Data Editor

Hearst Newspapers•Norwalk, CT

84d

About The Position

We’re expanding our data team at Hearst Connecticut Media Group and adding a player/coach position. This is a great opportunity for someone who wants to have a hand in guiding the whole team but not lose the opportunity to do their own work with data and data-driven storytelling. Other key new roles focus on real estate, demographics, compensation and education. If you love local news, inspiring conversation and challenging assumptions, this could be the role for you. HCMG is the state’s largest newsroom, with more than 130 journalists covering breaking news, high school and UConn sports, politics and government, business, real estate and development, education, food and trending topics. Hearst Newspapers, through its DevHub team of editorial engineers, AI developers and designers, has existing infrastructures for processing huge datasets and creating robust custom interactives. This is a newsroom leadership role, reporting to Anjanette Delgado, group managing editor, and collaborating across editorial and audience teams, and with the DevHub. You will manage a team of data reporters. We’re seeking a self-starter with high standards who can collaborate well, has excellent communication skills, is comfortable providing and taking feedback. We want a teammate who aspires to be a key player in an exciting, modern news operation that values a smart, local readership and aims to elevate how we report and present journalism online. This position is full-time and could include some weekend and holiday work.

Requirements

At least 5 years of experience working with large, complex datasets in a newsroom setting.
Experience as an editor and/or mentor, even informally. This could be helping colleagues learn new skills, reviewing data analysis, checking code, giving feedback on charts, pair programming, etc.
Strong news judgment.
Knowledge of multimedia storytelling, social media engagement and other strategies to broaden readership.
Excellent communication, time-management and collaboration skills.
Proven skill with Python, R, or similar scripting languages, and comfort with data visualization and mapping tools.
Understanding of statistical principles and a commitment to accuracy and transparency in analysis.
Understanding of design principles and accessibility considerations for data visualization.
Experience building APIs and backend applications.
Knowledge of AI and machine learning for data storytelling.
Willingness and drive to learn new technical and newsroom skills.
This position is full-time.
It will likely include some weekend and holiday work.
The successful candidate must be based in Connecticut or nearby New York or willing to move to the region.

Nice To Haves

Ability to build scalable data pipelines to efficiently process millions of records.
Experience developing robust backend infrastructure and APIs that integrate seamlessly with existing frontend frameworks.
Ability to speak a second language like Spanish.

Responsibilities

Lead a team that produces revelatory data-driven storytelling, interactives and newsroom tools.
Edit, report and write.
Clean, analyze, interpret and visualize datasets.
Conceive ideas and work with reporters, photographers, editors and developers to enhance our storytelling and aim for real-world impact.
Use analytics to understand audience needs and trends, especially for subscribers.
Research, test and teach new methods for working with data and documents.
Help raise general data literacy across the newsroom by documenting work, sharing methods and teaching.