Professional Staff Member

U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations

In the U.S. Senate, the largest standing committee is the Senate Committee on Appropriations, a role defined in the Constitution and acting annually to fund the nation’s government. Within this Committee, the non-partisan operational work is carried out by The Office of the Chief Clerk.  

The Office of the Chief Clerk designs, develops, deploys and maintains applications, software, and business intelligence tools from initial pilot to rapid agile development to programs of record for Senate operations. In addition to systems and tools, we also create the policy and spending datasets used for discretionary spending and congressionally directed (“earmark”) projects nationwide. We are a non-partisan customer-first office that primarily serves over 100+ Committee staff to help them write federal spending legislation quickly and accurately. We also serve the needs of staff across the entire Senate community, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). 

Position Overview

As a U.S. Senate federal employee on the Committee on Appropriations within The Office of the Chief Clerk, you will play a crucial hands-on technical lead role in developing and maintaining software applications tailored to the appropriations process and the Committee’s customers. Specifically, you will hold the role as ‘technical lead’ and work closely with Senate staff and a team of engineers and designers to prototype, design, build a new modern Member request system that will streamline decision-making and unlock new opportunities for evidence-based analysis.   

This job is “under the dome” and located inside the United States Senate in Washington DC, working in the halls of Congress alongside senior and professional staff, policy analysts, and Senate partner organizations.  

Pay: $130,000 - $175,000, locality Washington D.C. 

Successful candidates are expected to pass a federal background check and be eligible to work at the U.S. Senate. A security clearance is helpful but not required. 

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain existing software applications used by policy staff, ensuring high performance, reliability, and scalability.  
• Provide technical support and training to end-users of the applications you help design, build and maintain.  
• For a new Member request system, you will: 
• Manage a diverse team of technical staff from within the Senate enterprise and the private sector. 
• Inspect and review code before deployment, ensuring compliance with all applicable standards for security, accessibility, code quality, test coverage, and documentation.  
• Serve as the trusted point of contact between subject-matter experts and technical staff. Be able to communicate and coordinate effectively with each stakeholder group. 
• Navigate different stakeholder priorities to guide successful projects into production. 
• Collaborate with technical stakeholders across the legislative enterprise – including the Senate Sergeant at Arms, Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, and the House Committee on Appropriations – to maintain compliance with Senate rules and standards.  

Qualifications

Experience in full-stack web development. We are generally agnostic to the frameworks and languages used and expect you to have experience with and use the best tools for the job-at-hand. So far, our office routinely uses: 

• Python, Flask, Django and Typescript for backend development; and 
• Typescript and Vue.js for frontend development; and 
• Docker and OpenShift for deployment.  

Experience with database systems, SQL, data pipelines & wrangling (e.g., R, dbt, AirFlow), data warehouses, and Business Intelligence reporting tools. Our work involves creating clear, concise, and accurate tabular and visual ‘storytelling’ solutions for policy makers. 

A knack for leading agile teams. You will have point on overcoming technical challenges and leading the technical team. 

A love for customer-facing work.  We solve problems and make solutions. We help lessen the production work of lawmaking and create room for informed knowledge work. Our work bridges policy and performance requirements; EQ and IQ are vital. 

A love for process. We identify processes and build tools that support our customers' success. 

In addition, successful candidates will have: 

• Familiarity with version control systems and agile software development; and
• Excellent problem-solving skills and attention to detail; and 
• Effective communication skills, especially with non-technical stakeholders; and 
• Passion for leveraging technology to address complex policy challenges  

The Appropriations Committee is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of an individual’s race, color, religion, national origin, disability, age, uniformed service, genetic information, sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), or any other factor.   

If you are interested in the position, please email a cover letter and resume to Jobs_@appro.senate.gov with “PSM/Technical Lead - Last Name, First Name” in the subject line.