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Data Specialist, Environmental Investigations Unit

REMOTE – WASHINGTON, DC

$50,750 $62,422 Annually

The Pulitzer Center, a non-profit organization that supports independent global journalism, is seeking an experienced and versatile data specialist for the position of Data Specialist. The successful candidate will join the Environmental Investigations Unit and work closely with our Data Editor and Research Editor.

The Environmental Investigations Unit provides support to grantees and fellows across Pulitzer initiatives, including the Rainforest Investigations (RIN), Ocean Reporting Network (ORN) and Artificial Intelligence Accountability Networks. The first two networks seek to harness investigative reporting and cross-border collaboration to tackle stories at the intersection of climate change, corruption, and governance behind the destruction of our rainforests and marine ecosystems. The AI Accountability Network supports and brings together journalists investigating the impact of AI with an accountability lens, and journalists seeking to use machine learning to augment their reporting capacity on big data projects. Most reporting projects conducted by journalists in the three networks are data-driven and leverage technical knowledge (such as scraping, data analysis, satellite imagery, API or machine learning) to create real-world impact. You will have the unique opportunity to support, mentor and collaborate with some of the world’s leading investigative journalists, designing and executing their investigation methodologies.

The Data Specialist will work directly with our editors to support fellows and grantees. We are seeking an enterprising and team-oriented professional who will learn from and contribute ideas and skills to the journalists’ projects in different parts of the world (with a focus on, but not limited to, Latin America, the greater Congo Basin, and Southeast Asia) and will work efficiently and collaboratively with erse media outlets.

We are looking for a creative collaborator to perform technical tasks for journalists, demonstrate tools and train journalists how to use them and to mentor when needed. The person successful in this role will be an agile problem solver willing to support the project from start to finish.

A successful candidate for this position will be a resourceful action-taker who enjoys tackling new problems by knowing where to find solutions and acquiring the necessary knowledge or skills related to the three topics that we work on (rainforest, ocean and artificial intelligence). You are constantly learning and searching out the latest tools and resources, or scoping out and building new ones. You will have opportunities to share your solutions by publishing reporting recipes (toolkits), methodologies or the datasets to contribute to the advancement of investigative journalism. As the networks expand and reporting projects ersify, you will have a voice in shaping your role and responsibilities.

Responsibilities:

Research and support for fellows

• Researching tools and solutions for technical issues.
• Providing one-on-one training to fellows, including meeting regularly to provide advice, help troubleshoot projects’ methodologies, suggest the best technical tools and data, and perform technical tasks like scraping online databases and performing statistical analysis when necessary.
• Building tutorials/documentation for fellows on investigation tools and skills.
• Developing methodologies and documentation that can contribute to advancing data and investigative journalism in environment and AI.

Project management

• Facilitating and coordinating collaboration among fellows of the three initiatives.
• Contributing data and documents to in-house data intelligence platform.
• Coordinating and supervising the work of consultants and staff hired to initiatives aforementioned.

Qualifications:

• Fluency in oral and written English.
• Familiarity with other languages (especially from the regions of Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia) strongly preferred
• Strong project management skills, experience prioritizing and managing multiple tasks without compromising quality.
• Creative problem-solving and strategic innovation
• 3 – 5 years of experience in journalism or related fields; you don’t have to be a journalist but experience working with journalists or in journalism is a plus, as the position requires:
  • A deep knowledge of past journalistic data projects that inform your suggestions and problem solving.
  • A good understanding of core journalistic values, including accuracy, independence, and fairness.
  • The belief in the power of stories to make complex issues urgent and relevant, and inspire action.
• Strong technical skills, via academic or professional work, including:
  • Data analysis with coding (e.g. Python, R)
  • Data scraping
  • API
  • Building new datasets when they are unavailable
  • Geospatial analysis (e.g. QGIS, GEE)
  • Satellite imagery and mapping
  • Designing experiments to learn how algorithms make decisions
  • Statistical knowledge (e.g. when analyzing datasets and algorithms)
• Proven experience or familiarity working with data sources related to the environment and AI technologies, including:
  • Freedom of Information (FOI) request
  • Government procurement data
  • Company listings and stock exchange
  • Import/export and trade data
  • Shipping data (e.g. IMO vessel registration, VMS, AIS)
  • Ocean science data (e.g. sea level, temperature, ice melt, pollution, acidification)
  • Forest and land use data (e.g. deforestation, indigenous communities, mining)
• College Degree preferred.
• Ability to produce data visualizations for storytelling preferred.

This position is fully remote. Global candidates encouraged to apply.

The Center uses an established compensation philosophy in administering compensation. Offers are determined based on candidate qualifications, related experience, internal equity, and the amount budgeted for the position.

Compensation for US-based employees: Salary range listed above is for US-based employees. Our benefit package includes paid time off (holiday, vacation, parental and sick), health care coverage (including medical/dental/vision), health savings accounts 403(b) retirement plan, transit benefit, parental leave, and Life & ADD/LTD/STD Insurance.

Compensation for non US-based employees: All non-US salaries are calculated using an international conversion index, which includes estimates for comparable positions in the country of residence and the estimated cost of health insurance. We do offer paid leave benefits which include hours in recognition of local holidays,vacation, sick, parental, and bereavement leave. We do not offer health or retirement benefits for employees outside of the US.

About Pulitzer

The Pulitzer Center is an equal opportunity employer. The Center is committed to fostering an inclusive environment where the inidual differences among us, whether in terms of race, religion, color, age, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, physical challenge, or marital or family status, are (i) understood, respected, and appreciated, (ii) recognized as a source of strength, and (iii) valued as qualities that enrich the environment in which we work. See our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion statement for details.

For more information about the Pulitzer Center, visit pulitzercenter.org.