ABOUT THE JOBThe ACLU seeks applicants for the full-time position of
Senior Data Engineer in the
Technology Department of the ACLU's National office in
New York, NY. This is a
hybrid role that has in-office requirements of two (2) days per week or eight (8) days per month.
The Product & Engineering division includes engineers, product managers, product designers, and project operations experts who build and maintain engaging digital products and secure technical systems that accelerate the ACLU's mission as our nationwide guardian of rights and liberties.
This position is part of a collective bargaining unit. It is represented by ACLU Staff United (ASU).
WHAT YOU'LL DOReporting to the
Director of Data Engineering, the
Senior Data Engineer will join the Data Pod, which leads the ACLU's operational data engineering efforts. In this role, you will build and maintain data products and integrations between our operational data warehouse and broader technology ecosystem. Your work will ensure that the ACLU and its affiliates can execute fundraising, advocacy, and engagement strategies while prioritizing data privacy and security.
The ideal candidate is a senior-level software or data engineer with significant experience building large-scale, high-volume data products and storage solutions that address complex data and compliance requirements.
YOUR DAY TO DAY- Design, build, test, deploy, and maintain multi-source, multi-destination data pipelines and products
- Work primarily within Dagster, dbt, and the AWS ecosystem, with a strong understanding of the data models, APIs, and operational constraints of our systems and integrations
- Play a key role in the design and implementation of a centralized communications consent management system with a focus on privacy compliance, performance, and extensibility
- Support the migration of our primary fundraising CRM, with a focus on data integrations between Blackbaud CRM and the broader technology ecosystem
- Collaborate closely with engineers and product management to refine technical requirements and translate business objectives into scalable data solutions
- Participate actively in technical design discussions, balancing pragmatism, maintainability, reliability, and delivery timelines
- Proactively identify and mitigate reliability and performance issues; independently investigate, troubleshoot, and resolve complex bugs and operational challenges
- Contribute to agile team processes, including sprint planning, ticket refinement, code reviews, testing, documentation, and release support
- Mentor engineers and contribute to the growth of the team's technical expertise through collaboration, technical guidance, and knowledge sharing
- Help foster a culture of continuous learning, thoughtful iteration, and engineering excellence
FUTURE ACLU'ERS WILL - Be committed to advancing the mission of the ACLU
- Center and embed the principles of equity, inclusion, and belonging in their work by demonstrating commitment to diversity with an approach that respects and values multiple perspectives
- Be committed to work collaboratively and respectfully toward resolving obstacles and conflicts
WHAT YOU'LL BRING- Significant professional experience operating with a high degree of technical ownership and autonomy in a collaborative engineering environment, including improving engineering practices, standards, or team processes
- Significant experience working with Python and AWS to build and maintain data products and services
- Experience implementing automated data validation and quality assurance practices within product data pipelines
- Experience integrating data of varying formats, quality, and volume within cloud data warehouse platforms (e.g., Redshift, Snowflake)
- Experience orchestrating data pipelines using modern workflow frameworks (e.g., Dagster, Airflow)
- Experience developing and maintaining data transformation workflows using modern tooling (e.g., dbt, pandas)
- Experience deploying and managing applications and services in a cloud environment (e.g., AWS, Azure) using infrastructure-as-code tooling (e.g., Terraform, CloudFormation)
- Experience working with both event-driven and batch-processing architectures
- Strong understanding of software and data engineering best practices, including observability, testing, maintainability, and operational reliability
- Strong communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills
Preferred- Experience working with Blackbaud CRM or other fundraising CRMs within a nonprofit environment
- Experience integrating CRM, marketing, advocacy, or digital engagement platforms in complex organizational environments
- Experience managing AWS infrastructure or administering AWS environments
- Experience building or supporting systems related to legal, regulatory, or privacy compliance requirements
- Experience working with identity resolution, entity matching, or constituent data management systems
COMPENSATIONThe ACLU is committed to equity, transparency, and clarity in pay. Consistent with our compensation philosophy, there is a set salary for each role based on geographic work location. The annual salary for this position is
$167,568 (Level E), reflecting the salary of a position based in New York, NY. Salaries are subject to a regional pay adjustment if authorization is granted to work outside of the location listed in this posting.
For details on our pay structure, please visit: https://www.aclu.org/careers/ACLU_Geographic_Pay_Structure-July_2024.pdf
At the ACLU, we offer a broad range of benefits, which include:
- Time away to focus on the things that matter with a generous paid time-off policy
- Focus on your well-being with comprehensive healthcare benefits (including medical, dental and vision coverage, parental leave, gender affirming care & fertility treatment)
- Plan for your retirement with 401(k) plan and employer match
- We support employee growth and development through annual professional development funds, internal professional development programs and workshops
