Senior Software Engineer II

Remote - US Full Time Senior
$174K - $192K Yearly

Published on November 13, 2023

ActBlue is a nonprofit tech organization working to help Democratic campaigns, progressive organizations, and nonprofits build campaigns fueled by small-dollar donors.

We set the bar high for ourselves. Every day we handle tens of thousands of contributions from small-dollar donors. That’s our nonprofit mission in action. And it wouldn’t be possible without a collaborative work environment that values professional growth and innovation.

Each department uses modern best practices with a dash of elbow grease and teamwork to get the job done. Our tech team uses Rails, PostgreSQL, Redis, and Node.js combined with excellent test coverage and efficient code to develop the software that powers ActBlue.

WHO WE ARE:
ActBlue is a nonprofit that builds tech and infrastructure for Democratic campaigns, progressive-aligned causes, and people trying to make an impact in order to fuel long-term, people-powered change. If you’ve ever given online to a Democrat or progressive organization, chances are you’ve used our powerful online fundraising platform.
We put power in the hands of small-dollar donors and help thousands of groups — from presidential candidates to environmental organizations — build grassroots movements. We envision a democracy where everyone looking to make progressive people-powered change can easily and effectively deploy their resources, energy, and creativity to shape our country and futures. Each and every one of us, from the political activists to the tech innovators to the customer service pros, is fully committed to our mission.
THE OPPORTUNITY:
We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer II to join our Extensibility and Integrations team. In this pivotal role, you'll delve into the dynamic world of digital fundraising, enabling fundraising administrators to seamlessly integrate and manage contribution data within their diverse toolsets. You'll be instrumental in developing an intuitive, self-managed suite of tools, advancing our reporting and integration capabilities, and crafting a seamless experience for fundraising administrators across our platform. Collaborating closely with product, design, and cross-functional teams, you'll be at the forefront of developing and fine-tuning ActBlue’s integrative solutions. You’ll identify and execute key improvements that not only boost product performance but solidify the reliability, scalability, and maintainability of our systems. Your innovative approach to developing extensible solutions will enhance ActBlue's data and reporting tools, propelling our technology to meet the immediate needs of our users while paving the way for future advancements. As a member of our  team, you will play a critical part in reinforcing the technological infrastructure that powers progressive movements, ensuring our tools are not just effective for today's challenges but are also geared for tomorrow's opportunities.
Our engineering and product organization is made up of about 100 empathetic and passionate people. We’re organized into cross-functional teams that operate independently in alignment with ActBlue’s broader organizational goals. 
WHAT YOU WILL DO:
  • Lead and uphold database modernization efforts, optimizing large-scale systems for efficiency and reliability while safeguarding sensitive donor information through advanced data management and retention strategies.
  • Champion the design and implementation of scalable data solutions and robust APIs, ensuring seamless data integration, high availability, and alignment with business goals for peak performance during critical fundraising moments.
  • Proactively tackle database performance, refining schemas and enhancing data retrieval processes while creating strategic integrations for vendor APIs for improved system interconnectivity.
  • Advocate for comprehensive monitoring systems and software quality standards, implementing best practices that anticipate and accommodate future scalability and maintenance needs.
  • Embrace a forward-looking approach to technology, drive innovation and adaptability in our product suite, and mentor members of the team to foster an environment of continuous learning and improvement.
  • Prioritize impactful technical solutions with a focus on user-friendly data access and exchange. Lead by example in writing maintainable code, documenting effectively, and providing technical mentorship.
  • Grasp the nuances of managing historical data, including archiving and retention policies, with an acute awareness of the sensitivity surrounding donor/contribution information in a fundraising organization.
  • Recognize the importance of addressing tech debt head-on. Your proactive approach will ensure our systems remain agile and adaptable, setting us up for future success.
  • Demonstrate technical leadership by writing documentation, establishing effective monitoring, and fostering clear and audience-oriented communication. Coach and mentor other engineers on your team and create spaces for individuals to be engaged, valued, and heard while partnering with engineering managers to find sponsorship and growth opportunities for your colleagues.
WHAT YOU’LL BE WORKING WITH:
  • Frontend Development: JavaScript with React.
  • Backend Development: Ruby on Rails, with SQL via PostgreSQL for database management, Node.js.
