As you might know, we’ve currently got an open-call for new developers, we’re hiring quite a bit in the next six months.

Thus far our list of people interested in the job contains no women’s names at all – zip, zero, zilch – despite us having taken soundings on how to get a more diverse sample of applicants.

I’m really, really not OK with this. I understand the gender imbalance in tech as well as anyone, but I interpret this as ‘mySociety hasn’t reached out well enough’, not ‘blame the women for not applying’.

So my question to you, the world at large, is this: what can we do right now, or this week anyway, to get some women’s names on this list before we start to vet the CVs?

Applications are still very definitely open, so anyone – male, female or other – who’d like to apply should see the original blog post for how to go about it.

Councils all around England have been busy getting ready to comply with the new duty to provide e-Petitions which kicks in today, 15th December. This means that on council sites across England you should now be able to make petitions which will be formally considered by the councils, in accordance with their chosen policies.

At mySociety we’ve spent a lot of time over the last twelve months helping councils to cope with this new duty by offering  them a commercial petitions service that is really good for users and easy to administer for councils. Some of the sites have been live for months, but many of the 35 council e-petitions sites we’re currently contracted to supply launch today.

mySociety’s core developers Matthew Somerville and Dave Whiteland deserve huge credit for all the work they did re-purposing the No10 Petitions codebase and doing dozens of council customisations and rebrands. I’ve just seen one council officer email “Yippeee” at the prospect of launching, so I reckon they’ve done a pretty good job  – well done gents, everyone in mySociety owes you a debt of gratitude for a time consuming job well done.

Here’s the current list of live local petitions sites. We’ll be adding more as they go up. Happy petitioning!

Ashfield http://petitions.ashfield-dc.gov.uk/

Barnet http://petitions.barnet.gov.uk

Barrow http://petitions.barrowbc.gov.uk/

Bassetlaw http://petitions.bassetlaw.gov.uk/

Blackburn with Darwen http://petitions.blackburn.gov.uk/

East Cambridgeshire http://petitions.eastcambs.gov.uk/

East Northants http://petitions.east-northamptonshire.gov.uk

Elmbridge http://petitions.elmbridge.gov.uk

Forest Heath http://petitions.forest-heath.gov.uk

Hounslow http://petitions.hounslow.gov.uk

Ipswich http://petitions.ipswich.gov.uk

Islington http://petitions.islington.gov.uk

Lichfield http://petitions.lichfielddc.gov.uk

Mansfield http://petitions.mansfield.gov.uk/

Melton http://petitions.melton.gov.uk/

New Forest http://petitions.newforest.gov.uk

Nottinghamshire http://petitions.nottinghamshire.gov.uk

Reigate & Banstead http://petitions.reigate-banstead.gov.uk

Runnymede http://petitions.runnymede.gov.uk

Rushcliffe http://petitions.rushcliffe.gov.uk/

South Holland http://petitions.sholland.gov.uk

Spelthorne http://petitions.spelthorne.gov.uk

St Edmundsbury http://petitions.stedmundsbury.gov.uk

Stevenage http://petitions.stevenage.gov.uk

Suffolk Coastal http://petitions.suffolkcoastal.gov.uk/

Surrey County Council http://petitions.surreycc.gov.uk

Surrey Heath http://petitions.surreyheath.gov.uk

Tandridge http://petitions.tandridge.gov.uk

Waveney http://petitions.waveney.gov.uk

Waverley http://petitions.waverley.gov.uk

Wellingborough http://petitions.wellingborough.gov.uk

Westminster http://petitions.westminster.gov.uk

Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead http://petitions.rbwm.gov.uk

Woking http://petitions.woking.gov.uk

This vacancy is now filled.

How would you like to be a coder in an organisation that is as determined to make a difference in the world as it is to be a truly high quality, engineer-led software team?

mySociety is that organisation. We’re a project of a registered charity, currently running award-winning civic and democratic websites like TheyWorkForYou.com and FixMyStreet.com, and we’re looking to grow our already-celebrated development team by several new members over the next six months.

