical topics, many of which are listed below. It’s not our expectation that you come into the job knowing everything on this list! We hope you’ll have solid experience in a few of these topics, particularly some of the “core” technologies important to Django (Python, relational databases, HTTP). But we fully expect that you’ll learn most of this on the job. A willingness to learn, and a demonstrated history of doing so, is more important than comprehensive knowledge.

The technical topics you can expect to work on includes (and is not limited to):

• SQL and Databases: SQLite, MySQL, Postgres, Oracle
• Technical Documentation
• Javascript
• CSS
• Semantic HTML
• Accessibility
• UI/UX design (Web and CLI)
• Python async
• Python features (and versions), compatibility matrix, etc.
• Everything around HTTP
• Security best practices

There are also:

• Complex processes which need adhering to
• Multiple discussions which need opinions and direction
• Requirements for both formal and informal mentorship

And required professional skills such as:

• Conflict resolution
• Time management and prioritization expertise
• Ability to focus in short periods of time and do substantial context switches
• Self-awareness to recognize their own limits and reach out for help
• Relationship-building and coordination with Django teams, working groups, and potentially external parties.
• Tenacity, patience, compassion and empathy are essential

Therefore a Django Fellow requires the skills and knowledge of a senior generalist engineer with extensive experience in Python and Django. Open source experience, especially in contributing to Django, is a big plus.

Being a Django contributor isn't a prerequisite for this position — we can help get you up to speed. We'll consider applications from anyone with a proven history of working with either the Django community or another similar open-source community. While no geographical location is required, we have a slight preference for timezones between around -8 and +3 UTC to allow for better working hours to overlap the current fellows.

If you're interested in applying for the position, please email us at fellowship-committee@djangoproject.com describing why you would be a good fit along with details of your relevant experience and community involvement. Lastly, please include at least one recommendation.

The current hourly rate for a fellow is $82.26 USD.

Applicants will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Details of Django and/or other open-source contributions
• Details of community support in general
• Understanding of the position
• Clarity, formality, and precision of communications
• Strength of recommendation(s)

Applications will be open until midnight AoE, 1 July, 2025, with the expectation that the successful candidate will start around August 1, 2025.