Staff Data Engineer

Code for America believes government can work for the people, by the people, in the new digital age, and that government at all levels can and should work well for all people. For more than a decade, we’ve worked to show that with the mindful use of technology, we can break down barriers, meet community needs, and find real solutions.

Our employees build and transform government and community tools and services, making them so good they inspire change. We merge the best parts of technology, nonprofit, and government to help support the people who need it most.

With a focus on transparency and fairness, and deep empathy for partners in government and community organizations and the people that our partners serve, we’re building a movement of motivated change agents driven by meaningful results and lasting impact.

At Code for America, you contribute to exciting work while learning and developing in a supportive and flexible environment. Our compensation and benefits are holistic and thoughtfully curated to represent our employees and our mission. Help us drive real generational change that lasts.

Code for America is looking for a talented Staff Data Engineer who will lead the technical execution of our data infrastructure behind high-impact government services. In this role you will make data reliable and usable at scale — improving how our teams collect, move, model, and analyze the data that tells us whether the services we build actually work for the people who need them most.

The pace of change in the policy and government landscape is accelerating at the same time that technology possibilities are shifting rapidly. Together, these shifts create new windows of opportunity to develop technical solutions that make critical public services more effective for the people who need them. Staff data engineers keep delivery moving through those moments, supporting staff and holding high delivery standards so that data are trustworthy, and reachable by the people who need it.

About the role:

Code for America’s Staff Data Engineers build and operate the infrastructure that moves data through the products we ship, between our systems and our partners’ systems, and into the analysis that drives meaningful improvements in outcomes across the tax, criminal justice, and safety net delivery areas. Staff Data Engineers lead the technical execution of data infrastructure projects and solutions while guiding their teams’ technical direction, setting a high standard for technical judgment, and enabling other data scientists and engineers through collaboration and mentorship.

This role will report to a Data Science Manager and is expected to travel no more than 10 % of the time.

Code for America is based in California and can employ those who reside full-time within the United States. This is a remote position.

In this position you will:

Data Infrastructure & Pipeline Engineering

Lead cross-functional technical planning with Data Scientists, Software Engineers, and Product Managers to translate data architecture requirements into scalable technical solutions for your team's projects

Create new data pipelines, data transfers, and compliance-oriented infrastructure to facilitate seamless data utilization within cloud environments

Contribute to best practices for dataset management and optimization, ensuring data consistency and performance

Implement data transformation, integration, and validation processes to support analytics and reporting needs

Partner with our DevOps team to apply deployment standards, monitoring frameworks, and operational best practices for data infrastructure

Lead technical investigations into data issues within the systems you own, resolving them with thorough communication and recommending process changes where necessary.

Optimize and fine-tune data pipelines for improved speed, reliability, and efficiency

Lead generation and optimization of data architecture recommendations and demonstrate the ability to implement them

Champion privacy, security, and data governance practices throughout the entire data lifecycle

Support Engineering's culture of writing by producing quality documentation and learning materials.

Technical Leadership & Enablement

Contribute to the development of data engineering best practices and standards, and reinforce them across the team.

Collaborate with Product Managers and other cross-functional peers; adapt your approach as priorities, technology, and team needs shift; and actively help others do the same when facing major changes in direction or tooling.

Mentor engineers and data scientists on data engineering best practices, pipeline design, and sound architectural thinking, and create conditions for them to grow into unfamiliar problem spaces through pairing, documentation, or direct coaching.

Other duties as assigned

Engage in ad hoc projects and initiatives as required by the organization's evolving needs.

About you:

7+ years of experience in data engineering or related technical fields

Expert-level SQL and experience with python, R

Experience with Postgres and cloud-based data warehousing (e.g. BigQuery, Snowflake)

Expert at data orchestration tools (e.g. Dagster) for building and managing data pipelines

Expert at using dbt for data transformation and modeling within data warehouses

Demonstrated experience with Metabase or similar business intelligence tools (e.g. Tableau, PowerBI, Looker)

Experience in ensuring that data pipelines are accessible to Data Scientists through notebook tools (e.g. Hex)

Experience with cloud infrastructure and infrastructure as code.

Excellent collaboration skills, with a demonstrated ability to manage cross-functional relationships, respond to stakeholder needs, and facilitate effective decision-making conversations

Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.

Demonstrated ability to use AI coding tools judiciously, validating and refining generated code for quality, and modeling that discipline for teammates is needed for this specific role; organizationally, a curiosity about emerging AI tools and a commitment to using them responsibly and effectively

A deep commitment to Code for America's mission of making government services work well for the people who need them most.

It’s a bonus if you have:

Experience with making government services better for people who need them most

Personal or professional experience with the social safety net or other mission-relevant government services.

Experience building and integrating AI-powered features in production systems, with evaluation and monitoring.

What you’ll get -

Salary:

Code for America’s salary bands are transparent as a part of our commitment to transparency and fairness. As part of our hiring practices, we aim to target the midpoint of the 2nd quartile of the range for all new hires.

Offer targets vary based on market / geographic location. The offer targets for this role range from $128,945 to $157,850 , annually. Your Recruiter will discuss compensation in more detail & answer any related questions, during the initial Recruiter phone screen.

Benefits and perks:

This role includes a comprehensive benefits package including the following:

Values:

Leadership and teammates who share a strong work ethic and values, and who respect and care for one another

A collaborative, cross-functional, hardworking, and joyful environment

Employee Enablement Support:

Laptop provided

A one-time $700 payment for remote environment setup; $200 stipend (in first paycheck) and up to $500 reimbursement, in accordance with our equipment policy

Cell phone and/or internet reimbursement of $50 per month

Professional Development:

$500 annual (per calendar year) stipend towards professional development; prorated at time of hire

Up to $500 of professional development funds can be rolled over