We’re looking for people with at least two years experience (professional or keen amateur) in at least one of Python, Ruby, Perl, PHP, C++, Javascript or Adobe Flex, and who have ambitions to learn more languages in the future.

We’re looking for developers willing to commit to full or mostly-full time positions (no freelancers, sorry) and who are up for a career change that will see them stay with us for a little while. You’ll get to work with volunteers, mix commercial and charitable projects, and travel far and wide. Plus, you can work from wherever you live (in the UK), and we pay salaries from £28k to £50k depending on skills.

Most of all, we’re looking for coders who look at the services we have built so far and think “I wish I’d been on that project”. Projects you’ll likely be working on over the next few months include (but are not limited to):

• A/B testing and conversion tracking of our charitable sites
• Commercial spinoffs from FixMyStreet
• Mapumental
• Enhancements to TheyWorkForYou and WhatDoTheyKnow
• Commercial development for clients

And if you’ve any questions, please post them in the comments below so we can share the answers.

One of the most popular features on TheyWorkForYou is the plain English, non-judgemental vote analyses on MP pages that say things like “voted strongly against introducing a smoking ban“.  We call these ‘policies’, and they are authored by skilled people using the volunteer run PublicWhip website.

Making each one of these policies is a painstaking task, requiring good knowledge of how the Parliamentary voting system works, good writing skills, patience, and the strength of character not to let your own views about the issues cloud the analysis. It is of utmost importance to both mySociety and our users that these policies are fair and trustworthy.

Earlier this year we started to update the process by which we made new policies to make it even more rigorous, which we wrote about here. Marcus Fergusson and Stephen Young came onboard and did sterling work, but they have now moved on to greater things, and so we’re looking to recruit two to three new people to do this job. Uber volunteer Richard Taylor has been helping out recently, but this is really a job for two or more people.

You might very well ask ‘why two people, given the work is part time?’. The answer is that we really want every new policy to be cross-checked by two different people every time it is added or amended. This is to help eliminate possible mistakes, and prevent any unconscious biases.

We pay for this work on a piece work basis – £160 a time for a combination of one new policy authored, and one other policy double-checked. This money comes mainly from people making small donations, which I think helps keep everyone focussed on how important it is to get these right. We hope to add about two new policies a month, once the new team is up to speed.

If you’d like to be considered, please email hello@mysociety.org with ‘mspolicies’ in the subject line. Applications close 22nd November 2010.

I was just talking to someone in a local council about the fact that they’d opened up the location of 27,000 streetlights in their council area. They wanted to know if FixMyStreet could incorporate them so that problem reports could be more accurately attached.

This conversation reminded me that we’ve had an informal wish list of geodata for FixMyStreet for some time. What we need is more data that lets us send problems to the correct entity when the problem is not actually a council responsibility.

I’m just posting these up to see if anyone knows a guy who knows a girl who knows a dog who knows how to get hold of any of these datasets. In some vector data format, if possible, please!

• Canals and responsible authorities
• Supermarkets (esp car parks) and responsible companies
• Network Rail’s land
• Council owned land
• Land and roads controlled by the Highways agency
• Shopping malls
• National parks
• BT phone boxes (the original problem which inspired FixMyStreet)

So, do you know someone who might know someone who can help us improve FixMyStreet? And guess what, if we do add this to our web services, you’ll probably be able to query them too.

mySociety is looking for someone who loves building relationships, and who enjoys thinking about travel, property and what makes for a great day out.

We are a non-profit group of staff and volunteers that builds websites that help people do things like find out how their politicians vote, or get broken street lights and potholes fixed in their road. We make most of our charitable money through commercial means, and to that end we’re setting up a spin-off called Mapumental Ltd that is building web mapping tools the likes of which have never been seen before. Watch this video to learn more.

Mapumental’s underlying technology is now complete, and ready for user-facing products to be built on top. What we need is someone who can do the market research to work out what products we should build, and who can go out and sell them to clients of all shapes and sizes – from holidaymakers to property firms.