  • Data Management: GraphQL for API queries, Sidekiq for background job processing.
Development Tools: TypeScript for static type checking, Yarn + Webpack for managing dependencies and builds, ESLint/Prettier for code quality control.
  • Infrastructure and Monitoring:
Application Hosting: Heroku for deploying, Kubernetes for container orchestration.
  • Monitoring and Error Tracking: Datadog for system monitoring, Bugsnag for error detection.
  • Data Analytics and Reporting: Mixpanel for tracking user interactions, Looker for data analysis powered by SQL/PSQL for in-depth PostgreSQL querying.
WHAT YOU BRING:
  • The ability to leverage your technical expertise not just to tackle the hardest problem in sight but to empower, teach, and build systems of support that allow others to succeed.
  • Experience recommending system-level improvements related to security, scalability, and reliability – and comfort acting as a go-to consultant on these matters for other engineers on the team.
  • Experience in Ruby on Rails as well as significant experience developing and maintaining large monolithic server-side web applications.
  • Fluency moving between and across technical systems and stacks – or at least a willingness to try. Our team focuses primarily on the back end, but a candidate for this role would ideally have experience with and an understanding of the entire technological ecosystem.
  • Excitement for your own and your teammates’ learning and growth.
  • An expert-level understanding of performance, scalability, and security concerns, especially as they relate to front-end code.
  • A track record of effective collaboration with other engineers to develop abstractions and patterns that make it easy to build reliable software.
  • Experience working closely with product and design teams to iterate on and refine product requirements, and the ability to take a long-term view when it comes to inevitable tradeoffs.
  • Eagerness to explore and refactor legacy code – we’ve been doing this for a while now and could use an engineer who brings an empathetic but forward-thinking approach to working in an older codebase.
  • An understanding of and a desire to co-create systems that build psychological safety on the team: sharing learning with others, using peer review as an opportunity to celebrate and build others up, and a willingness to practice the duality of listening and leadership.
OUR ENGINEERING VALUES:
  • We believe that ideas are more important than technologies.
  • We understand that the tools we build have real-world consequences for millions of people and take that responsibility seriously.
  • We know that code isn’t just a set of instructions for machines but communication with other humans; style, elegance, and respect are important.
  • We believe that an ability to balance paying off technical debt and rapidly completing a project contributes to the health of the codebase, engineering team, and organization.
  • We believe that being correct isn’t enough; respect for your colleagues and users is fundamental.
Follow us on Twitter @ActBlue and our blog
LOCATION AND COMPENSATION:
This posting is for a full-time, remote, salaried position. Travel may be required on a limited basis to attend all-staff and departmental retreats (1-2 times per year). Additional travel may be required for select positions. ATS is currently authorized to support remote work employees in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Washington D.C. and Wisconsin.
Salary Range: $173,676 - $192,209, depending on experience. 
BENEFITS:
  • Flexible work schedules and an unlimited time-off policy
  • Fully paid and trans-inclusive health, dental, and vision insurance for employees and their families
  • Automatic 2% 401K contribution, plus up to 6% match
  • Three months paid parental leave for all new parents, adoptions included; 4 weeks of a fully paid flexible work schedule; plus an additional one week of paid leave and an additional one week of flexible work schedule for every full year the employee has worked for ActBlue
  • Commuter or home-office benefits, including a $1,000 home-office setup allowance for all new full-time remote employees
  • Additional perks include monthly snack deliveries and digital subscriptions to the Boston Globe & New York Times
  • Prof dev budget
ActBlue is unable to sponsor work visas at this time.
INCLUSION STATEMENT:
ActBlue is deeply committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity. We commit to retaining, developing, recruiting, and hiring a diverse staff community. We honor the dignity of all and celebrate each person’s unique qualities. We recognize the wide range of human differences, backgrounds, and intersectional identities that enrich the workspace and help us better meet our mission. If you feel a connection to our mission and see your interests reflected in this job description, we encourage you to apply – even if you don’t meet every requirement. 
ActBlue is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities throughout the interview and employment process, including using our online system to apply for a position.
*ActBlue will never ask candidates to buy equipment, nor will we email from anything other than an actblue.com or actbluetech.com email address. 
*ActBlue will never ask candidates to buy equipment, nor will we email from anything other than an actblue.com or actbluetech.com email address. 
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