---
title: 'Business Development Associate at Catalist'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/business-development-associate-catalist-washington-azam2k9rtb66'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-11-08'
---

# Business Development Associate at Catalist

- **Company:** Catalist
- **Location:** Washington, DC
- **Compensation:** $58k–$66k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-10-28
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-08
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/catalist/bb974eb5-5612-464b-8750-50f618a34296

## Job description

For over 20 years, Catalist has been a leader in civic data and data science innovation. Our mission is to provide progressive organizations with the data, software, and services needed to better identify, understand, and communicate with the people they need to engage and mobilize. Our clients include the largest, most influential organizations in the U.S. active in civic engagement, advocacy, and political campaigns.

Catalist is home to a dedicated, creative team of technologists, data scientists, and campaign experts committed to using our talents and technology to nurture a vibrant and growing progressive community.

Catalist is currently seeking applicants for a Business Development Associate. This position provides an opportunity to gain firsthand experience working at the intersection of data, analysis, and progressive and Democratic politics. The Business Development Associate will regularly interact directly with clients and data. The Business Development Associate is both a forward-facing and behind-the-scenes role, and requires an individual with comfort and interest in both sides of supporting progressive organizations’ data needs. The Business Development Associate will work across departments alongside other members of the Marketing team and will take ownership of numerous projects from start to finish. This role will support a variety of elements of business development, including email outreach. This is not a traditional outgoing sales position, though sales or marketing experience will be beneficial. Success requires a balance of personable “customer service” communication with clients, excellent follow-through, and ability to translate client needs to data deliverables. A willingness to occasionally work outside of normal business hours is required, particularly from Labor Day to Election Day. This position reports to the Director of Business Development and Chief Client Officer and is part of the Marketing Team. This position is included in our CWA bargaining unit.

Core Duties & Responsibilities

- Work cross-departmentally to fulfill inbound projects as assigned from start to finish; successfully deliver requests on time, accurately, and in a client-friendly format with actionable insights where applicable
- Communicate effectively and professionally with clients verbally and through email to define client requests
- Work closely with the Business Development Director and Chief Client Officer to develop marketing and outreach collateral
- Draft and execute external communications in Axios; maintain outreach lists in cooperation with Client Services team
- Coordinate client-facing calendar and planning documents with the Data and Client Services teams
- Monitor news for industry and client stories of note

## Requirements

- 2+ years experience working in campaigns, organizing, or advocacy OR a combination of 1+ year of experience in the political field and 1+ year of experience in sales/marketing
- Excited to work with progressive clients of all backgrounds and a strong desire to learn more about how those clients leverage political data in their work
- Experience working in a fast-paced environment while maintaining attention to detail
- Excellent project management skills, including ability to handle multiple projects at once
- Comfortable communicating through Zoom (or similar software) and phone
- Strong verbal and written communication skills
- Ability to work well within and across teams
- Curiosity to innovate with AI tools
- Occasionally attend and assist with planning meetings, special events, and conferences in the Washington, DC area
- Background check required

## Preferred Skills & Abilities

- Knowledge of Salesforce
- Experience using Axios or other email communication platform
- Experience drafting client proposals and decks
- Experience implementing AI tools to streamline processes and increase efficiency
- Experience using voter file data in a professional capacity

## Benefits

Medical, Dental, Vision, Prescription Drug Catalist offers Medical, Dental, Vision, and Prescription Drug coverage for eligible staff and their eligible dependents. Catalist’s Medical plan is a comprehensive PPO program including Prescription Drug coverage with 85% of the premium paid by Catalist. We also offer an HDHP plan with HSA eligibility. Dental and Vision coverage is provided at no cost to employees.

Group Term Life Insurance and Long-Term & Short-Term Disability Coverage Group Term Life Insurance and Long-Term and Short-Term Disability coverage is available for eligible staff. These benefits are provided at no cost to Catalist employees.

401(k) Safe Harbor Plan A 401(k) Safe Harbor Plan is available to eligible staff with a 3% contribution from Catalist from the date of hire. Employees may contribute pre-tax or post-tax from their salary up to the legal limits set forth by the IRS.

Medical and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) Catalist offers an FSA Program that gives eligible staff the ability to pay out-of-pocket medical/dental/vision/child care expenses from pre-tax earnings.

Transit Benefits Catalist also makes available a Transit benefit FSA program to eligible employees using pre-tax contributions with a company match.

Professional Development and Remote Work Expenses Eligible employees may be reimbursed up to $750 each year for professional development / education and $500 for remote work expenses.

Student Loan PayDown or SaveUp Catalist offers a Student Loan PayDown and College SaveUp benefit for eligible staff.

Vacation, Personal Leave, Sick Leave Benefits Catalist offers generous vacation benefits to all eligible staff. Eligible employees also receive:

- 15 Paid Holidays (16 in Presidential Inauguration years)
- Personal Days
- Sick Leave
- Parental Leave

Hybrid Office/Remote Work Certain positions at Catalist are eligible for Office/Remote Hybrid or full Remote status.

