How sure are you that it really is ungeneralizable? Just because it appears that way at first glance doesn't mean you won't find opportunities for automation once you understand the domain and the typical dirt in the data better than anyone else (note: 'dirt' can often be modelled).
And well, once you're the developer and maintainer of the data-cleaning system that has become the company's competitive advantage...
Similarly, bug-squashing is often an opportunity to really understand some important but unglamorous system (eg. payments, or authentication), as managers will notice that bugs in system X are fixed much faster and more thoroughly when assigned to jr. developer Y, and this often leads to becoming the go-to person for implementing new features in that system.
Tackle boring or unsexy tasks with the same creativity you would bring to other tasks. Share your approach with team members. They may have similar problems and may appreciate your solutions.
- In an analytics role, the junior is assigned the data cleaning work. It's boring, it requires a lot of dirty, ungeneralizable work. And they don't get to do the modeling work and delivering insights that appear more impressive.
- A junior SWE is assigned to maintain some in-house software. They squash bugs, but don't get to design new products or present on new launches.
"Everyone agrees" that data cleaning / maintenance is important, but there's hardly visible credit for this kind of work. What's the best way to gain leverage here?