Senior Data Scientist Job

Who We Are
At Murmuration we believe that America’s promise is shaped and reshaped by the best ideas and ideals of its communities and the dreams of the people who believe in a better life for themselves their families and each other. 

We help organizations build power in their communities in four key ways: we organize a network of values-aligned partners; we provide deep data-driven insights into people places and perspectives; we develop tools that make organizing and engagement easy and more effective; and we offer services that strengthen our partners’ capacity to lead change in their communities.

We envision an America where every community has what it needs to help people lead healthy free and dignified lives. We work to redesign the systems and structures we all depend on — how we learn live govern and solve problems — so that they are just equitable resilient and rooted in shared responsibility. By strengthening the ties that hold communities together we aim for civic life defined by collective action and care with effective leadership that truly represents everyone. 

We are a collaborative curious and creative team of organizers scientists teachers technologists campaign veterans and more who share the unwavering belief that we can use our gifts in service of transforming America — together. We’ve built our team guided by the belief that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And so we support each other relentlessly — rallying together to face challenges the same way we celebrate each other’s wins.

About the Position

As a Senior Data Scientist at Murmuration you’ll practice “full-stack” data science shepherding problems from ideation to implementation. The Data Science team works on diverse datasets with hundreds of millions of records to analyze data build pipelines and derive insights to power Murmuration’s data and tools. A core part of this work is our predictive stack: we use the voter file and other supplemental datasets to build scores that predict individual behaviors and beliefs such as likelihood to turn out to vote support an issue or volunteer on a campaign. These scores help campaigns and organizers allocate their resources more effectively reaching the right people at the right time. In this role you will help drive this work forward developing innovative methodologies with a focus on campaign data models and entity resolution. As a senior member of the team you’ll mentor developing data scientists and junior analysts and collaborate closely with the engineering product and research teams.

Job Level P4

What You’ll Do

• Lead and execute data science projects including predictive modeling algorithm design and data pipelines;
• Develop innovative industry-leading campaign data science models specifically partisanship and turnout models;
• Independently (and often collaboratively) explore data sets for insights and understanding what can help drive product development and feature prioritization;
• Transform data into actionable and compelling insights through analysis and visualization and then effectively communicate these data-driven stories to internal and external stakeholders through memos and presentations;
• Collaborate with the Engineering Team to take data science products and concepts into production;
• Provide guidance and mentoring to level-up junior data scientists in both formal and informal learning sessions; and
• Apply emerging AI technologies to R&D challenges; you’ll prototype novel approaches evaluate feasibility and bridge the gap between cutting-edge capabilities and practical usability.

• 6+ years of work experience as a Data Scientist or equivalent role producing models and analytics for business applications;
• Deep understanding of advanced data science techniques machine learning algorithms and optimization methods;
• Experience building and deploying machine learning models;
• Proficiency in data engineering and data pipelines;
• Skill in using advanced data visualization tools and techniques to effectively communicate insights and tell compelling stories with data;
• Mastery of programming languages (Python and SQL) version control (Git)  and ability to learn and apply new data science tools and techniques efficiently;
• Exceptional problem-solving abilities strong leadership skills and ability to communicate insights strategically to influence team direction;
• Ability to mentor and guide junior team members in their technical growth and development; and
• Capacity to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams and stakeholders.

Nice to Haves

• Domain expertise in organizing and advocacy;
• Experience working with voter file data and in campaign data science;
• Familiarity with data engineering tools such as dbt and Dagster;
• Experience with polling methodologies survey analysis and multilevel regression and poststratification (MRP) modeling; and/or
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Statistics Computer Science Mathematics Physics Economics Computer Engineering or a related field.

Talented Data Scientists come from all walks of life and career. If you are passionate about civic engagement and technology please apply even if you do not check every box!

Location and Compensation

The Senior Data Scientist is a full-time salaried position with a comprehensive benefits package (detail below) open to candidates anywhere in the United States.

The starting salary for this position is $183013. We set compensation using market data and apply it consistently across the organization to ensure fairness and transparency for everyone in similar roles. 

Our Culture of Care

We work hard to create a culture of care to ensure that our staff are best equipped to lead happy healthy and balanced lives. To that end we offer a comprehensive benefits package which includes:

• Health vision and dental insurance with 100% of premiums covered for you and qualifying family members;
• Retirement benefits with a 5% employer match;
• A flexible unlimited PTO plan;
• Generous paid parental leave;
• Pre-tax commuter benefits;
• A company laptop;
• A flexible remote work environment;
• A home office setup stipend for all new employees;
• Monthly reimbursement for remote work expenses;
• A yearly professional development fund;
• Mental health and wellness benefits through Calm and Better Help; 
• Yearly in-person staff retreats; and
• A welcoming culture that celebrates diversity equity inclusion and belonging.

At Murmuration we believe a vibrant representative democracy depends on the inclusion of diverse voices lived experiences and perspectives. The best ideas don’t come from a single person or ideology — they emerge at the intersection of different backgrounds identities and viewpoints. We are proud of our commitment to building an organization and culture shaped by respect empathy and collaboration where our team’s diversity fuels innovation civic engagement and meaningful change. We welcome new colleagues who will help us nurture this collective effort. Join us.

An Equal-Opportunity Employer with a Commitment to Diversity

Murmuration is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and as an organization committed to diversity and the perspective of all voices we consider applicants equally of race gender color sexual orientation religion marital status disability political affiliation and national origin. We reasonably accommodate staff members and/or applicants with disabilities provided they are otherwise able to perform the essential functions of the job.

Note: Murmuration is two organizations working together to pursue our mission of amplifying the power of civic engagement: Murmuration Research Institute a 501(c)(3) that conducts research to identify design and create the data tools and insights that build healthier and more equitable communities; and Murmuration Inc. a 501(c)(4) that supports organizations working across the country on the nation’s most challenging issues with access to data tools and research that build healthier and more equitable communities.

What We Do

Murmuration transforms how campaigns advocates and organizers identify engage and mobilize people and communities. Our focus is on driving change and accelerating progress toward a future where every child in America has the opportunity to benefit from a high-quality public education. We provide sophisticated data and analytics proprietary technology strategic guidance and programmatic support to help our partners increase civic engagement and marshal support so necessary changes are made to improve our public schools. We have unified multiple tech product companies into our organization to accelerate our efforts toward a more equitable future for generations to come. Our precise predictive intelligence and easy-to-use tools are used by practitioners and funders on their own and working together to make informed decisions about who they need to reach what they need to say and how to achieve and sustain impact. Our team includes experts and innovators in data analytics and strategy. We are former teachers organizers data scientists nonprofit executives and campaign veterans and we are looking for people whose passion and expertise can help improve our work and realize our vision.