The temporary senior writer/editor plays a substantial role in the planning, data analysis, drafting and/or editing of major reports released by the Project for Excellence in Journalism. This temporary assignment is expected to end around June 30, 2013. The temporary senior writer/editor must both be able to work in teams in a collaborative atmosphere and then, once the direction of a project is set, work independently or as a team leader in longer projects. The temporary senior writer/editor, who reports to the director, should have a strong conceptual grasp of technology and media and a demonstrated facility to write about data and research. The temporary senior writer/editor should be expected to take a large amount of data from a content study, a survey or other research methods, work in a team to conceptualize the findings, and then write or supervise the writing of a report to a level where it can go to the director or deputy director level for final edit.

The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) has a "flat" hierarchy, so a senior writer/editor may have direct managerial responsibilities on some projects and serve as a team member on others. The temporary senior writer/editor must provide leadership to other team members, demonstrate maturity, diplomacy and a cooperative spirit. The temporary senior writer/editor also demonstrates a clear understanding of the Center's and the Project's strategic goals and an ability to write in a way that lives up to the assiduous impartiality of the institution. That impartiality involves a strong belief in open mindedness and humility about the data, transparency about what it conveys and does not convey, and intense commitment to rigorous accuracy.

Primary Responsibilities

Project Planning, Development and Management (40%)

• Work as part of the senior staff to help conceptualize PEJ studies, analyze data, and flesh out the concepts in the findings that will make up major reports as part of a team.

Analysis, Writing and Editing (40%)

Work closely with the senior staff and other team members in interpreting data, making editorial judgments about priorities and writing reports. This includes statistical analysis, graphics production, and writing reports and commentaries based on survey results.

• Take a lead role in drafting report at a level of understanding of the quantitative elements that they ready for a final edit, as well as an understanding that the work of the Center is more collaborative than in any newsroom setting, and that every report has several authors.
• Develop the expertise to take quantitative data, interpret and draft it into reports, helping the senior editor work with the quantitative researchers who are also being encouraged to draft these reports.
• Work closely in supervising the editorial work of junior research staff.

Related Responsibilities (20%)

• Help develop and strategize PEJ's research and publications agendas and activities.
• Serve as liaison with freelance authors, editors and institutional publishing partners.
• Serve as liaison with in-house graphic designers and outside graphic design firms.
• Help supervise and train junior staff in writing, editing and reporting.
• Work with other Pew Research Center projects and staff in joint publishing efforts.

Education/Training/Experience

• Bachelor's degree required.
• Minimum of 5-7 years experience as a professional journalist.
• Demonstrated experience as a clean and clear writer who can work with quantitative material, conceptualize it at a high level and write it for a broad audience.

Knowledge and Skill Requirements

• Superior writing and editing skills. Clarity is essential
• Ability to work well in a collaborative and team-oriented environment, including in editorial teams where the emphasis is on the group rather than individual voice.
• Strong facility with data journalism, meaning comfort and skill with numbers and an ability to synthesize data and translate late it into clear and prose and superior graphics.
• Demonstrated strong intellectual rigor
• Ability to ensure that work meets the high editorial and research standards while meeting tight deadlines.
• Ability to translate highly numerical research findings into prose for a broad audience, at once clearer than that which might appear in a news account while at the same time more authoritative.
• Ability to balance multiple priorities.

Application Procedure

Applicant should send a complete resume and cover letter (indicating where you learned of the opening) to:

Ms. April McWilliams
Human Resources Director
Pew Research Center
1615 L Street, NW Suite 700
Washington, DC 20036

Responses can also be faxed to 202-419-4339 or e-mailed to careers@pewresearch.org.

We are an equal opportunity employer.