Data Services Engineer

For over 20 years, Catalist has been a leader in civic data and data science innovation. Our mission is to provide progressive organizations with the data, software, and services needed to better identify, understand, and communicate with the people they need to engage and mobilize. Our clients include the largest, most influential organizations in the U.S. active in civic engagement, advocacy, and political campaigns.

Catalist is home to a dedicated, creative team of technologists, data scientists, and campaign experts committed to using our talents and technology to nurture a vibrant and growing progressive community.

As a Data Services Engineer (DSE) at Catalist, you will have a leading role in providing support and creating solutions for a wide array of Catalist clients and partners as well assisting or leading cross-departmental projects. The DSE supports Catalist clients and partners by developing data products outside of the scope of the Catalist Tools such as custom reports, data processing, and digital integrations.

The ideal candidate will be a highly motivated individual with excellent technical skills, a strong desire to learn new skills, and an interest in progressive politics. Catalist values creativity and problem-solving. Our work is on the cutting edge of data-driven politics, and your support will help Democratic candidates and progressive organizations conduct successful advocacy and electoral campaigns.

This position reports to the Director of Data Support. Data Services Engineers work closely with the Client Services, Analytics, and Tech teams, and as part of the Data team they support all underlying work at Catalist.

This position is included in our CWA bargaining unit.

Principle Duties & Responsibilities

Acts as an advanced user of all internal and external Catalist tools, data, and products for the purpose of supporting client requests and internal projects

Understands client needs, political implications, and scope of work through consistent communication with other Catalist departments and partner organizations

Oversees all projects assigned from start to finish; successfully delivers reports, lists, and other material requests on time, accurately, and in a client-friendly format with actionable insights

Executes requests for new business development support from Marketing team

Escalates issues and concerns to the Director of Data Support as needed

Creates and maintains documentation to support all deliverables for future replication

Requirements

BS or BA or relevant experience

Willingness to be a creative problem solver and produce results in a fast paced environment

Ability to focus on details and make productive suggestions on ways to streamline and improve processes

Ability to communicate with technical and non-technical audiences, and articulate ideas verbally and through written communications

Ability and willingness to learn new skills quickly

Ability to become an internal subject matter expert on various datasets and support other Catalist departments/teams on usage of those datasets

Background check required

Preferred Skills & Abilities

Interest, familiarity, or experience with SQL, BigQuery, Python, or other relational database programming language

Experience in the following: Terminal or using a Unix command line interface

Experience working with cloud infrastructure and large-scale data workflows in AWS or GCP

Experience managing projects

Familiarity with Catalist data, progressive politics, voter files, and/or large commercial datasets

Interest or familiarity with using LLM’s in secure environments to support work products

Benefits

Medical, Dental, Vision, Prescription Drug

Catalist offers Medical, Dental, Vision, and Prescription Drug coverage for eligible staff and their eligible dependents. Catalist’s Medical plan is a comprehensive PPO program including Prescription Drug coverage with 85% of the premium paid by Catalist. We also offer an HDHP plan with HSA eligibility. Dental and Vision coverage is provided at no cost to employees.

Group Term Life Insurance and Long-Term & Short-Term Disability Coverage

Group Term Life Insurance and Long-Term and Short-Term Disability coverage is available for eligible staff. These benefits are provided at no cost to Catalist employees.

401(k) Safe Harbor Plan

A 401(k) Safe Harbor Plan is available to eligible staff with a 3% contribution from Catalist from the date of hire. Employees may contribute pre-tax or post-tax from their salary up to the legal limits set forth by the IRS.

Medical and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)

Catalist offers an FSA Program that gives eligible staff the ability to pay out-of-pocket medical/dental/vision/child care expenses from pre-tax earnings.

Transit Benefits

Catalist also makes available a Transit benefit FSA program to eligible employees using pre-tax contributions with a company match.

Professional Development and Remote Work Expenses

Eligible employees may be reimbursed up to $750 each year for professional development / education and $500 for remote work expenses.

Student Loan PayDown or SaveUp

Catalist offers a Student Loan PayDown and College SaveUp benefit for eligible staff.

Vacation, Personal Leave, Sick Leave Benefits

Catalist offers generous vacation benefits to all eligible staff. Eligible employees also receive:

15 Paid Holidays (16 in Presidential Inauguration years)

Personal Days

Sick Leave

Parental Leave

Hybrid Office/Remote Work

Certain positions at Catalist are eligible for Office/Remote Hybrid or full Remote status.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.