Staff Software Engineer - Database

WHO WE ARE:

ActBlue is a nonprofit that builds tech and infrastructure for Democratic campaigns, progressive-aligned causes, and people trying to make an impact to fuel long-term, people-powered change. If you’ve ever given online to a Democrat or progressive organization, chances are you’ve used our powerful online fundraising platform.

We put power in the hands of small-dollar donors and help thousands of groups — from presidential candidates to environmental organizations — build grassroots movements. We envision a democracy where everyone looking to make progressive, people-powered change can easily and effectively deploy their resources, energy, and creativity to shape our country and futures. Each and every one of us, from the political activists to the tech innovators to the customer service pros, is fully committed to our mission.

THE OPPORTUNITY: 

We are seeking a Staff Engineer/Architect who is passionate about designing and implementing modern data architectures. We offer autonomy, responsibility, amazing colleagues geeking out about politics and tech, and generous benefits.

As a member of the Database Platform team, you will be directly responsible for the foundation of our data infrastructure. Every ActBlue feature depends on this robust and scalable platform. Help us make it more efficient, reliable, and future-proof! Our team’s mission is to innovate and optimize our data systems to support the organization's evolving needs.

WHAT YOU WILL DO:

As a staff engineer, you will be the technical lead (in partnership with the team manager) for all phases of the data architecture lifecycle:

• Plan: Collaborate closely with stakeholders, including other engineering teams, to gather and define business requirements. Develop quarterly roadmaps that guide the strategic direction of data architecture, ensuring alignment with broader organizational goals.
• Design: Architect a robust and comprehensive data infrastructure that supports diverse use cases, including Machine Learning and AI, transaction processing, application development, and optimized app caching strategies with in-memory databases like Redis and ElastiCache.
• Implement: Lead the Database Platform team through the implementation of the modernized data architecture, striving for high standards of scalability, reliability, and security.
• Test: Design and execute tests to validate the performance, security, and reliability of the data architecture.
• Deploy: Oversee the seamless deployment of database solutions across various environments, ensuring smooth and efficient transitions from development to production.
• Maintain: Manage the automation of critical database processes, including backups, data transformations, and provisioning, across various database technologies. Ensure continuous monitoring and maintenance, utilizing metrics and alerting systems like Datadog to uphold optimal performance and proactively address potential issues.

Additional responsibilities include:

• Ensuring robust disaster recovery planning, documentation, and testing.
• Troubleshooting complex performance issues and implementing tuning solutions.
• Managing security and access control policies, ensuring compliance and monitoring.
• Mentoring and guiding team members, fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
• Staying abreast of emerging technologies and industry trends, recommending and implementing best practices.
• Contributing to supplementary projects as assigned, delivering timely and efficient work aligned with organizational objectives and standards.

WHAT YOU'LL BE WORKING WITH:

• Data Technologies:
• Relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, Aurora)
• Document stores (e.g., DynamoDB)
• In-memory databases (e.g., Redis, ElastiCache)
• Cloud Infrastructure: AWS services, including RDS, Redshift, EMR, and ElastiCache.
• Tooling: Kubernetes, Terraform, Jenkins, GitHub Actions, dbt
• Monitoring: Datadog, OpenTelemetry, Prometheus

WHAT YOU BRING:

• 10+ years of experience in software engineering and architecture.
• Strong knowledge of AWS and cloud database services (specifically multi-region), with the ability to evaluate both technical and cost implications of various database solutions.
• Proven experience in scaling PostgreSQL databases effectively in high-volume, mission-critical environments.
• Expertise in evaluating and implementing architectural changes, including potential solutions such as sharding or other scaling techniques.
• Strong understanding of optimizing database performance, including:
• Offloading materialized views to external systems.
• Refactoring and moving business logic out of the database.
• Driving the adoption of PostgreSQL as a simple key-value store where appropriate.
• A strategic eye for improving database architecture to support scalability and performance.
• Collaborative skills to work cross-functionally and drive organizational alignment on database strategy.
• Expertise in relational databases, document stores, in-memory databases, and big data solutions.
• Proficiency in database replication, monitoring, and troubleshooting.
• Passion for automation and repeatable configuration management.
• Experience with Linux system administration.
• Excellent problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to lead and inspire a team, fostering collaboration and innovation.
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal.
• The ability to leverage your technical expertise not just to tackle the most challenging problem in sight but to empower, teach, and build systems of support that allow others to succeed.
• Experience making recommendations for system-level improvements related to infrastructure. Comfort acting as a go-to consultant for other team engineers.
• Fluency moving between design and implementation.

OUR ENGINEERING VALUES: 

• We believe that ideas are more important than technologies.
• We understand that the tools we build have real-world consequences for millions of people and take that responsibility seriously.
• Security is at the center of everything we do. We are always on the lookout for ways to further harden our platform.
• We know that code isn’t just a set of instructions for machines, but communication with other humans; style, elegance, and respect are important.
• We believe that an ability to balance paying off technical debt and rapidly completing a project contributes to the health of the codebase, engineering team, and organization.
• We believe that being correct isn’t enough; respect for your colleagues and users is fundamental.

LOCATION AND COMPENSATION: 

This posting is for a full-time, remote, salaried position. Travel may be required on a limited basis to attend all-staff and departmental retreats (1-2 times per year). Additional travel may be required for select positions. ATS is currently authorized to support remote work employees in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Washington D.C. and Wisconsin.

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Salary Range Details:

Salary Range: $$191,679-  $$241,452, depending on experience. 

ActBlue is committed to consistent compensation practices across our organization.  Final salary offers will take into account factors such as candidate experience, interview performance and current team salary parity. 

BENEFITS:

• Flexible work schedules and an unlimited time-off policy
• Fully paid and trans-inclusive health, dental, and vision insurance for employees and their families; plus fully-paid health reimbursement arrangement to use for out of pocket expenses and fully-paid short- and long-term disability 
• Fully paid basic and AD&D life insurance and a voluntary supplemental life insurance option
• Dependent and health care flexible spending account options
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) benefits for employees 
• Automatic 2% Employer-paid 401K contribution, plus up to an additional 6% match on employee contributions
• A minimum of three months paid medical, family and parental leave (for all new parents, adoptions included)
• Commuter or home-office benefits, including a $1,000 home-office setup allowance for all new full-time remote employees
• Additional perks including quarterly snack deliveries and digital subscriptions to the Boston Globe & New York Times

ActBlue is unable to sponsor work visas at this time.

Bargaining Unit position: The terms and conditions of this position are subject to a collective bargaining agreement with the Communications Workers of America, the exclusive bargaining agent of covered ActBlue Technical Services employees.

INCLUSION STATEMENT:

ActBlue is deeply committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity. We commit to retaining, developing, recruiting, and hiring a diverse staff community. We honor the dignity of all. We celebrate their unique qualities. And we recognize the wide range of human differences, backgrounds, and intersectional identities that enrich the workspace and help us better meet our mission. If you feel a connection to our mission and see your interests reflected in this job description we encourage you to apply - even if you don’t meet every requirement. 

ActBlue is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities throughout the interview and employment process, including using our online system to apply for a position. If you would like to request an accommodation, please contact us at recruitment@actblue.com to get started.