Senior Data Engineer

At Murmuration, we believe that America’s promise is shaped and reshaped by the best ideas and ideals of its communities, and the dreams of the people who believe in a better life for themselves, their families, and each other. 

We help organizations build power in their communities in four key ways: we organize a network of values-aligned partners; we provide deep, data-driven insights into people, places, and perspectives; we develop tools that make organizing and engagement easy and more effective; and we offer services that strengthen our partners’ capacity to lead change in their communities.

We envision an America where every community has what it needs to help people lead healthy, free, and dignified lives. We work to redesign the systems and structures we all depend on — how we learn, live, govern, and solve problems — so that they are just, equitable, resilient, and rooted in shared responsibility. By strengthening the ties that hold communities together, we aim for civic life defined by collective action and care, with effective leadership that truly represents everyone. 

We are a collaborative, curious, and creative team of organizers, scientists, teachers, technologists, campaign veterans, and more who share the unwavering belief that we can use our gifts in service of transforming America — together. We’ve built our team guided by the belief that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And so we support each other relentlessly — rallying together to face challenges the same way we celebrate each other’s wins.

About the Position

You're a mission-driven data engineer with a track record of building infrastructure that delivers real impact. You're deeply curious not just about how systems work but about the messy, real-world data they must support. You've done this before: you understand what "good" looks like, you deliver high quality solutions, and you help the teams around you operate more effectively.

At Murmuration, you'll work with voter files from 50 states (each with its own format and quirks), census data, polling results, geographic boundaries, election returns, and more. These data sources arrive at different cadences, anywhere from multiple times a day during early voting to once a year from the census. Your role is to bring order to this complexity by building the pipelines, data contracts, and governance that transform these disparate inputs into Atlas, our unified representation of American civic life.

This role is for someone who's energized by complex data problems, comfortable with ambiguity, and motivated by the understanding that strong infrastructure and data foundations is a core part of what makes research, product development, and meaningful civic impact possible. You'll partner closely with data scientists, researchers, and product teams who rely on what you build.

You also stay curious about emergent technologies, particularly AI, and apply them thoughtfully to amplify your impact and the effectiveness of the broader team.

Job Level P4

What You'll Do

• Own data pipelines and infrastructure: Design, implement, and evolve scalable, production-grade systems using tools such as Dagster, Airflow, Snowflake, AWS, MongoDB, and dbt. Apply a cloud-native and DevOps mindset using CI/CD, infrastructure-as-code, monitoring, and automated testing to build reliable systems. Partner with cross-functional teams to deliver solutions that meet both immediate product needs and long-term organizational strategy.
• Lead data ingestion and integration: Bring in complex, high-volume datasets while ensuring strong data contracts, freshness, quality, integrity, and lineage, and build systems that empower domain experts to contribute to and maintain their own data pipelines.
• Transform raw data into trusted data products: Convert raw inputs into structured, usable datasets that empower our analytical and product teams. Collaborate closely with operational data managers to ensure data models and intuitive, reliable alignment with how data is consumed in practice.
• Leverage AI: Make informed judgement calls about how AI can be a force-multiplier for both your own work and the team’s and how it can’t.
• Elevate the team: Mentor engineers, actively shape technical direction through architectural reviews and roadmap planning, and build team culture through documentation and knowledge sharing.

Requirements

• 6+ years of relevant experience in data engineering or a related field;
• Deep experience designing and operating data pipelines and orchestration frameworks (e.g., Dagster, Airflow);
• Strong understanding of ELT/analytics engineering patterns (e.g., dbt, dimensional modeling, data contracts);
• Hands-on experience with cloud data platforms (e.g., Snowflake) and cloud infrastructure (e.g., AWS);
• Proficiency in Python, containerization (Docker), and modern deployment patterns;
• Experience working in lean, cross-functional teams and operating in environments with evolving requirements; and
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical partners.

Nice-to-haves

• Familiarity with Voter File Data;
• Experience with or interest in political data;
• Background in political tech, civic tech, advocacy, or mission-driven organizations;
• Experience within an engineering team providing technical support to other data functions (e.g., Data Scientists, Data Managers, etc.); and/or
• Experience applying AI/ML techniques to voter or political data.

Talented Data Engineers come from all walks of life and career paths. If you are passionate about civic engagement and technology, please apply, even if you do not check every box!

Benefits

Location and Compensation

The Senior Data Engineer is a full-time, salaried position with a comprehensive benefits package (details below), open to candidates anywhere in the United States.

The starting salary for this position is $190,576. We set compensation using market data and apply it consistently across the organization to ensure fairness and transparency for everyone in similar roles. 

Our Culture of Care

We work hard to create a culture of care to ensure that our staff are best equipped to lead happy, healthy, and balanced lives. To that end, we offer a comprehensive benefits package which includes:

• Health, vision, and dental insurance with 100% of premiums covered for you and qualifying family members;
• Retirement benefits with a 5% employer match;
• A flexible unlimited PTO plan;
• Generous paid parental leave;
• Pre-tax commuter benefits;
• A company laptop;
• A flexible remote work environment;
• A home office setup stipend for all new employees;
• Monthly reimbursement for remote work expenses;
• A yearly professional development fund;
• Mental health and wellness benefits through Calm and Better Help; 
• Yearly in-person staff retreats; and
• A welcoming culture that celebrates diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

At Murmuration, we believe a vibrant, representative democracy depends on the inclusion of diverse voices, lived experiences, and perspectives. The best ideas don’t come from a single person or ideology — they emerge at the intersection of different backgrounds, identities, and viewpoints. We are proud of our commitment to building an organization and culture shaped by respect, empathy, and collaboration, where our team’s diversity fuels innovation, civic engagement, and meaningful change. We welcome new colleagues who will help us nurture this collective effort. Join us.

An Equal-Opportunity Employer with a Commitment to Diversity

Murmuration is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and as an organization committed to diversity and the perspective of all voices, we consider applicants equally of race, gender, color, sexual orientation, religion, marital status, disability, political affiliation and national origin. We reasonably accommodate staff members and/or applicants with disabilities, provided they are otherwise able to perform the essential functions of the job.

Note: Murmuration is two organizations working together to pursue our mission of amplifying the power of civic engagement: Murmuration Research Institute, a 501(c)(3) that conducts research to identify, design, and create the data, tools, and insights that build healthier and more equitable communities; and Murmuration, Inc., a 501(c)(4) that supports organizations working across the country on the nation’s most challenging issues with access to data, tools, and research that build healthier and more equitable communities.