About the company

Privacy Should Not Be a Privilege. LEAP (LEAP Encryption Access Project) is dedicated to giving all internet users access to secure communication. There are many fronts in the fight against the enclosure of the internet and the relentless efforts to surveil and monetize our lives. We are a small and growing effort to expand the use of circumvention technology to protect us from government and corporate incursion into our online lives. LEAP started in 2014 with the goal of creating an end to end encrypted email solution and a VPN that would be easy to use and easy to provide. As of 2020 all our energy is focused on LEAP’s VPN.

We build a best in class, easy to use, VPN (Virtual Private Network), a widely-used technology that encrypts your connection to the internet. Using a VPN requires people to place their trust in both the software and service provider that they choose. LEAP’s code will always be Free Open Source Software, open to be inspected by anyone. Additionally, we only partner with trusted service providers who have a record of protecting their users’ privacy.

Our partners: Riseup is a longtime provider of online communication tools for people and groups working on liberatory social change. Their email and mailing lists are used by hundreds of thousands of users around the world. RiseupVPN is a free-to-use, donation-supported VPN.
The Calyx Institute has a long track record of educating users about the threat of online surveillance and providing tools to protect their privacy, and is headed by Nicholas Merrill, one of the first people to successfully fight a National Security Letter.

Libraries have a long history of protecting their patrons’ privacy. LibraryVPN.org will continue this work by providing free VPN to public library patrons across the USA.

LEAP is a non-profit organization registered in the state of Washington, USA. Our team hails from all around the world, and has included people from Bahía Blanca (Argentina), Berlin (Germany), Hamburg (Germany), London (UK), Madrid (Spain), Montreal (Quebec, Canada), New York City (NY, USA), Paris (France), Seattle (WA, USA), São Paulo (Brazil), Santiago (Chile).

Salary: Part-time contract position 20 hours/week, $40 USD/hour

Job description

The LEAP Encryption Access Project (LEAP) is looking for an application developer to join the team behind LEAP VPN: a multiplatform VPN application with a focus on usability and censorship-circumvention. The ideal candidate is a skilled Go developer who is passionate about internet freedom and privacy.

Deadline to apply is December 31, 2021.

Time: Part time (20 hours/week)
Start Date: January 2022
Pay: $40 USD/hour

This is a part-time contract position (20 hours/week) starting January 2022. This is a remote position: our team is fully distributed with staff in Germany, Spain, Canada, and USA.
The Job
You will be part of the development of LEAP VPN, a white-label Free Software VPN application based on OpenVPN that is presently deployed by providers like Riseup, Calyx, and CodigoSur. Specifically, your work will focus on maintaining the Desktop LEAP VPN application. You will also participate in the development and integration of Pluggable Transports to enable better censorship circumvention.

Required Qualifications

• Knowledge of the Go programming language.
• You must be a self-directed person, able to work efficiently under light management.
• Good testing and debugging skills.
• Ability to quickly prototype and deploy network services, perform measurements, and iterate as part of a collaborative design process.
• Familiarity with git and GitLab.
• Experience with Free Software/Open Source.
• Be comfortable working remotely with a geographically distributed team. Reliability and good communication skills are essential.

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong experience with Qt5 and QML.
• Familiarity with OpenVPN and censorship circumvention technologies.
• Experience with Docker and Ansible.

Deadline to apply is December 31, 2021.

We especially welcome applicants from communities underrepresented in the tech sector.