US Data Journalist

Financial Times•Washington, DC

16h•Hybrid

About The Position

The Financial Times is a globally recognized news organization known for its authority, integrity, and accuracy, dedicated to delivering quality information and services worldwide. The FT fosters a warm, collaborative culture where curiosity and ambitious thinking are rewarded, offering opportunities for growth, career aspirations, and wellbeing. The visual and data journalism team is seeking an experienced data journalist for a fixed-term role until December 31, 2026, to cover US national news, including the 2026 midterm elections. This role involves collaborating with US-based news editors and correspondents across North America, as well as colleagues in London, Hong Kong, and other locations. The successful applicant will deliver compelling journalism on US electoral politics, campaign finance, and public policy, and how these topics intersect with global trade, international relations, economics, and financial markets. The journalist will work self-sufficiently and also support other reporters and editors in applying data-driven methods. Candidates eligible to work in the US and wishing to be based in Washington DC or New York City are encouraged to apply.

Requirements

Strong portfolio of work in data journalism, ideally focused on business, finance, economics or politics in North America
Experience using data journalism or data science techniques to find and tell news stories
Confidence using R or Python for data sourcing (including web scraping, APIs and large databases), cleaning and analysis
Excellent communication skills, particularly the ability to explain your quantitative analysis work simply to non-specialist audience
A passion for continuously learning in order to keep your skills at the forefront of current practice

Nice To Haves

Experience of using data visualisation effectively in reporting
Experience covering quantitative aspects of US political polling, electoral politics, campaign finance or public policy analysis
Training in statistics, data science or quantitative social science methods
Experience building, maintaining or working with pipelines for continuously acquiring and processing data
Maintaining statistical models
Experience applying data analysis in economic, business or financial journalism
Use of machine learning or large language models in a journalism context
Training and supporting others in data-handling techniques
Knowledge of working collaboratively with others on coding projects using version control systems such as Git
Data analysis work related to political polling and elections, international trade, warfare or uncovering corporate wrongdoing
Collaborating with data providers, subject specialists, journalists, designers and developers to deliver data-driven stories and data visualisations for a non-specialist audience
Familiarity with the Flourish data visualisation tool

Responsibilities

Cover US national news, including the 2026 midterm elections
Collaborate with US-based news editors and correspondents across North America
Collaborate with colleagues in London, Hong Kong and beyond
Deliver compelling journalism on US electoral politics, campaign finance and public policy, and how these topics intersect with global trade, international relations, economics and financial markets
Work self-sufficiently
Collaborate with others in the wider Visual & Data Journalism team
Support reporters and editors from across the FT’s network who need support applying data-driven methods to their work