Skills

• Market analysis – to research what products we should and shouldn’t be building with Mapumental
• Sales and marketing – to tell people authentic, convincing stories about how our products can help them, and sell the finished products
• Good copywriting skills – and ability to work with designers to create marketing materials

Experience

• At least 12 months experience selling products or services, ideally to corporate clients.
• Ideally, more than two years’ experience in product management, market research, or marketing
• First degree in any subject
• You’ll be able to tell us how you made tricky but successful marketing decisions

Personal Qualities

• Most important – you’ll need to be able to meet and collaborate with a diverse range of people, both colleagues and customers, in an amiable, confidence-inspiring manner
• Preferably – an interest in maps and the internet.
• You’ll have to be a self-starter who can work independently, and often in a location of your choosing
• Enthusiasm for new things, new ideas, new businesses

Location, Hours and Salary

We can be flexible between a minimum of 3.5 days per week, up to full time. You can live and work anywhere in the UK, but your life will be easier if it is within a couple of hours of both London and Birmingham.

We offer a salary of £33k+, and we are also offering a decent bonus tied to success at sales.

Applications should be sent to hello@mysociety.org by noon of 13th September, with the tag msjob5  in the subject line. This is a re-advertisement of a previously advertised position, and previous applicants need not apply.

The Head of Operations and Finance is a new post at mySociety, responsible for leading the commercial, financial and legal aspects of our work. Once appointed, the person will act as a member of the senior management team, contribute to the ongoing strategic development of mySociety, and report to the Board as required.

Organisational Context

This is a newly created, full-time role as an employee of mySociety Ltd, reporting to the Board. The successful applicant will work alongside the CEO/Director of mySociety Ltd to further the aims of the company’s parent organisation (the charity UK Citizens Online Democracy, aka UKCOD) and to ensure the financial and operational success of mySociety Ltd.

mySociety aims to build websites that give people simple, tangible benefits in the civic and community aspects of their lives, and funds its work partially through the provision of commercial software products and consulting. mySociety currently has seven full-time staff (soon to expand to 15) and has a projected overall income budget for 2010 of £609,000, funded by a wide range of donors, private foundations and commercial contracts. The Head of Operations and Finance will directly manage four professional staff.

Key Responsibilities and Deliverables:

1. Lead for mySociety on the development of commercial opportunities, products and service lines (including marketing, inbound lead response, meetings, pricing and contract negotiations, and other customary business development tasks).
2. Deliver commercial contracts including commercial rollout of e-petitions product to local authorities and certain other projects (excluding Mapumental).
3. With the CEO, allocate resources between UKCOD and commercial activities, determine work priorities and manage delivery of an agreed plan for UKCOD and its subsidiaries.
4. Create and run a robust system for financial planning and reporting, preparing monthly management accounts and cash flow forecasts, and preparing forward-looking financial updates for the boards of the charity and its trading subsidiaries.
5. With the CEO, develop the annual board-level strategy for the charity and its trading subsidiaries, to formulate and track agreed strategic goals and metrics, reporting back to the Board on progress.
6. Manage key stakeholder relationships, including major commercial clients, professional service suppliers, regulatory authorities, major funding bodies of the charity (current and potential), and other organisations with similar aims to the charity (in the UK and overseas).
7. With the CEO, manage the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) Project Coordinator to successfully deliver on our project goals in conjunction with our funding partners the Open Society Institute.
8. With the CEO, manage the Africa Project Co-ordinator to successfully deliver on project goals in conjunction with Omidyar Network.
9. Manage the mySociety Office Manager and the Communications & Marketing Manager to ensure that they carry out tasks in accordance with their job descriptions.

