About Acacia Center for Justice:
The objective of the Acacia Center for Justice (“Acacia”) is to expand on Vera’s work over the past twenty years in providing legal support and representation to immigrants facing deportation through the development, coordination, and management of national networks of legal services providers serving immigrants across the country. Acacia’s goals are twofold: to support immigrant legal services and defense networks to provide exceptional legal services to immigrants and to advocate for the expansion of these programs and the infrastructure critical to guaranteeing immigrants access to justice, fairness, and freedom. Acacia will focus the collective power of both Vera and CAIR on delivering accountable, independent, zealous, and person-centered legal services and representation to protect the rights of all immigrants at risk of deportation.
Job Summary:
The Data Engineer will be a member of Acacia’s Research Evaluation and Data Analytics (REDA) team. They will provide technical and analytical support to the Director of Data Systems and Analytics and the Director of Research and Evaluation for Acacia’s evolving reporting and research agenda. To achieve this, the Data Engineer will be responsible for building out the data infrastructure for the suite of six immigration legal orientation and representation programs that Acacia administers in partnership with the Legal Access Program of the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR). This work involves managing and enhancing data inputs and architecture for EOIR program databases, as well as the AWS analytic environment that houses the databases, and helping to streamline and improve the ingestion and transformation of data from both internal and external sources. The Data Engineer will also work to develop solutions that allow Acacia staff and subcontractors to securely access, manipulate, and transmit data in support of program delivery, administration, mandatory reporting, and research and evaluation work. The Data Engineer will also collaborate with the Managing Director of IT on data security solutions and work with the external vendors responsible for developing and maintaining our database.
Primary Duties/Responsibilities:
Create and support systems and processes for collecting, compiling, manipulating, and analyzing data to support Acacia’s program and research, which includes:
- Working with the Acacia Research Evaluation and Data Analytics (REDA) team and program management staff to identify and solve data ingestion, migration, management, and integration challenges.
- Designing data models and setting up data environments to support reporting and analysis.
- Building and testing data ingestion, migration, and ETL/ELT processes.
- Automating processes and scheduling jobs within the data environment.
- Writing documentation of systems and processes for collaboration within REDA and with program management staff.
- Partner with REDA team members to provide coding support, conduct code reviews, and apply software engineering best practices for data security.
- Partner with REDA team members to generate mandatory and ad hoc reports for EOIR program work.
- Provide technical support for EOIR program databases (including data quality management, working with IT subcontractors to improve the system logic of database functions, and assisting with database trainings and database technical support for end-users).
- Ensure data ecosystems are security compliant and properly integrated with Acacia’s IT systems where applicable.
- Work closely with IT to ensure compliance and integration of systems.
Required Skills, Knowledge, Abilities:
- Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent and/or certification in data engineering, analytics, data science or another relevant field (machine learning, IT systems, etc.)
- 2+ years of full-time experience in a data engineering capacity.
- 2+ years data analytics experience (including data cleaning and framing, generating reports, data visualizations, writing code and code review)
- Experience collaborating directly with data scientists and data analysts who develop analyses in any combination of R, Python, SQL, Tableau, Stata, etc. preferred.
- Working knowledge of AWS data product ecosystem.
- Prior experience designing and developing data models, building out and testing ETL data pipelines, and automating scheduled workflows using technologies including Github Actions, SQL & Python.
- Fluency in collaborating with Git & Github, with dedication to using these tools to conduct peer code reviews and uphold coding standards.
- High comfort level with ingesting messy source datasets that are prone to manual data entry errors and integrating these into a live database.
- Ability to build repeatable and well-documented processes and tools that can be used by other research & analytics team members, regardless of the languages they use to perform their analyses.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills, including ability to present and teach the use of data infrastructure to a range of audiences in a variety of formats, and work effectively on a large team to advance shared priorities.
- Strong social and emotional awareness with your team and external partners.
- The following security checks are required for this position: a National Crime Information Center (NCIC) check, and an Electronic Questionnaire for Investigations Processing (Tier 1, e-QIP) security clearance: see, https://www.dcsa.mil/is/eqip/.
Preferred Skills, Knowledge, Abilities:
- Experience with Linux and bash scripting.
- Experience building dashboards with tools such as Tableau, Power BI, Looker, etc.
- Experience with automating bespoke tasks (e.g. basic web scraping, using 3rd party APIs).
- Familiarity with government security compliance standards.
- Graduate level education and/or certification in data engineering, analytics, data science or another relevant field (machine learning, IT systems, etc.)
Compensation and Benefits:
Acacia has established an internal compensation philosophy that centers equity and pay transparency. The salary for this position is set at $ $96,000. The salary listed is just one component of Acacia’s total compensation package for employees. Supporting Acacia staff—both personally and professionally—is our priority.
- Medical/Dental/Vision- Some plans at $0 cost to the employee
- Employee Assistance Program
- 20 days per year of vacation time
- 12 days per year of sick time
- 5 personal days
- 4 organization-wide Wellness Days
- 11 observed holidays, including the last week of December
- $2000 Professional Development Stipend
- Home office set-up stipend
- Internet Stipend
- 401k with 5% employer contribution, no employee participation required.
- Student loan repayment assistance.
- Gym Reimbursement
People of color and those who have been impacted by the criminal justice system are strongly urged to apply.
To Apply:
Please upload a resume and cover letter at the link provided or email hiring@acaciajustice.org with Subject: ATTN: Human Resources / [Job Title], Acacia Center for Justice
Equal Opportunity Employment:
Acacia is an equal opportunity employer and seeks to recruit persons of diverse backgrounds and support their retention and advancement within the organization. We are committed to fostering a workplace culture inclusive of people with respect to their race, ethnicity, national origin, gender/gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, marital status, age, disabilities, political affiliation, religious beliefs, or any other characteristic. Our commitment to justice and diversity also means providing a work environment that is welcoming, respectful, and engaging.
As a federal contractor, and in order to ensure a healthy and safe work environment, Acacia Center for Justice is requiring all employees to be fully vaccinated and provide proof of their COVID-19 vaccine before their start date. Employees who cannot receive the vaccine because of a disability/medical contraindication or sincerely-held religious belief may request an accommodation (e.g., an exemption) to this requirement.
This job description is not meant to be an all-inclusive list of duties, responsibilities and requirements but constitutes a general definition of the position's scope and function within our organization.
Acacia Center for Justice is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without unlawful discrimination based on race, color, creed, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, military status, prior record of arrest or conviction, citizenship status, current employment status, or caregiver status.