Description:

Description: Data Reporter

The War Horse strengthens our democracy by holding the powerful accountable and improving the public’s understanding of the true cost of military service. We publish hard-hitting investigations that have a lasting positive impact on service members, their families, and the public.

We are seeking a Data Reporter to enhance our proud tradition of watchdog journalism. The successful candidate will lead our growing newsroom’s data efforts, working with reporters, editors, and visual journalists on enterprise and project-level work to reveal the untold stories and explain the trends behind the biggest issues facing the military and veterans communities.

We’re looking for a highly collaborative, energetic, and accomplished journalist who combines exceptional critical thinking skills with a strong foundation in finding data, understanding it, and presenting it in creative ways to help us bridge the military-civilian divide.

We need someone as comfortable battling bureaucrats and military brass for public records as they are with scraping websites and using APIs. We want to work with someone who is a font of ideas and a phenom at making things happen—someone who is always looking for answers.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Produce original impact-driven data reporting: As the leader of our data efforts, you will tell stories by analyzing data and building charts, maps, and other interactive graphics to showcase trends and expose hidden truths in monthly data-focused, engagingly-written reports centered around military and veterans issues.

• Data analysis and visualizations: Team up with staff, freelancers, and partner organization reporters to enrich investigative reporting by compiling unique data sets and turning complex questions into illuminating, never-saw-that-coming answers. Use data-viz tools to harness and transform multi-layered datasets into engaging and informative interactive graphics. 

• FOIA management and analysis: Lead the newsroom in filing and monitoring Freedom of Information Act and public record requests. Maintain internal FOIA and data library and lead our education and brainstorming efforts with virtual brownbags, such as FOIA Fridays.

• Strategic impact-oriented planning: Work to develop and implement ambitious goals to advance near- and long-term data reporting and analysis across the team that support the organization’s mission, programming, and impact strategy.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Advanced data and coding journalism skills required (Python, R, etc.) 

• Experience in web scraping, basic text analysis, and analyzing geospatial data 

• Experience in mapping data, building databases, and other unique interactive graphics is also highly desired

• Commitment to uplifting diverse perspectives, lived experiences, and storytelling

• At least four years of experience leading ambitious data projects at a news organization or journalism outlet is preferred 

• Military experience, cultural understanding, current affairs awareness preferred or strong interest to learn 

• Experience working on high-impact, high-stakes investigations from ideation to publication

• Strong self-starting and self-managing skills

• Experience and success working remotely and across teams and time zones

• Well-honed project and people management abilities; able to keep increasingly complex information and resources well-organized  

• History of consistently conceiving and executing ambitious, high-impact projects

• Understanding of how nonprofits, newsrooms, or nonprofit newsrooms operate is preferred

SALARY & BENEFITS

This is a full-time salaried position based remotely. Compensation is $85,000 to $90,000/yr, along with a growing benefits package, including but not limited to flexible working hours; 401k match; employer-subsidized medical, dental, and vision coverage; and digital privacy services.

HOW TO APPLY

Interested? Send an email with the subject line “Investigative Data Reporter Job” to careers@thewarhorse.org and include:

• your resume;

• three references;

• three examples of past relevant work that showcase your vision of how data-driven journalism continues to redefine how we tell stories for a digital audience; and

• in lieu of a typical cover letter, wow us with a proposal for a data story focused on the military or veterans that the world needs to see. 

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, with priority review given to those received by October 27, 2025.

ABOUT THE WAR HORSE

Founded in 2016 out of concern over legacy media companies’ declining investment in high-quality reporting about military and veteran affairs, The War Horse has grown to become a national leader in the military and reporting communities. Our work has created international headlines and spurred changes to multiple military and federal laws, and has been featured in Vanity Fair, Mother Jones, PBS NewsHour, the Center for Investigative Reporting, and local and national newsrooms across the country. We’ve been awarded the prestigious Edward R. Murrow and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Journalism Awards. Our donors and supporters include Fortune 100 companies, Ivy League Universities, leading foundations, philanthropists, and everyday people from around the world. Similarly, The War Horse has fostered conversations in myriad settings, ranging from local communities and high school classrooms to Columbia University and “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart.

Explore more about our impact and read our white paper with the University of Chicago, exploring how a declining military reporting ecosystem jeopardizes U.S. national security. 

Learn more at https://thewarhorse.org/.