Job details

Data Engineer, Election Platforms (all-levels)

Job Description

The Washington Post is hiring a data engineer for our Election Platforms team, to work on our data pipelines, tools, and infrastructure ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

The Election Platforms team focuses on leveraging data, partnering with stakeholders, and pioneering serviceable tools to facilitate The Post’s election coverage. This role is part of Elections Engineering, a cross-functional group of full-stack engineers and data scientists, with varied technical and academic backgrounds, responsible for delivering live election results across The Post’s platforms.

The role will be focused on contributing to our technical stack and developing new technology to facilitate robust and lively election coverage. In particular, we’re looking for candidates who would be comfortable working on deploying high-impact code in production and have an interest in data and newsroom tooling. We also work on other data engineering projects related to elections, such as voter registration data and campaign finance, and occasionally write

open

source

software

. Most of our work is in Python and TypeScript/React/Node.

We typically work at a higher level of abstraction than a single story, and aim to create general purpose tools that are reusable and easy to deploy. Our ideal candidates are creative problem-solvers, who are comfortable writing production level code to solve real-world newsroom problems. This position is remote-friendly for work in the US.

Motivation

You have a desire to contribute to The Post’s journalism through technology.
You are passionate about refining and improving team process, culture, documentation and communication while tackling complex data science and engineering challenges.
You want to work at a deeper level of abstraction than a single story or beat.
You are excited about learning new technologies and applying them to the practice of journalism.

Responsibilities

Work on the software components of our live election architecture including deployment, observability, participating in code reviews, and more.
Work closely with our engineers and data scientists to develop and maintain pipelines and administrative apps/dashboards for election data.
Work on tooling to make data preparation easier and more efficient for our live election model.
Work with newsroom stakeholders to assess needs, build useful and reusable tooling, and contribute to storytelling.
Foster effective team collaboration and communication by improving and documenting internal tools, processes and guidelines.
Assist in attracting and hiring team members who want to work at the intersection of journalism and technology by actively participating in recruiting – and contributing feedback on our overall hiring process.

Qualifications

A minimum of one year of experience building and maintaining backend and data engineering applications.
Proficiency across some of the languages and frameworks used in our engineering stack such as Python, TypeScript/React/Node, and AWS services.
A desire to work on cutting edge, cross-functional tools to help with features, data science, and machine learning/big data work in a team setting.
Experience with election data is not necessary, but is a plus.
Experience developing and deploying newsroom tools and applications is not necessary, but is a plus.

Levels

If you have less than three years, but at least one year, we’d love to evaluate you for a data engineer role.
If you have more than three years but less than about seven years, we’d love to evaluate you for a senior data engineer role.
If you have more than about seven years, we’d love to talk to you about a principal data engineer role.

Wherever you are in your life or career, The Washington Post offers comprehensive and inclusive benefits for every step of your journey:

Competitive medical, dental and vision coverage
Company-paid pension and 401(k) match
Three weeks of vacation and up to three weeks of paid sick leave
Nine paid holidays and two personal days
20 weeks paid parental leave for any new parent
Robust mental health resources
Backup care and caregiver concierge services
Gender affirming services
Pet insurance
Free Post digital subscription
Leadership and career development programs

Benefits may vary based on the job, full-time or part-time schedule, location, and collectively bargained status.

The Post strives to provide its readers with high-quality, trustworthy news and information while constantly innovating. That mission is best served by a diverse, multi-generational workforce with varied life experiences and perspectives. All cultures and backgrounds are welcomed.

The innovation doesn’t end in the Newsroom – dozens of teams power The Washington Post. We are now hiring the next innovator – how will you Impact Tomorrow?

#washpostlife

By The Washington Post

The Washington Post is an award-winning news leader whose mission is to connect, inform, and enlighten local, national and global readers with trustworthy reporting, in-depth analysis and engaging opinions. The Post is as much a tech company as it...

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FUNDING

Private

INDUSTRY

Publishing

TEAM SIZE

1001-5000

LOCATION

Hybrid, based in Washington, DC

DATE POSTED