What are the responsibilities and job description for the Senior Back-End Developer position at Grassroots Analytics?
Grassroots Analytics' mission is to provide innovative data solutions to amplify forward-thinking voices, causes, and people.
Grassroots Analytics ("GA") maintains a detailed database on more than 20 million active American donors, including data on net worth, ideological preferences, political donation history, non-profit donation history, demographics, and contact information.
About The Role
We're building a next-generation data analytics platform on Google Cloud Platform to power in-app workflows and analytics for our users. Our stack includes Python microservices, Airflow for pipeline orchestration, and a React/Next.js frontend. You'll join a small, cross-functional team responsible for end-to-end service development, deployment, and operational excellence.
What You'll Do
- Design, implement, and maintain backend services and APIs in Python
- Build and optimize data pipelines using Apache Airflow
- Collaborate with product and frontend teams to define clear service contracts
- Develop infrastructure-as-code for GCP resources (Pub/Sub, Cloud Functions, BigQuery, Cloud Storage)
- Ensure reliability: write tests, set up monitoring/alerting, troubleshoot production issues
- Participate in code reviews, mentor junior engineers, and help evolve our best practices
What We're Looking For
- 4 years of professional Python development experience
- Hands-on experience with Apache Airflow (authoring DAGs, operators, scheduling)
- Strong working knowledge of Google Cloud Platform services (Compute Engine, Cloud Functions, BigQuery, Pub/Sub, IAM)
- Experience containerizing applications (Docker) and deploying with CI/CD (GitHub Actions, Cloud Build, etc.)
- Solid understanding of SQL and relational databases; bonus for NoSQL (Firestore/Datastore)
- Familiarity with RESTful API design
- Commitment to code quality: automated tests, linting, type checking
Nice-to-Haves
- Experience with Terraform or other IaC tools
- Knowledge of Kubernetes and serverless architectures
- Background in event-driven or streaming data systems (Dataflow, Kafka)
- Exposure to security best practices in cloud environments
- Experience performing statistical analysis and data modeling (e.g., using NumPy, pandas, SciPy)
- Familiarity with machine learning frameworks and workflows (e.g., scikit-learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch)
The salary range for this position is $140,000 – $200,000 plus benefits, with the possibility of signing and performance bonuses. This is a full-time, in-office position based in our office in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Candidates must be willing to work in-office.
We offer 33 days of PTO two days for every year with GA; 11 federal holidays; and full office closure between Christmas and New Years. Additional benefits include healthcare, dental, and vision insurance; paid parental leave; mental health and sick days; 401K with employer match; profit sharing; and more.
Grassroots Analytics is an equal opportunity employer, committed to providing a diverse, inclusive, and welcoming environment where everyone is empowered to do their best work. Grassroots Analytics does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, gender expression, age, national origin, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status.