Data Journalist job at Financial Times in Washington, DC, New York City, NY

Title US Data Journalist Location New York United States/ Washington Hybrid Job Description About us The Financial Times is one of the world's leading news organisations, globally recognised for its authority, integrity and accuracy, with a mission to deliver quality information and services worldwide. At the FT, curiosity thrives and ambitious thinking is rewarded. Here, you're given the chance to reach millions, create work that matters and deliver impartial journalism in a polarised world. In our warm, collaborative culture, you'll connect with a diverse community of experts who support your growth, career aspirations and wellbeing. Your future at the FT will be filled with opportunities that challenge and inspire you. With no fixed path, you'll discover new skills and forge a career that can take you anywhere. Build a newsworthy career at the FT. The role The FT's visual and data journalism team is looking for an experienced data journalist to cover US national news, including the 2026 midterm elections. This role is offered on a fixed-term basis through to December 31 2026. The successful applicant will collaborate with US-based news editors and correspondents across North America as well as colleagues in London, Hong Kong and beyond. You'll help us deliver compelling journalism on US electoral politics, campaign finance and public policy, and how these topics intersect with our core coverage areas of global trade, international relations, economics and financial markets. Able to work self-sufficiently, you'll also collaborate with others in the wider Visual & Data Journalism team, as well as reporters and editors from across the FT's network who need support applying data-driven methods to their work. We are happy to consider candidates currently eligible to work in the US and wishing to be based in either Washington DC or New York City. Occasional weekend/flexible working may be required as part of covering fast-moving news. Essential skills You will have a strong portfolio of work in data journalism, ideally focused on business, finance, economics or politics in North America. In addition, you will have 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 Desirable skills While this is not a graphics-production role, experience of using data visualisation effectively in reporting would be a distinct advantage. In addition, while we don't expect you to have all of these skills, any of the following would be beneficial, so please mention them in your cover letter and résumé 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 Salary range A reasonable estimate of the salary range for this role is $90,000 to $120,000. To ensure pay fairness, the successful candidate will be offered a salary within the estimated salary range based on a number of considerations including but not limited to skill set; experience and training; certifications; and other business and organisational needs. This position is open to a broad pool of candidates, both internal and external. Where an external candidate is hired or a successful internal candidate is appointed to the role on terms covered by the collective bargaining agreement, they will be represented by the News Media Guild (NMG). Candidates appointed on other (i.e. foreign) employment terms, including certain internal transfers on assignments from other bureaux, may not be represented by the NMG. The use of AI Original reporting, great writing and intelligent commentary lie at the heart of FT journalism. Our readers trust us to produce quality journalism that is accurate, fa