Join the LibreOffice Team as a Paid Developer focusing on RTL/CTL/CJK languages, full-time, remote (m/f/d)

The Document Foundation's team

Love LibreOffice development? Want to turn your passion into a paid job? We are The Document Foundation (TDF), the non-profit entity behind LibreOffice. We’re passionate about free software, the open source culture and about bringing new companies and people with fresh ideas into our community.

To improve language support features in LibreOffice, the office productivity suite for over 200 million users around the globe, we’re searching for a developer (m/f/d) to start work (from home) as soon as possible. This is what you’ll do:

  • Work on the LibreOffice codebase (mostly C++)
  • Focus (initially) on right-to-left (RTL), complex text layout (CTL) and CJK (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) languages in the LibreOffice code
  • Fix bugs, implement new features, and improve language support in LibreOffice

What we want from you:

  • Very good C++ development skills
  • Proven experience working on either RTL/CTL and/or CJK topics, or both
  • Good understanding of Unicode and internationalization (i18n)
  • Good understanding of text rendering and font issues
  • Proven contributions to FOSS projects (show us your repos!)
  • Good team-playing skills
  • Experience with LibreOffice development is a plus

Speaking and writing English is a mandatory requirement. Another language (for example: German, Spanish or Arabic) is a bonus.

A previously established relationship within the developer community, as well as with other teams such as QA is a plus, but it is not mandatory at the start and can be achieved during the work itself.

As always, TDF will give some preference to individuals who have previously shown a commitment to TDF, including but not limited to members of TDF. Not being a member does not exclude any applicants from consideration.

Join us!

All jobs at The Document Foundation are remote jobs, where you can work from your home office or a co-working space. The work time during the day is flexible, apart from a few fixed meetings. The role is offered as full-time (ideally 40 hours per week). Candidates that are resident in (or willing to relocate to) Germany will be employed directly by TDF. Otherwise, external payroll services will be used if available in the candidate’s country of residence.

Are you interested? Get in touch! We aim to schedule the first interview within two weeks of your application. You can also approach us any time for an informal chat, to learn about the role or in case of questions.

TDF welcomes applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, gender, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age. Don’t be afraid to be different, and stay true to yourself. We like you that way! 😊

We’re looking forward to receiving your application, including information about you (your resume), when you are available for the job, and of course your financial expectations. Pointing to public repositories with your code is very helpful. Please send us an e-mail to developers@documentfoundation.org no later than January 8, 2024. If you haven’t received feedback by February 9, 2024, your application could not be considered.

Also note: we only accept applications from the applicant, and not from any intermediary. We do not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to any recruiting alias or employee.

Video: What is The Document Foundation, the non-profit behind LibreOffice?

At our recent LibreOffice Conference 2023 in Bucharest, The Document Foundation’s Membership Committee gave a talk about the foundation’s work, its governance, and why it’s important to become a member. Here’s a recording (or if you’d prefer to view on PeerTube, visit this link):

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LibreOffice Conference 2023 in Bucharest

LibreOffice Conference 2023 will be hosted by the Universitatea Națională de Știință și Tehnologie Politehnica București, Facultatea de Automatică și Calculatoare (National University of Science and Technology, Polytechnic University of Bucharest, Faculty of Automation and Computer Science) at the PRECIS building from Wednesday 20 September to Saturday 23 Septembe. On Wednesday, the community will gather for the usual community meeting to discuss localisation and marketing activities at the local level. The conference will open on Thursday morning and continue with talks and workshops until Saturday lunchtime (schedule). Alongside this, there will be a technical workshop focusing on LibreOffice development.

The conference is sponsored by Collabora Office and Allotropia (main sponsors), dvloper.io and 1&1, with a significant contribution from The Document Foundation, and the technical support of IT Genetics. The event has been organized by a local team of volunteers, backed by 1&1 and supported by the team at The Document Foundation with the help of local NGOs Rosedu and Tech Lounge. More information on the conference website.

The Document Foundation’s Annual Report 2022

TDF Annual Report 2022

The Annual Report of The Document Foundation describes the foundation’s activities and projects, especially in regards to LibreOffice and the Document Liberation Project.

We’ve been posting sections of the 2022 report here on the blog, and now the full version is available in PDF format on TDF’s Nextcloud server in two different versions: low resolution (8.2MB) and high resolution (57.4MB). The Annual Report is based on the German version presented to the authorities.

The document has been entirely created with free open source software: written contents have obviously been developed with LibreOffice Writer (desktop) and collaboratively modified with LibreOffice Writer (online), charts have been created with LibreOffice Calc and prepared for publishing with LibreOffice Draw, drawings and tables have been developed or modified (from legacy PDF originals) with LibreOffice Draw, images have been prepared for publishing with GIMP, and the layout has been created with Scribus based on the existing templates.

We at The Document Foundation are very grateful to all contributors to our projects and communities in 2022 – none of this would be possible without you!

TDF’s Membership Committee announces a new membership management system: Proteus

The Membership Committee (MC) at The Document Foundation is responsible for managing membership applications and renewals. The primary objective of their task is to carefully evaluate applications from individuals who want to become members of TDF. Also the members’ contributions to the LibreOffice project are verified, in order to ensure a transparent, fair, and efficient membership process.

To do it, a script created by the early MC members has been used for many years. With the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the drive for improved internal processes, the MC decided to develop a new open source management system that meets the legal requirements for members’ and applicants’ data governance.

During 2022, an open source tool called Proteus was developed. Proteus will be used for renewals and applications starting in the second half of 2023. All TDF members with renewals due in this quarter are called upon to submit their information through the new system, which will utilize Single Sign-On and can be accessed on this page. If you have questions, please contact the MC.

Learn more about becoming a member of TDF

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TDF Team Meeting in Munich, June 2023

Team members standing on a patio

LibreOffice is made by a worldwide community, comprised of volunteers, certified developers, ecosystem companies and many other people. Coordinating the project is The Document Foundation, a small non-profit entity registered in Berlin, which has a team of 16 people (thanks to generous donations).

We mostly work online, but in June, most team members met in-person in Munich! We are (alphabetically by first name):

  • Christian Lohmaier – Release Engineer
  • Florian Effenberger – Executive Director
  • Guilhem Moulin – Infrastructure & Services
  • Heiko Tietze – UX Architect
  • Hossein Nourikhah – Developer Community Architect
  • Ilmari Laukahangas – Development Marketing
  • Italo Vignoli – Marketing & PR
  • Juan José González – Web Technology Engineer
  • Khaled Hosny – Developer, prioritising complex text-layout tasks
  • Michael Weghorn – Developer, prioritising accessibility tasks
  • Mike Saunders – Marketing and Community Coordinator
  • Olivier Hallot – Documentation Coordinator
  • Sophie Gautier – Foundation Coordinator
  • Stephan – Administrative Assistant
  • Stéphane Guillou – QA Analyst
  • Xisco Fauli – QA Engineer

Over four days, we discussed many topics, including: how we can grow the LibreOffice community; marketing the software; improving documentation; planning for Quality Assurance activities; localisation and liaisons; and updating the LibreOffice and TDF websites. We shared many ideas, came up with concrete action items, and are now working to get them done.

Of course, we’re just one part of the wider LibreOffice community. We always appreciate getting feedback and suggestions from other members of the project, so let us know what you’d like us to work on! And many thanks to everyone in the community for all your contributions and support 😊

Join the LibreOffice community here