Head of Data Engineering (Data Architecture & Civic Intelligence)
Public Front · Remote
How To Apply: Send your résumé, GitHub or portfolio, and a short note on why civic infrastructure matters to you to [email protected] with the subject line Head of Data Engineering (Your Name).
About Public Front
Public Front isan early-stage civic technology organization building next-generation infrastructure that helps communities, networks, and institutions understand and strengthen their collective impact.
We are looking for a Head of Data Engineering who wants to use their technical mastery to create meaningful change. You will design and scale data architecture that supports civic engagement, accountability, and progress.
If you’ve ever wanted to use advanced data architecture and engineering to build a better democracy, this is your moment!
About the Role
The Head of Data Engineering should combine deep data architecture expertise with hands-on engineering leadership. You’ll design and scale the core infrastructure from ingestion pipelines and API layers to the knowledge graph and impact reporting architecture.
As the first senior technical hire in this area, you will also shape the foundation of our data systems, mentor engineers, and ensure everything we build is ethical, resilient, and future-ready.
This senior leadership position is responsible for architecting, building, and overseeing the data infrastructure that powers our platform. You will translate real-world complexity into a structured, scalable data ecosystem that turns civic activity into insight and impact.
Key Responsibilities
- Architect and implement distributed data models, pipelines, and integrations for multi-source civic and social-impact data
- Recruit, mentor, and manage a small data engineering team focused on performance, reliability, and scalability
- Develop ingestion, transformation, and storage systems that balance efficiency with governance and privacy
- Design and manage multi-tenant architecture, sharding strategies, and partitioning for high-growth environments
- Create standards for data quality, lineage, and open-data compliance
- Build APIs and analytical frameworks that connect with internal products and external partners
- Work closely with product, research, and strategy teams to align technical architecture with civic outcomes and user needs
- Help define and uphold principles for responsible and transparent data use
Qualifications
- 8–10+ years of experience in data engineering, data architecture, or platform infrastructure; ideally in complex, multi-source data environments with proven technical depth and leadership
- Strong command of Python, SQL, and modern pipeline frameworks such as dbt, Airbyte, or Prefect
- Deep experience with distributed Postgres systems such as Citus, CockroachDB, or YugabyteDB
- Familiarity with streaming systems like Kafka or Redpanda and real-time analytics tools like ClickHouse
- Expertise with Snowflake Cloud, DuckDB/MotherDuck, or ClickHouse for large-scale analytical workloads
- Experience with graph databases such as Neo4j, ArangoDB, or TigerGraph and data-modeling for network visualization
- Proven ability to design vendor-neutral, cloud-independent systems using platforms like Render, Railway, Fly.io, Civo Cloud, or DigitalOcean
- Strong understanding of data privacy, security, and interoperability standards
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to collaborate across technical and non-technical teams
- Purpose-driven and eager to use technology to strengthen democracy, equity, and civic life
Preferred Tools & Stack
- Data Infrastructure: Snowflake Cloud, ClickHouse, PostgreSQL, DuckDB, Neo4j
- ETL and Orchestration: dbt, Airbyte, Prefect, Meltano
- Streaming: Redpanda or Kafka
- Cloud / Hosting: Render, Railway, Fly.io, Civo, Scaleway, or DigitalOcean
- Analytics and Visualization: Metabase, Superset, Hex.tech, Observable
- Storage: Wasabi, Backblaze B2, or Storj (S3-compatible)
- Languages: Python, SQL, GraphQL, optional Rust or Go for performance-critical pipelines
Why Join Us
- Mission: Build the data backbone for the next generation of civic and movement infrastructure
- Impact: Your architecture will directly power real-world change, tracking verified civic participation and supporting millions of users
- Growth: Founding-level role in a high-growth civic tech ecosystem spanning policy, media, and data innovation
- Equity: Participate in our long-term incentive plan, which may include equity, tokenized rewards, or profit-sharing
- Culture: Purpose-driven, distributed, and deeply collaborative team of builders, organizers, and technologists
How To Apply
Send your résumé, GitHub or portfolio, and a short note on why civic infrastructure matters to you to [email protected] with the subject line Head of Data Engineering (Your Name).
