News Applications Developer

ProPublica is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. 

We will begin reviewing applications as we receive them but will accept applications at least until Oct. 13 at 9 a.m. ET.

ProPublica is looking for a journalist to join our award-winning news applications team.

News apps developers at ProPublica are journalists who imagine, report out, design and develop interactive databases and stories, like our recent analysis of the gutting of federal health agencies, our detailed analysis of cancer-causing industrial air, our timeline of videos from the attack on the Capitol or our continually updated database of nonprofit financial data. 

What You’ll Do Here

• Pitch, design and develop interactive stories and databases that hold the powerful accountable and have real-world impact.
• Wrangle data, including FOIAing for it, scraping it, cleaning it, analyzing it and preparing it for publication.
• Interview people, occasionally in the field, and examine data to find trends, patterns and outliers.
• Collaborate with journalists in the wider newsroom on ambitious interactive projects.
• Work with the best news nerds on the planet on some of the biggest and most innovative projects in investigative and data journalism. 

About You

In general, we look for people who have proven that they can use technical skills for journalistic ends. The ideal candidate will have many of these qualifications:

• At least three years of experience designing and developing polished interactive graphics or databases from scratch.
• Journalism experience, either at the local or national level, especially involving stories that shed light on injustices or that cover marginalized communities.
• Fluency in web development, including HTML/CSS and Javascript, the libraries that go with it, like D3.js and Svelte, and ideally backend development languages like Python or Ruby.
• Experience with data, whether it’s collecting hard-to-get public data off the internet or cleaning and analyzing data in your tool of choice, such as Python, SQL or R.
• An understanding of good design principles and how to design for clarity and impact.
• Experience in (or a desire to learn) how to provide coaching, guidance and project feedback to colleagues to elevate designs and projects.
• Special expertise in one aspect of interactive journalism, for example: cartography, quantitative methods, database development, user testing or public records.
• Ability to work on several projects at once. You’ll need to stay organized and focused.
• The self-discipline to work independently, as well as an eagerness to work with teammates on collaborative projects.
• Ability to travel for assignments, training and meetings as required. 
• A love for details and making things.

Getting the Job

We cannot emphasize this enough: Great projects are the most important part of the application.

The application form will allow you to send us three projects from your portfolio and give you the space to walk us through your contributions to those projects. Take advantage of this to tell us everything you did, from behind-the-scenes wins you’re proud of to how you helped your colleagues.

This job is full time and includes benefits. ProPublica is based in New York, but we’re open to remote candidates. We have offices in New York City; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; Chicago; Austin, Texas; Phoenix; and Berkeley, California. Applicants must be eligible to work in the U.S.

The expected salary range for this position is $105,000 to $140,000.

This is a good-faith estimate of what we expect to pay for this position. The final salary figure will take into account a person’s experience, accomplishment and location. ProPublica is committed to paying its staff equitably, and these ranges should not be considered career salary limits or caps.

Questions? Send an email to talent@propublica.org. 

No phone calls, please.

We know there are great candidates who may not fit into what we’ve described above or who have important skills we haven’t thought of. If that’s you, don’t hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself.

We are dedicated to improving our newsroom, in part by better reflecting the people we cover. (Here is a breakdown of our staff.) We are committed to diversity and building an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and ages. And we are taking steps to meet that commitment. We especially encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities. We are an equal opportunity employer and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age or any other status protected under applicable law.