We’re looking for a creative and collaborative leader to build and oversee a new data journalism team within The Boston Globe newsroom. This person will be a hands-on consulting editor across the newsroom, using a data-first mindset to create, shape, and strengthen our most ambitious journalism.
They will help build and manage a team of several data journalists and be responsible for bringing rigor and oversight to the group’s work. This person should have a high level of technical expertise with data analysis tools and a knack for identifying and obtaining datasets. They should be comfortable scraping, scrubbing, and filtering data, and jumping into breaking news situations when necessary, as well as leading lengthy, challenging projects.
They should also be adept at coaching and inspiring other journalists less conversant in this arena. We want a self-starter who can improve data literacy across our newsroom and implement a clear strategy for the use of data in all of the journalism we produce, ranging from blogs and fact checks to enterprise stories and marquee investigative projects.
Responsibilities:
- Lead in the creation of data-led stories and projects, collaborating with data reporters and managing editors to determine daily, weekly, and ongoing coverage across multiple platforms
- Conceive, write, produce and edit data-driven stories and analysis. Accuracy, clarity, and accessibility are paramount
- Demonstrate personal leadership skills, emphasizing respectful inclusion and a drive for excellence
- Enforce deadlines and ultimately execute on stories from the quick turn to the long range
- Adhere to best practices around audience analytics and SEO
- Any other duties as assigned
Qualifications:
- At least 5 years of journalism experience
- Significant experience using data and statistics in journalism to create content across different platforms
- Experience using quantitative methods in social science as well as data analysis languages like R or Python
- Familiarity with methods of acquiring data such as coding and scraping, and experience cleaning and analyzing datasets
- Past experience with in-depth enterprise and investigative work is preferred
- A skilled and collaborative leader of people who can influence a positive, supportive culture
- Ability to meet deadlines, prioritize assignments, and multi-task in a high-pressure environment
- Ability to plan for short- and long-term news coverage
- Strong editorial judgment, journalistic rigor, and impeccable ethics
- A willingness to adapt and be audience focused with a curious mindset and a commitment to creating an inclusive work environment