Senior Software Engineer, Data

ABOUT THE JOB

The ACLU seeks a full-time position of Senior Software Engineer, Data in the Product and Engineering division of the Technology Department at 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 ACLU Technology Department is a broad umbrella covering both the ACLU’s Analytics and its Product & Engineering teams, two robust and innovative divisions that power the work of the ACLU. The department provides trusted, dependable, and impactful analytics, engineering, as well as product management and product design expertise for the ACLU. In partnership with experts across the ACLU, the technology team delivers best-in-class solutions, services, and innovation that advance the ACLU mission and organizational priorities. The tech team strives to ensure the ACLU leads by example in the ethical use of technology by ensuring privacy and security standards are maintained, directional insights are used to inform programming and business strategy, best-in-class products are designed to get the ACLU message out into the world and grow the ACLU supporter base, as well as to help steward high standards for algorithmic fairness, accountability, and transparency.  

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.

The ideal candidate is a senior-level software or data engineer with significant experience in building large-scale, high-volume data products and storage solutions that address complex data and compliance requirements. 

This position is part of a collective bargaining unit. It is represented by ACLU Staff United. 

WHAT YOU'LL DO

Reporting to the Director of Engineering, Data, the Senior Software 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 AWS Redshift operational data warehouse and our 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.  

YOUR DAY TO DAY

• Design, build, test, deploy, and maintain scalable multi-source, multi-destination data pipelines and products
• Work extensively with Dagster, dbt, and the AWS ecosystem; you will understand the data models, APIs, and limitations of our data sources and destinations
• Contribute to the design and implementation of a centralized communications consent management system, prioritizing privacy compliance, performance, and extensibility
• Collaborate on data engineering efforts for the migration of our primary fundraising CRM, focusing on data integrations between Blackbaud CRM and the rest of the ecosystem.
• Work closely with product managers to translate complex business requirements into reliable, maintainable data solutions.
• Engage in technical design discussions, help evaluate trade-offs, and provide guidance on implementation strategies.
• Proactively identify and mitigate reliability and performance issues, using first-principles thinking to debug problems and drive preventative improvements
• Write clean, tested, and well-documented code as part of an agile team.

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 developing and maintaining robust, flexible, and scalable ETL pipelines in a production environment
• Experience as a Senior Data/Software engineer; proven track record of proposing, implementing, and advocating for new processes, standards, or best practices within a team environment.
• Advanced experience working with Python and AWS, including Redshift, S3, Lambda, and other cloud-native tools
• Experience with production data validation; ensuring data quality and integrity testing is built-in to pipelines
• Experience integrating and transforming high-volume data from a variety of sources into a modern data warehouse (e.g., Redshift, Snowflake)
• Proficiency with modern orchestration tools (e.g, Dagster, Airflow) and transformation frameworks (e.g., dbt, pandas)
• Experience deploying and managing applications and services in a cloud environment (e.g., AWS, Azure) using infrastructure as code (e.g., Terraform, CloudFormation)
• Experience working with both batch and event-driven data processing models
• Deep understanding of software and data engineering best practices
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience with Blackbaud CRM or other nonprofit fundraising CRMs
• Experience managing AWS infrastructure
• Experience working on legal or regulatory compliance products
• Experience with identity resolution concepts and tooling

COMPENSATION

The 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 $161,123 (Level E), reflecting the salary of a position based in New York, NY or or Washington, D.C..  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

WHY THE ACLU

For over 100 years, the ACLU has worked to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Whether it’s ending mass incarceration, achieving full equality for the LGBTQ+ community, establishing new privacy protections for our digital age, or preserving the right to vote or the right to have an abortion, the ACLU takes up the toughest civil liberties cases and issues to defend all people.

We know that great people make a great organization. We value our people and know that what we offer is essential not just their work, but to their overall well-being. 

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 401k plan and employer match
• We support employee growth and development through annual professional development funds, internal professional development programs and workshops

OUR COMMITMENT TO ACCESSIBILITY, EQUITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

Accessibility, equity, diversity and inclusion are core values of the ACLU and central to our work to advance liberty, equality, and justice for all. For us diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion are not just check-the-box activities, but a chance for us to make long-term meaningful change.  We are a community committed to learning and growth, humility and grace, transparency and accountability. We believe in a collective responsibility to create a culture of belonging for all people within our organization – one that respects and embraces difference; treats everyone equitably; and empowers our colleagues to do the best work possible. We are as committed to anti-oppression, anti-ableism, and anti-racism internally as we are externally. Because whether we’re in the courts or in the office, we believe ‘We the People’ means all of us.

With this commitment in mind, we strongly encourage applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status and record of arrest or conviction, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.    

The ACLU is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual with a disability and need assistance applying online, please email benefits.hrdept@aclu.org. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.

The Department of Education has determined that employment in this position at the ACLU does not qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.