Data Acquisition Specialist

Job description

Civitech is a public benefit corporation dedicated to creating a fairer and more equitable democracy by building the tools and infrastructure needed to increase civic participation, empower Democratic candidates to win, and support the success of progressive causes. Since its founding in 2019, over 1400 partners—a range of nonprofit organizations, national political committees, and individual campaigns—have utilized Civitech’s tools to reach tens of millions of voters to help create a more equitable and progressive democracy. The Data Acquisition Specialist will lead research focused on the extraction, normalization and ingestion of civic data. This person would join a team working to build an unparalleled database used to inform the public and register new voters. Civitech is a remote-first company hiring within our current footprint of 27 states (AL, AK, CA, CO, DC, DE, FL, GA, HI, IL, MA, MD, MN, NC, ND, NH, NJ, NV, NY, OH, SD, TN, TX, VA, WA, WI, WY); Civitech does have an office in Austin, TX. It is important that our team reflects the diversity of the organizations we seek to serve. We strongly encourage women, people of color, LGBTQIA+ people, and others otherwise underrepresented in the technology sector to apply. **What You Will Do:** **(50%) Data Acquisition:** - File hundreds of public records requests to obtain publicly available data - Work closely with technical staff to build and apply web scrapers - Use internal data platforms, SQL and Google Sheets to extract, clean, explore and upload data - Drive fast-paced, complex research projects through thoughtful planning, organization and delegation - Troubleshoot data issues, resolve flags, and share learnings to enhance data quality and the end user experience **(50%) Project Management:** - Lead a research project focused on the collection of data from public information requests - Delegate tasks, monitor progress, and find creative solutions to meet tight deadlines - Independently develop project checkpoints, milestones, and dashboards for assessing and communicating progress to the broader team - Scope out new research projects and communicate requirements around timeline, scope and staffing **About You:** - Experience using web scrapers to collect data from both static and dynamic sources - Experience filing public records requests - 3-7 years of professional experience in data acquisition and project management - Strong written and verbal communication skills - Proficiency with SQL - Strong attention to detail and excellent time management skills - Experience maintaining complex datasets - Committed to leveraging technology and data products to increase civic participation **Additional Qualifications (desired but not required)** - Experience working with political data - Experience partnering with software engineers and technical staff to build simple tools **About our Data Acquisition Team:** The Data Acquisition team is focused on building processes to extract, normalize, ingest and regularly refresh large volumes of civic data. The Data Acquisition Specialist is on our Data Acquisition team and reports to our Director of Data Acquisition. ### Civitech’s Values: - **We act with Integrity** – At Civitech, we hold ourselves to the highest standards and value open and transparent communications with all of our stakeholders. Our rigorous approach to product design, testing, and data science leads to accurate assessments of our outcomes and challenges us to constantly improve our tools. - **We are Changemakers** – As a team, Civitech seeks to make transformational change in our democracy by eliminating obstacles meant to hamper contribution from every member of the community. - **We are Collaborators** - Buoyed by our mission, we look for opportunities to partner with everyone committed to making democracy easier to participate in. We seek to understand the challenges our partners face and use our skills and creativity to help them solve them. - **We are Bold** – We recognize that disruptive change won’t come with doing business as usual. Civitech seeks to revolutionize civic participation by bringing innovation and creativity to politics. ### Why Work at Civitech: - Medical, Vision, & Dental Insurance - 401(k) plan - Employee Stock Options - Employer-paid Life Insurance - Short/Long Term Disability Insurance - Flexible Time Off & Paid Company Holidays - Flexible Spending Account - Parental Leave - Flexible Schedules - Professional Development Stipend - Monthly Office Upkeep Stipend