Director of Engineering at Workingfamilies

About the Working Families Party The Working Families Party (WFP) is the progressive party for the multiracial working class, fighting for a nation that works for the many, not the few. We recruit, train, and support transformational candidates up and down the ballot — and run them to win.   We believe that no matter where we come from or what our color, most of us want the same things. We want to earn enough to thrive, not just survive, and leave a better future for our kids. We want healthy food and clean water, safe neighborhoods and a safe world. We want to be free. The Working Families Party is regular people coming together across our differences to make a better future for us all. We’re a multiracial party that fights for workers over bosses and people over the powerful. We want an America which realizes the promise – unrealized in our history – of freedom and equality for all. ABOUT THIS ROLE The Director of Engineering is the technical backbone of the Working Families Power and Working Families Party data and engineering operation. This role is responsible for the full spectrum of integrated data systems — from cloud infrastructure and data pipelines to internal web applications and workflow automations — and for the small team of engineers who work within that ecosystem. This includes playing a senior role in the architecture, engineering, and strategy of a proprietary internal voter file tool, Votivate. The Director is part of a six person Data, Analytics, Technology, and Ængineering team which improves how we use data and technology to support organizing, campaigns, and daily operations. This includes strengthening core systems, fixing bottlenecks, and making it easier for staff to do their work. They oversee the systems that move and store data, ensure tools are connected and working smoothly, and maintain reliable processes for building and updating our technology. They also help the organizations make better decisions by ensuring teams have clear, useful data and analysis. They support staff in using key tools, improve documentation, and make sure systems are well maintained over time. This is not a purely strategic or purely hands-on role. The Director of Engineering will spend significant time writing and shipping code alongside their team, while also serving as the primary technical point of contact for engineering requests from non-engineering staff across the organization. A major part of the job is translating organizer and campaign needs into scoped, prioritized engineering work — then leading implementation, whether by delegating to direct reports or doing it themselves. Our data infrastructure is mature and robust. The team is not in a phase of ambitious system-building; it's in a phase of disciplined stewardship. The right candidate is someone who finds satisfaction in keeping complex systems running well, building features on top of solid foundations, and supporting staff in getting the most out of tools that already exist. This role reports to the Director of Data, Analytics, Technology, & Engineering and manages the Senior Software Engineer and Analytics Engineer. ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Team & Project Management • Manage and support two direct reports — the Senior Software Engineer and Analytics Engineer — through regular 1:1s, goal-setting, and ongoing feedback • Serve as the primary engineering liaison on engineering requests from non-technical staff across the organization: meet with stakeholders, assess needs, translate requests into scoped projects with clear deliverables and timelines • Plan and prioritize engineering work across the team, balancing incoming requests against maintenance needs and longer-term reliability work • Oversee the Senior Software Engineer's work on Votivate, a proprietary internal voter file tool, providing technical direction and ensuring alignment with organizational priorities Workflow Automation & Application Development • Maintain and extend our suite of data pipelines, automations, and internal web applications, including ingestion (APIs / BigQuery mirrors), transformation (dbt / Python), orchestration (Prefect), and serving (Flask-based UIs) • Build new features and tools in response to organizer and campaign needs — such as configurable list pulls, voter contact syncs, or staff-facing dashboards — scoping and implementing these either directly or in collaboration with direct reports • Ensure all tooling is well-documented, intuitive for staff, and maintainable over time Cloud Infrastructure & Reliability • Own day-to-day oversight of our engineering tech stack, including Prefect, GitHub, AWS, Google Cloud, and related tools and platforms • Ensure data systems are monitored, reliable, and resilient to failure; lead incident response and long-term reliability practices • Maintain CI/CD pipelines and containerized deployments; manage cloud infrastructure provisioning and configuration • Work with The Movement Cooperative to ensure data from our tool ecosystem syncs reliably into BigQuery; build and maintain standalone syncs as needed ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES • Performs other related duties as assigned. SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS Requirements: • Demonstrated experience working across the full data engineering stack in a complex environment, ideally in electoral or advocacy settings • 1+ years of people management experience, or demonstrated experience leading and coordinating technical work across a small team • Strong verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to work directly with non-technical stakeholders to understand needs, scope projects, and communicate technical decisions clearly Technical Requirements: • Experience in a scripting language such as Python to manipulate data from multiple sources and push to different destinations using APIs • Experience with web application backends (Python/Flask/Django or Node.js) • Experience with columnar database systems (BigQuery, Redshift, DuckDB, or similar) • Experience with orchestration tools (Prefect, Airflow, or similar) and transformation layers (dbt) • Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS and/or GCP), including provisioning and configuration • Experience with CI/CD tooling (GitHub Actions, Jenkins, CircleCI, or similar) and containerized deployments • Experience doing data for electoral, issue, or movement campaigns Preferred: • Familiarity with The Movement Cooperative and its offerings • Experience in political, electoral, movement, or campaign contexts • Experience with the Parsons library or similar Python API connector ecosystems • Basic familiarity with frontend development (React or HTML/CSS/JS) for internal-facing tools • Experience with infrastructure-as-code tools (Terraform, Ansible, or similar) LOCATION • This is a full-time, fully remote position. Candidates must be based in the United States. SCHEDULE • The position is full time. UNION AFFILIATION • Working Families Party / Working Families Power is a unionized workplace. This is a managerial position, not included in WFP’s staff bargaining unit WFP's union employees are represented by the New York Metropolitan Area Joint Board, Workers United union. Applicants must be currently authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor, or take over sponsorship of, employment visas at this time. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Working Families Party is an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to economic and social justice. Women, people of color, LGBTQ people, people with disabilities, and members of other historically disenfranchised populations are strongly encouraged to apply. Any applicant who requires an accommodation in order to apply for or perform the essential functions of the job should contact us at [Upgrade to PRO to see contact] with the subject line "Application Accommodation" to request such an accommodation.