Data Architect

ABOUT THE JOB

The ACLU seeks applicants for the full-time position of Data Architect in the Product & Engineering division of the Technology Department at the ACLU’s National office in New York, NY, Washington, DC, or San Francisco, CA. This is a hybrid role that has in-office requirements of two (2) days per week or eight (8) days per month.

The ACLU Technology Department is a broad umbrella covering both the ACLU’s Analytics and its Product & Engineering teams, two robust and innovative divisions that power the work of the ACLU. The department provides trusted, dependable, and impactful analytics, engineering, as well as product design and management expertise for the ACLU. In partnership with experts across the ACLU, the technology team delivers best-in-class solutions, services, and innovation that advance the ACLU mission and organizational priorities.

The Tech team strives to ensure the ACLU leads by example in the ethical use of technology by ensuring privacy and security standards are maintained, directional insights are used to inform programming and business strategy, best-in-class products are designed to get the ACLU message out into the world and grow the ACLU supporter base, as well as to help steward high standards for algorithmic fairness, accountability, and transparency. The ideal candidate is an experienced data architect or principal engineer with extensive experience in designing and implementing large-scale, high-performance enterprise-level data management solutions and architectural designs that address complex organizational, compliance, and data governance requirements. The ideal candidate would also have demonstrated expertise in conceptual, logical, and physical data modeling to manage highly complex data structures. Equally important, the ideal candidate has a track record of building trust and alignment with both technical and business stakeholders, translating complex data concepts for non-technical audiences, and navigating competing priorities across teams to drive shared outcomes.

This position is part of a collective bargaining unit. It is represented by ACLU Staff United (ASU).

WHAT YOU'LL DO

Reporting to the Director of Engineering, Data, the Data Architect will join the Data Pod, which leads the ACLU’s operational data engineering efforts. In this role, you will design and implement scalable data architecture solutions, support data governance initiatives, ensure compliance with privacy regulations, and collaborate with cross-functional teams to support the ACLU’s mission through robust data strategies and systems. Your work will ensure that the ACLU and its affiliates can execute fundraising, advocacy, and engagement strategies while prioritizing data privacy and security.

YOUR DAY TO DAY

• You will build, optimize, and maintain conceptual and logical data models and database architecture in support of operational and data analytics systems.
• You will partner with technical and non-technical stakeholders to understand, document, and optimize data flows across the ACLU's ecosystem, facilitating working sessions and presenting trade-offs in ways that help stakeholders make informed decisions.
• You will architect and build a consent management data model and data flows to ensure the ACLU is compliant with privacy legislation and constituent preferences.
• You will design and evolve several other enterprise data architectural efforts – as needed – by defining resilient and scalable data models, integration patterns and governance standards that are performant, secure by design and highly reliable.
• You will play a key role in the migration of our primary fundraising CRM, helping architect future state together with analytics and fundraising stakeholders.
• You will work with business leaders across the organization to understand, document, and deliver on compliance, performance, and security requirements; you will help define and execute on an organizational data governance strategy
• You will sit on our operational data engineering team and provide technical leadership by partnering with our data engineering and analytics engineering teams to establish architecture best practices, review solution designs and RFCs, guide implementation decisions, and ensure data engineering consistency across the technology team.
• You will partner with privacy engineering to ensure data retention, deletion and access requests are compliant and performant.
• You will improve overall data reliability, quality, accessibility, and security; you will anticipate potential issues and propose right-sized solutions.
• You will write clear, detailed, concise documentation, including architecture diagrams, reference architecture, data flows, data models, design, and implementation plans for both technical and business audiences
• You will grow the team's technical expertise through mentorship and provide technical guidance to peers
• You will help build a culture of growth and learning. You will stay ahead of industry trends to propose innovative solutions that improve organizational data capabilities.
• You will "tag in" to perform data engineering tasks when appropriate; you'll work in Python, SQL, dbt, Dagster.
• Engage in special projects and other duties as assigned.

FUTURE ACLU'ERS WILL

• Be committed to advancing the mission of the ACLU
• Center and embed the principles of equity, inclusion and belonging in their work by demonstrating commitment to diversity with an approach that respects and values multiple perspectives
• Be committed to work collaboratively and respectfully toward resolving obstacles and conflicts

WHAT YOU'LL BRING

• Significant professional experience as a data architect or in a similar role, working on large-scale data management solutions and constituent data.
• A proven track record of developing and implementing data strategies and tactical solutions that support organizational goals and business processes.
• Capacity to manage large, complex projects and lead or mentor engineers to foster technical growth.
• Experience partnering with technical and non-technical stakeholders to translate strategic workplans into data architecture roadmaps and ensure solutions deliver measurable value. Deep experience with SQL databases, familiarity with cloud-based data platforms like Redshift or similar cloud data warehouse solutions, such as Snowflake, Azure Data Warehouse, or BigQuery.
• Strong understanding of data architecture concepts, including MDM, enterprise architecture standards, data curation, ETL/ELT, data pipelines, and data security best practices.
• Ability to work collaboratively with a cross-functional team of peers and stakeholders, navigating complex decision-making in a rapidly changing environment.
• Comfortable with diving into technical work required in modern data practices, such as exploring API driven architectures, discovering limitations, learning independently, and sharing your learnings with others.
• Strong problem-solving mindset as it will be critical to navigate complex data structures and environments to solve data integration and data quality issues.
• Excellent thought leadership, alignment-building, and communication skills, including a demonstrated ability to build trust and influence outcomes with senior leadership and cross functional stakeholders in ambiguous or fast-changing environments.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

NICE TO HAVE

• Experience implementing privacy compliance products and/or consent management.
• Experience implementing master data management solutions.
• Some familiarity with BI tools like Tableau and machine learning frameworks
• Some familiarity with recent privacy regulations (CCPA, etc.) and standards

COMPENSATION

WHY THE ACLU

For over 100 years, the ACLU has worked to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Whether it’s ending mass incarceration, achieving full equality for the LGBTQ+ community, establishing new privacy protections for our digital age, or preserving the right to vote or the right to have an abortion, the ACLU takes up the toughest civil liberties cases and issues to defend all people.

We know that great people make a great organization. We value our people and know that what we offer is essential not just their work, but to their overall well-being.

At the ACLU, we offer a broad range of benefits, which include:

• Time away to focus on the things that matter with a generous paid time-off policy
• Focus on your well-being with comprehensive healthcare benefits (including medical, dental and vision coverage, parental leave, gender affirming care & fertility treatment)
• Plan for your retirement with 401k plan and employer match
• We support employee growth and development through annual professional development funds, internal professional development programs and workshops

OUR COMMITMENT TO ACCESSIBILITY, EQUITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

Accessibility, equity, diversity and inclusion are core values of the ACLU and central to our work to advance liberty, equality, and justice for all. For us diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion are not just check-the-box activities, but a chance for us to make long-term meaningful change.  We are a community committed to learning and growth, humility and grace, transparency and accountability. We believe in a collective responsibility to create a culture of belonging for all people within our organization – one that respects and embraces difference; treats everyone equitably; and empowers our colleagues to do the best work possible. We are as committed to anti-oppression, anti-ableism, and anti-racism internally as we are externally. Because whether we’re in the courts or in the office, we believe ‘We the People’ means all of us.

With this commitment in mind, we strongly encourage applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status and record of arrest or conviction, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

The ACLU is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual with a disability and need assistance applying online, please complete the Accommodation Request Form

If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.

The Department of Education has determined that employment in this position at the ACLU does not qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.