Backend Engineer at CivicDataLab

Who we are

At CivicDataLab we work with the goal to use data, tech, design and social science to strengthen the course of civic engagement in India. We are a small team of “Impacters”, working remotely to pave new roads and in the process learn and add richly to our ecosystems. We work to harness the potential of open-source movement to enable citizens to engage better with public reforms. Using data strategy, data platforms and data science applications, we push data-driven decision making at scale. Moreover, we work closely with governments, nonprofits, think-tanks, media houses, universities etc. to grow data and tech capacity.

What We are looking for

A Backend & DevOps Developer to help support our various interventions through data platforms and tools, focusing from development to infrastructure management. These efforts will help our partner organizations increase discoverability and searchability of open-content and open-data in key social sectors like education, government finances, judiciary, etc. We strongly encourage applicants from diverse fields, sectors and cultural backgrounds. Those who have an innate sense to solve problems, adapt well to continuously changing environments. Disruptors, Ideators and Torch bearers through chaos.

What You’ll be Doing

• Build and maintain end-to-end open source platforms to handle large scale data flowing from various sectors and geographies and develop analysis components on top of it.
• Build and manage open source projects.
• Work with large scale data inflow and outflow.
• Develop and maintain infrastructure as a code.
• Develop monitoring and evaluation of various data platforms.
• Create backend tools and maintain a scalable infrastructure for large scale data platforms.
• Development and maintenance of data pipelines, to work around big and small datasets, through workflows that can be programmatically authored, scheduled and monitored.
• Work on developing data models and pipeline architecture, implementation and orchestration.
• Build and manage scalable Data APIs across key sectors.

Skills you should bring

• Thorough knowledge of Python. 
• Should have an understanding of handling and manipulating data and basic querying mechanisms (SQL and alike) as well as data cleaning and manipulation.
• Should have sound knowledge of best practices for indexing and querying, normalization, distributed databases, caching methodologies etc.
• Knowledge of web scraping frameworks (e.g. Scrapy) or tools and experience with various nuances of web scraping.
• Should be well versed with scalable infrastructure practices such as microservice architecture, infrastructure as code, distributed systems, scaling methods, load balancing etc.
• Should be familiar with Git workflow.

Good to have:

• Prior experience working on Open Source projects.
• Prior experience in working with Data/Tech communities.
• Collaborating with government or research-based organizations on past projects.
• A sense of humour.
• Prior experience of working remotely.

Why work with us

We help you not just define your 'impact' but also work with you towards finding a path to learn, realise and quantify its effect on our ecosystem.

Our past work and experience of working with communities and civic tech, in general, has connected us as a branch to a network of civil society actors and organisations. You’ll have the opportunity to leverage this network, to work on pressing, yet thought provoking issues, in sectors like Judiciary, Finance, Economics and Languages. 

We also feel that this is our biggest strength, what we can offer you is not a feature to work on but a passage to an infinite long road of people, problems, ideas and opportunities that may help you find your place amidst the chaos.

How we work

At CivicDataLab, people work from their individual locations, being proactive at communication is the key. We use open source tools and agile methodologies in organising our work. We meet once every quarter at some part of the country to reconvene, learn from each other and help the organisation grow. 

Recent Projects

Here’s a brief on our current and upcoming work:

https://www.civicdatalab.in/resources/CivicDataLab-state%20of%20our%20work.pdf

Job Perks

Wellness Allowance

If you're interested in taking classes that enhances your overall physical or mental well-being you have a INR 40,000  annual stipend to do so. For some people that might mean a monthly massage. Some take photography lessons or learn a musical instrument or buy a gym membership. It's up to you; the point is to learn something that you feel enriches you as a person.

Personal growth and development Allowance

At CivicDataLab, we encourage everyone to take up things that help one grow professionally and you get an annual kitty of INR 50,000 to do so. This includes attending or speaking at conferences, taking courses, acquiring hardware or software licenses or even joining summer schools. We feel that learning a skill should never be a hurdle to solve important problems for the community. 

Practical assistance

Home Office Set-up

Since you work remotely, we want to make sure your home office is comfortable. You can expense up to INR 25,000 annually to set up your home office. This includes internet services, other tech infrastructure, etc. 

Coworking Space Stipend

CivicDataLab encourages usage of coworking spaces. Please make sure you're using a true coworking space that's meant solely for working, not a club or social space.