Person Specification

Must have:

• Experience as a financial controller, business manager with finance responsibilities, accountant, or similar positions.
• At least 10 years of managerial experience, including at least 5 years managing professional teams, and taking responsibility for P&L of a business unit or as budget holder in a public sector or non-profit context.
• Knowledge and experience of working with technology teams.
• Analytical and financial skills, including problem solving, data analysis, and financial projections.
• Experience of managing and resolving compliance issues.
• A passion for democracy and transparency issues and views on how technology can help.
• A level of interpersonal and communication skills which enable the post holder to establish credibility with a wide range of contacts within and outside mySociety.
• Ability to devise imaginative solutions by developing novel ideas or adapting existing ones in new ways.
• The ability to assess and anticipate stakeholder needs and expectations.

Ideally would have:

• Some experience of the developing world.
• Previous experience/knowledge of not for profit organisations, charities accounting and reporting to non-executive boards.
• A high order of negotiating skills and the capacity to present ideas and issues with authority.
• Readiness to make decisions and render judgments based on logical evaluation of all the relevant factors.
• An understanding of how to introduce systems and processes in a complex organistion that mixes paid staff and volunteers.
• Proven ability to line-manage and work with colleagues who work from home, primarily using email and instant messaging.

Salary: £45k+. Location: Flexible with some travel within the UK. Application Process: Send a CV and covering letter to hello@mysociety.org with the tag msjob4 in the subject line by noon on 10th August 2010.

FixMyTransport is the most challenging project mySociety has ever tried to build. It’s so ambitious that we’re taking the unusual move of breaking off part of the problem and stress-testing it in the form of the new mini-site Brief Encounters, which has gone live today. It was built by Louise Crow, or Crowbot, as we know her, with design support from Dave Whiteland.

Brief Encounters is not, as the name might suggest, mySociety’s long awaited attempt at a dating site. Instead it’s a place where people can share whimsical stories about unusual things that happened them them, or other people, on public transport. We hope you’ll have a go, read some examples and then contribute your own.

You might be thinking that a whimsical story site doesn’t sound very mySocietyish – and you’d be right. Brief Encounters is actually a technology test-bed to help us crack a new design and data problem: how do you make it as easy as possible for users to pinpoint a specific bus stop, or train route, or a ferry port, as easily as possible? There are over 300,000 such beasties, and nobody has ever really tried to build an interface that makes it easy to find each one quickly and reliably.

So, what we want from you, dear readers, is three fold. We want:

1. Stories – the more hilarious or sob-inducing the better
2. Feedback on the user experience – how can we make finding a route or node easier?
3. Feedback on any data problems you find, ie “My bus stop is missing” – we’re going to have to patch our data with your help, there’s just no other way

For those of you tech minded, the project is built in Ruby and uses the NaPTAN dataset of stations, bus stops and ferry terminals, the National Public Transport Gazetteer database of towns and settlements in the UK, and the National Public Transport Data Repository of sample public transport journeys, from 2008. The first two datasets are free of charge, and the third one mySociety pays for.

Lastly, kudos must go to the hyper-imaginative Nicky Getgood who suggested we collect stories on FixMyTransport, as well as problem reports.

mySociety, the non-profit project that built TheyWorkForYou and FixMyStreet is seeking a West Midlands based Commercial Product Manager to drive the success of its new commercial subsidiary Mapumental Ltd

The job will entail working with the developers to design commercial products based on our  Mapumental mapping technology, and will involve carrying out all the sales and marketing required to secure contracts based on them.

Skills

Software as a service product design

Sales and Marketing

Strong copywriting skills, and ability to work with designers to produce marketing materials

Good knowledge of online mapping and GIS

Experience

Must have experience of selling software as a service

Must show proof of having made difficult and successful product design decisions.

Must have experience carrying out marketing campaigns

Must be Internet savvy

Ideally familiar with the GIS sector

Personal Qualities

Self starter who can work independently, and at home.

Driven to make a new business succeed

Attention to detail

Friendly and able to collaborate with diverse colleagues

Location and Hours

The job is full time and is to be based in the West Midlands (exact location TBD)

Applications should be sent to hello@mysociety.org by noon of 21st June, with the tag msjob3 in the subject line.