OSMF employees and contractors

See the official list on the OpenStreetMap Foundation (OSMF) website for more up-to-date information.

As of February 2026,

• most of the work of the OSMF Board, the Working Groups, the State of the Map Organising Committee and the Special Committees is performed by volunteers.
• the OpenStreetMap Foundation has only one person with a legal status of an employee and some contractors . For example, to perform some administrative functions, for the software development for the iD editor and for work related to OSM core software. There is a move, as yet uncompleted, to add a further contractor to manage some of the IT aspects of providing the OSM data (sysadmin).

Legal

The definition of employee and contractor used here are based on British law, as the OSMF is incorporated within the United Kingdom. In British law an "employee" is well-defined as a person with certain rights and obligations, and a "contractor" is also well-defined with a different set of rights and obligations.

Due to the global nature of the OSMF, with extensive remote working, it is legally simpler to use contracting than it is to meet the employment rules of multiple jurisdictions and ensure equity in service conditions between employees located and subject to different jurisdictions.