### **ABOUT US:**
For campaigns, non-profits, charities, and other organizations, reaching the
right people is harder than ever. Non-profit donor files are shrinking.
Campaigns don’t have time to waste dollars. Agencies and brands are tired of
vendors who vanish after dropping a list.
The old ways aren’t working, and too many organizations are paying more for
less.
We built Leverage to change that.
Leverage is a social-good data company that works to help campaigns, non-
profits, charities, and other organizations find their people. We turn
behavioral, demographic, and donor data into strategies that reach the right
people, and only the right people. Our AI-powered models predict who’s most
likely to engage and convert, delivering less waste, higher ROI, and a clear
edge in competitive markets.
### THE ROLE:
* Title: Data Engineer
* Location: Washington DC or Remote with occasional travel
* Position Type: Full Time, Exempt
* Compensation: $110,000 - $145,000 OTE, including base and bonus
Leverage is hiring a Data Engineer who will be an operational backbone of our
data ecosystem — keeping data quality high, building automations/ pipelines,
and ensuring our existing infrastructure and delivery platforms run smoothly.
A traditional data engineering background is key, but comfort with various
software or full-stack engineering languages is also a major plus.
Our customers include some of the most innovative political campaigns, blue-
chip non-profits, and leading agencies in the mission-driven space. They rely
on our data to acquire new supporters, fuel their fundraising, and power
rapid-response moments. Your work will directly impact their success.
This role is highly cross-functional involving both traditional data
engineering work and infrastructure oversight. You'll be the primary focal
point for maintaining and improving our systems, while partnering with data
science on testing and implementing new models, and collaborating with our
Client Services team to handle custom data requests and ensure clients get
exactly what they need.
This is an early-stage startup role where you'll have significant autonomy and
impact. Some days, you'll be building automations to eliminate hours of manual
work. Other days, you'll be troubleshooting a data pipeline, handling a
client's custom data request, or working with our client team to improve how
we ingest data. You'll touch many areas — data operations, infrastructure, and
building new capabilities — because in a small, growing company, that's what
it takes to move fast and deliver results.
If you're energized by seeing your work have immediate impact, thrive when
given problems to solve (not just tasks to execute), and want to grow your
skills in a mission-driven environment—we encourage you to apply.
### JOB DESCRIPTION:
**Data Engineering**
* Maintain and improve data quality across all datasets through systematic cleaning, validation, and monitoring
* Build automations to replace manual data processes and workflows, eliminating repetitive work
* Perform QA and testing on data releases before shipping to clients, acting as the final check to catch issues before they reach downstream teams
* Monitor data pipelines and proactively troubleshoot failures to ensure reliability
* Handle client data onboarding, custom data requests, and operational support
* Support implementation of CRM integrations and ETL pipelines
* Write Python scripts to automate data extraction, processing, transformation, and operations tasks
* Actively use and maintain AI-assisted development tools — including Claude Code and GitHub Copilot — as a core part of your engineering workflow, not an afterthought
**LevOps Platform**
* Own the day-to-day maintenance and iterative development of our internal Lev Ops platform, built on Claude Code
* Build new features, workflows, and automations within Lev Ops as the platform evolves and team needs grow
* Identify opportunities to expand what Lev Ops can do — proactively bringing ideas to reduce manual lift across the team
* Ensure platform reliability, monitor for issues, and respond when things break
**Data Operations + Scalability**
* Manage day-to-day database operations and performance optimization
* Build internal tools that make the team and stakeholders more self-sufficient
* Support data science with data preparation, feature engineering, and testing for model development
* Partner with Client Services to ensure smooth data delivery and translate client requests into technical solutions
* Coordinate with leadership to understand priorities and ensure your work aligns with company goals
* Provide support for DevOps tasks including AWS monitoring, basic infrastructure maintenance, and deployment support
* Document processes and systems to build institutional knowledge as the company grows
### REQUIREMENTS:
* 3–5 years of experience in data engineering, analytics engineering, or a related technical role
* BS in Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, or related field (or equivalent practical experience)
* Strong Python and SQL skills with hands-on experience in data transformation and automation
* Experience with data quality frameworks, testing, and validation — you know how to build systems that catch errors before they become problems
* Comfortable with cloud infrastructure basics (AWS preferred: S3, RDS, basic networking)
* Experience with APIs, data pipelines, and ETL/ELT concepts
* Proficiency with Git/GitHub for version control and collaborative development
* Hands-on experience with AI coding tools (Claude Code, Copilot, Cursor, or similar) — you use these daily and know how to get real output from them, not just autocomplete
* Comfortable owning an internal platform end-to-end: building it, maintaining it, and improving it without a dedicated team around you
* Self-starter who is comfortable with ambiguity and working with real-world, messy data (not clean Kaggle datasets)
* Ability to learn new technologies quickly and adapt as needs evolve
* Strong problem-solving skills and ability to debug complex data issues
* Pragmatic approach to engineering: you balance "perfect" with "good enough" to keep things moving
* Comfortable navigating a fast-paced startup environment where roadmap, priorities, and tasks can shift with evolving strategy
* Excited about supporting progressive political campaigns and organizations — we work exclusively with Democratic-aligned candidates and social-good nonprofits
* Familiarity with political, fundraising, or nonprofit data is a major plus, but not required
### IS THIS ROLE FOR YOU?
**You should definitely apply if you:**
* Get satisfaction from making messy, manual processes clean and automated
* Care deeply about data quality and catch errors others might miss
* Are comfortable being the "go-to person" for both ongoing data operations and one-off requests
* Want to work somewhere your contributions directly support progressive causes
* Thrive with autonomy and don't need your hand held to get things done
* Are excited about growing your technical skills in ML systems and production engineering
* Value mission and impact
**You might not be the right fit if:**
* You want narrow, specialized work with well-defined boundaries
* You need extensive structure and established processes to be productive
* You get easily bored by operational execution
* You want the resources, specialization, and scale of a large tech company
* Do not feel motivated to promote the success of left-of-center campaigns + causes
* You're uncomfortable with ambiguity or shifting priorities
### BENEFITS + CULTURE:
* Compensation: $110,000 - $145,000 OTE, including base salary and bonus if employee and company hit assigned goals
* Full medical, dental, and vision insurance with premiums 100% covered by Leverage. We also cover 50% of premiums for spouses and children.
* 401K plan. Leverage matches up to 4% of salary with a 5% employee contribution.
* 4 months paid maternity/paternity leave
* Unlimited vacation, with enforced two-week minimum. Due to the nature of our work, there may be blackout periods around elections or year-end.
* Gym or fitness reimbursement up to $100 per month
* Cell phone/internet reimbursement up to $100 per month
* Coworking membership reimbursement up to $250 per month
* $1,000 annual company service credits for the cause of your choosing
Founded in 2024, Leverage is a fully remote startup. Our culture is dynamic
and energetic — and this role will come in on the ground floor of a company
that’s building out a suite of solutions that will help organizations change
the world for the better. We take this seriously, but also think the work is a
lot of fun! As a growing startup, we are often all hands on deck when it comes
to problem solving and enhancing our product line. That means a lot will be
expected of this role, but you will also be supported.
We care about the well-being of our employees and enforce a two-week minimum
of vacation per year as well as providing fitness reimbursements. We offer a
flexible work schedule, which provides balance to what will not always be a
40-hour work week.