Investigator

American Oversight•Washington, DC

2d•Remote

About The Position

American Oversight is a nonpartisan, nonprofit watchdog that advances truth, accountability, and democracy by enforcing the public’s right to government records. They use multiple tools, backed by aggressive litigation, to fight attacks on democratic institutions, threats to civil rights and liberties, abuses of power, and erosion of government transparency. Since its founding in 2017, American Oversight has worked on numerous issues of national importance, including securing court orders, forcing policy implementations, revealing pressure campaigns, unmasking sham audits, and exposing uses of personal data to target immigrant communities. The organization is committed to fighting threats to democracy at federal, state, and local levels. The Investigator role, reporting to the Director of Investigations, is a core member of American Oversight’s Investigations team. This position involves leveraging public records and open-source research to conduct complex investigations, uncover underreported angles, expose hidden agendas, and advance the organization’s broader portfolio of priority issues. The Investigator will pursue rigorous, high-impact investigations into government corruption, abuses of power, and the erosion of democratic norms, helping to expose misconduct, strengthen accountability, and safeguard democratic institutions. The ideal candidate will possess sharp investigative instincts, sound judgment, and a demonstrated interest in public interest topics like immigration enforcement and civil liberties, alongside a deep commitment to transparency, accountability, and democratic principles.

Requirements

2+ years post-graduate experience in government investigations, investigative journalism, or policy research, or a related field involving in-depth investigative research and analyses.
Interest in American Oversight’s mission of government accountability and transparency; commitment to public interest advocacy.
Strong skills in the following areas: Problem Solving and Critical Thinking: Identifies and anticipates problems and surfaces creative solutions to achieve desired outcomes; scans the landscape and connects dots among many disparate data points and situations.
Strong skills in the following areas: Communication: Conveys ideas, information, and emotions clearly and effectively — both orally and in writing — adapting language to suit different audiences and contexts. Produces well-organized work with minimal errors, reflecting a strong grasp of content and a high level of accuracy, clarity, and professionalism.
Strong skills in the following areas: Project and Time Management: Ability to multitask and independently manage multiple projects with varying scopes, timelines, and stakeholders; adapts priorities as necessary to meet organizational goals while maintaining good judgment of relative priorities.
Strong skills in the following areas: Judgment and Decision Making: Makes sound, timely decisions by weighing priorities, anticipating outcomes, and aligning choices with American Oversight’s values and goals. Uses logic, experience, and context to recommend effective, mission-driven actions.
Strong skills in the following areas: Strategic Thinking: Obtains information and identifies key issues and relationships relevant to achieving a goal or vision; evaluates potential risks and benefits to potential plans of action before recommending courses of action; adjusts plans as needed to achieve key objectives.
Strong skills in the following areas: Collaboration: Is an inclusive, highly engaged team player; proactively seeks and provides thought partnership, assistance, and/or resources with/to colleagues.
An understanding of and fluency in relevant news developments, the political landscape, and how public records can inform news coverage, and government action, and accountability.
Experience working in and/or desire to contribute to workplaces with a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Self-motivated, collegial, and able to work both independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced environment.
Strong technology skills with an aptitude to learn quickly, ramp up on, or test new platforms or technology (e.g., AirTable). Proficiency in Microsoft Suite (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint); Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Slides) and file-sharing platforms (Dropbox).

Nice To Haves

Demonstrated interest in, or experience with, immigration enforcement, civil liberties, or related policy areas.
Familiarity with federal Freedom of Information Act and public records requests.
Experience with other publicly available datasets and information sources that could be used to enhance American Oversight’s existing accountability work.
Experience with document and case management tools (e.g., Airtable, DocumentCloud) and/or with data analysis and visualization tools.

Responsibilities

Monitor news and track other sources to identify emerging issues where American Oversight’s investigations can have the greatest impact, and proactively propose strategic, high-impact ideas that leverage public records and open-source intelligence.
Craft strategic, litigation-ready public records requests to federal, state, and local agencies aimed at exposing decision-making, funding flows, and political influence.
Conduct rigorous review of document productions to identify key facts, patterns, inconsistencies, and gaps; analyze documents in context to surface unreported insights and emerging trends, and synthesize findings into clear, accurate, and strategically useful outputs such as newsworthy narratives that advance government accountability or actionable insights that equip partners’ advocacy and litigation.
Support American Oversight’s external engagement by contributing to meetings, briefings, and background conversations with journalists, advocates, and allies.
Communicate proactively with government agencies regarding public records requests, triaging priorities and working closely with the Legal team to ensure timely and effective pursuit of responsive materials.
Support document processing and information management, ensuring incoming records are well-organized, searchable, and accessible.
Draft public-facing content — including blog posts, reports, talking points, and briefing materials — that distills investigative findings into clear, contextualized, and actionable narratives, as needed.
Contribute to organizational initiatives and special projects as needed, bringing an investigative lens to emerging priorities and cross-functional efforts.
Other duties as assigned.