## About Catalist

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Catalist is a data utility that provides progressive organizations with the data, analytics, and technology needed to identify, understand, and communicate with the people they need to engage and mobilize.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Owned by a trust, not venture-backed)
- **Headquarters**: Washington, D.C., United States
- **Founded**: 2006
- **Founders**: Harold M. Ickes and Laura Quinn

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Political Data & Analytics, Civic Engagement, Progressive Advocacy
- **Target customers**: Democratic and progressive organizations, including issue advocates, organizers, pollsters, analysts, consultants, campaigners, researchers, and civic-engagement groups. Serves the largest, most influential organizations in the U.S. engaged in civic engagement, advocacy, and political campaigns.
- **Mission or purpose statement**: To provide progressive organizations with the data and services needed to better identify, understand, and communicate with the people they need to engage and mobilize. Catalist commits to data as a force for good in the world, using data to tell stories, effect change, and have a positive impact in the progressive community.

## Products & Services
- **Catalist Data Platform**: A comprehensive data trust that compiles, enhances, stores, and dynamically updates data on over 240 million unique voting-age individuals across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Clients use it to build membership, target persuasive messaging, engage activists, drive issue agendas, and mobilize voters.
- **Analytics & Modeling**: In-house analytics shop led by Ph.D. data scientists that provides custom models, targeting, and analytical services to support civic engagement and political activities.
- **Software & Tools**: Web-based interactive GUIs and APIs that facilitate client access to Catalist data, along with all backend components and services to support them.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (privately held, owned by a trust)
- **Key Metric**: Total Funding – Not applicable (not venture-backed; owned by a trust). Headcount is approximately 60+ professionals.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Owned by a trust, not investors. Partners include a wide range of Democratic and progressive organizations, issue advocates, and campaigns.
- **Growth Signals**: The company has been operating for over 15 years and is the first unionized data firm in progressive politics (union formed in 2021, represented by CWA Local 2336). Headcount has grown +3.3% YoY. They are hiring for key technical roles, including Senior Software Engineer.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Progressive-only focus**: Catalist never sells data for commercial use and is owned by a trust, removing the threat of being bought, sold, or traded for profit. This aligns directly with their clients' values.
- **Scale & Data Depth**: Maintains data on over 240 million voting-age individuals, a massive and unique dataset built over 20 years.
- **Community & Unionized**: The first unionized data firm in progressive politics, signaling a strong commitment to employee voice and progressive workplace values.
- **Expertise**: Team includes Ph.D. data scientists, tech-industry veterans, and seasoned political operatives with experience at state, local, and federal levels.

## Strategic Focus
- **Current priorities**: Continuing to innovate in new data, services, and tools for the progressive community. Lowering barriers to entry for small and local movements competing with big money and special interests. Expanding their data utility model to support the next generation of civic engagement.
- **Growth direction**: Growing the engineering and data science teams to build better tools and services, with a focus on best-in-class data tools and science for progressive causes.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-driven work**: The opportunity to use your technical skills to support progressive causes, civic engagement, and democratic participation.
- **Culture**: Catalist commits to fostering a culture of equity, inclusion, and accessibility. Their DEIA committee focuses on Data, Talent, Language, and Training & Education. They are the first unionized data firm in progressive politics.
- **Remote/Hybrid policy**: Catalist is primarily a remote organization, though some positions based in DC may have that noted in their description.
- **Benefits package**:
    - Health, Dental, Vision, and Prescription Drug coverage (PPO)
    - Life and Disability Benefits
    - 401(k) Safe Harbor Plan with employer contribution of up to 3%
    - Student Loan PayDown and College SaveUp benefit (via Gradifi)
    - Continuing education disbursement (Individual Development Budget of $750/year)
    - Parental leave, including flexible scheduling and remote working
    - Transit Benefits (pre-tax)
    - Vacation: 1 day/month in first year, 15 days/year from second year onward
    - 3 personal days per year
- **Engineering culture**: The technology team is described as a dedicated, creative group of technologists who build best-in-class data tools. They use SQL, Java, Python, Unix environments, and work with big data technologies like Hadoop/Spark, Scala, and cloud databases (Redshift or BigQuery). Senior engineers are expected to mentor junior developers and advocate for simple, straightforward design.
- **Compensation**: For a Senior Software Engineer role, the salary range is $110,000-$130,000/year.

## Sources
1. [catalist.us - Careers page](https://catalist.us/careers/)
2. [catalist.us - Who We Are](https://catalist.us/who-we-are/)
3. [linkedin.com - Catalist company page](https://linkedin.com/company/catalist)
4. [cbinsights.com - Catalist profile](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/catalist)
5. [catalist.us - Senior Software Engineer job posting](https://catalist.us/senior-software-engineer/)

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