Come join us. We are about to change everything.
Who we are and who we want to be
The Democratic Tech team is a small and diverse team that understands the power of technology to help accelerate change, and our mission is to secure the future of our country. Our team already powers the technology that candidates and organizers use in all 3,413 counties and all 50 states across the United States — but we’re hiring engineers, researchers, product managers, designers, security experts, IT professionals, and data scientists who can bring the philosophies of user-centered design and rapid iteration, as well as world-class tools and experiences to this work. We must build rock solid infrastructure and tools to enable state parties to best support their candidates and voters, and amplify the progressive message. This team is responsible for driving the Democratic party forward with technology.
The team’s goals are to:
Understand the needs of Democratic candidates, state parties, and constituents, and make a measurable impact in their ability to execute. Make available secure and foundational technology for all Democratic candidates so they can harness world-class data analytics, run grassroots organizing and voter empowerment programs, raise money, and use cutting-edge technology to get their messages out.
Provide tools to democratic voters and the American people who want to make an impact for the Democratic party and our country.Build an ecosystem of progressive technology by partnering with other enthusiastic companies and organizations, and creating connections and opportunities for us to amplify each other.
To that end, we will be working on everything from data, to voter and volunteer mobilization and registration, reaching out to the American people to engage them, as well as all the supporting work needed to help Democrats in all ways that we can (e.g. training).
About this job
This is a mid-level to senior “full-stack” role either located in our Washington, DC offices -- or remotely from wherever you may be based. Previous political technology experience is not required, but we’re looking for technically flexible people who can tackle any challenge that may arise — whether it means writing backend code in Python, debugging JavaScript, authoring HTML / CSS, shepherding a data sync, releasing an API, or using and designing data models. You will be working on the Democratic Tech team to begin implementing best practices and lessons learned in private and non-governmental industries.
This includes open-sourcing as much as we can, participating in and sometimes leading design reviews, and getting into a quick deploy / measure / refine loop with everything we put out there. We will be working on technology around data analytics, grassroots organizing, voter empowerment, fundraising, and get-the-message-out just to name a few. And, you will also be working to lay down a foundation so others may do this work faster the next time.
You will work with others around the DNC as well as around the country. Beyond writing software, you’ll be debugging how people get work done today and how to make it more efficient, secure, and impactful. This includes identifying competing and conflicting efforts and making recommendations on how to align them. We strongly believe that sometimes the biggest impact we can make is not actually to write software.
Why should you do this?
- You have a mission to do nothing short of secure the future of our country. We are here because we will do everything we know how to do this. We believe that working at the DNC will give us the most leverage to pull this off;
- You get to work with amazing people. We’re building a diverse team with people from a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and stories. You will get to work with engineers, campaign managers, volunteer coordinators, communication experts, and numerous others — we’re finding ways to celebrate our differences and use them to make our team better; and
- You will never stop learning. Few have walked this path, so you will be exploring and blazing a trail for others. Those who have hiked this path before us are absolutely willing to teach — and they are amazing teachers.
However, to be forthright:
- We've done a lot of budget hacking to get competitive when it comes to salaries. We know we can’t beat Google, Facebook, and others, but we’re not too far off to make us competitive.
- We’re a distributed team. Some of us are based in Washington, DC, others of us are spread around the nation. This provides flexibility in the way we do our work, and we believe this lets us find the best people, no matter where they are. But, we also acknowledge that some people need the regularity of an office and physical proximity to co-workers.
- We’re doing something aggressive. We know we are following a non-traditional path and are not in the private sector. We won’t let this hold us back, but, there are different realities when it comes to fundraising and schedules (e.g. elections are immovable dates).
What we’re looking for
- We are currently looking for mid-level to senior engineers who are great communicators, have high emotional intelligence, value simplicity, are pragmatic, and have a bias to action. You do not need to have experience in politics or civic tech to apply, nor do you have to be an overly political person. We are looking for those who are passionate about building products to support our candidates and our voters. Those people are and have:
- Experience writing software professionally and independently owning projects from start to finish;
- Fluent in at least one programming language (Python or JavaScript preferred); and
- An understanding and experience with cloud-based services; and
- Technical flexibility and no dogma around implementation (but rather passion about making a difference).
We also love people who have:
- A desire to collaborate and work closely with cross-functional partners;
- A natural curiosity and humility to the way you approach your work;
- A need to over-communicate in written form, in code comments, and to help break down silos; and
- A desire to change politics for the better, support the the Democratic party, and secure the future of our country.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC), is committed to diversity among its staff, and recognizes that its continued success requires the highest commitment to obtaining and retaining a diverse staff that provides the best quality services to supporters and constituents.
The DNC is an equal opportunity employer and it is our policy to recruit, hire, train, promote and administer any and all personnel actions without regard to sex, race, age, color, creed, national origin, religion, economic status, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity or expression, ethnic identity or physical disability, marital status, matriculation status, caregiver responsibilities, personal appearance, genetic information, or any other legally protected basis.
The DNC will not tolerate any unlawful discrimination and any such conduct is strictly prohibited.
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