Job description
ProPublica is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.
Help us chart new territory. ProPublica is looking for a hands-on, creative and versatile engineer for a two-year fellowship to explore new and responsible uses of artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques in the pursuit of investigative journalism.
We’ve long been a pioneer in applying new technologies to our work, and we want to accelerate our early efforts in ways that align with our standards. We are neither cheerleaders nor naysayers of these technologies; we’re curious to use new approaches while keeping our eyes open to their many shortcomings.
This engineer will explore how software might help us and our readers find needles in the haystack by unlocking new tools for our reporters and empowering the public to more deeply engage with the findings and data behind our work. Safeguarding the integrity of our data and the confidentiality of our sources is essential.
This fellow will be part of ProPublica’s cross-functional product team and work across the newsroom, collaborating with senior editors, engagement reporters and our data and news apps teams. The position reports to the senior director of technology and is part of an industrywide program organized by The Lenfest Institute.
You’ll work with our award-winning engagement reporting team, which powers many of our most ambitious, crowdsourced investigations. From callouts and tip lines to citizen-fueled science, these reporters gather leads and evidence from communities around the country. We intend to explore how AI and large language models might help us evaluate, categorize and route incoming tips more efficiently and safely — ensuring they reach the right journalist, faster.
You’ll also collaborate with our news apps developers and data journalists who design and build interactive databases and explanatory tools. These include Nonprofit Explorer, our searchable repository of tax records, and projects such as Supreme Court justices’ financial disclosures or our timeline of videos from the attack on the U.S. Capitol. We will explore how AI can enhance projects like this by improving how we organize, search and surface the data behind them — potentially making it more accessible through natural language queries and smart structuring.
What You’ll Do at ProPublica:
- Prototype and test ideas with potential for production use, while documenting findings to help inform future newsroom efforts.
- Prototype newsroom tools and systems to safely use AI models without compromising sensitive data or source information.
- Identify opportunities for ProPublica to use AI to develop best use cases, such as parsing large troves of information.
- Share relevant documentation and code, as well as AI best practices, with the newsroom and as public open-source releases.
- Shape best practices for building values-aligned AI tools in the newsroom.
- Work with some of the best journalists on the planet on some of the biggest and most innovative projects in investigative and data journalism.
- Regularly connect with other fellows in the program who are working on related projects at independent newsrooms across the country.
We’re Looking for Someone With:
- At least five years experience in software engineering.
- Minimum of two years experience in data processing, including data cleaning and building or maintaining data pipelines.
- Experience using generative AI and large language models APIs.
- Familiarity with LLM prompt engineering, fine-tuning or evaluation techniques.
- Understanding of the technology’s limitations and risks, including hallucinations and bias.
- Fluency in modern and widely supported software languages like Node and Python.
- Discipline to work independently, as well as an eagerness to work with teammates on collaborative projects.
- Great written and spoken communication skills.
- The ability to travel, as needed, for team meetings and training at ProPublica’s offices and as part of the Lenfest fellowship program.
Bonus if You Have:
- Experience working in or with a newsroom, civic tech group or public-interest technology organization.
- Experience handling sensitive or privacy-preserving data.
- A track record of open-source contributions or documentation.
This fellowship begins no later than September 2025 and runs for two years from the date of hire. Partial funding for this position comes from the Lenfest Institute AI Collaborative and Fellowship program, with support from Microsoft and OpenAI. (Learn more about the program.)
ProPublica is based in New York, but we’re open to remote candidates if the fit is right. Applicants must be eligible to work in the U.S.
The salary range for this full-time position is $140,000-$160,000 per year and includes benefits.
This is a good-faith estimate of what we expect to pay for this position. The final salary figure will take into account a person’s experience, accomplishment and location. ProPublica is committed to paying its staff equitably, and these ranges should not be considered career salary limits or caps.
The deadline for applications is Wednesday, June 25, at 9 a.m. Eastern time. Questions? Send an email to [email protected]. No phone calls, please.
We know there are great candidates who may not fit into what we’ve described above or who have important skills we haven’t thought of. If that’s you, don’t hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself.
We are dedicated to improving our newsroom, in part by better reflecting the people we cover. (Here is a breakdown of our staff.) We are committed to diversity and building an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and ages. And we are taking steps to meet that commitment. We especially encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities. We are an equal opportunity employer and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age or any other status protected under applicable law.
