We are not currently accepting applications for this position.

ProPublica is seeking a developer/journalist to join its award-winning news applications team as part of an initiative to double down on our investigative coverage of the federal government and its impact on people’s lives.

As a news applications developer, here’s what you’ll do:

• Design and develop interactive databases (what we call “news apps") and interactive graphics to hold the powerful accountable and make a real impact on people’s lives.
• Work with the best news nerds on the planet on some of the biggest and most innovative projects in investigative and data journalism. ⚡
• Do journalism that matters, in collaboration with talented reporters, editors and data journalists, using coding and analysis skills to spotlight wrongdoing.

What do we mean by covering the federal government? There’s an enormous amount of news coming from Washington. We’re not going to be covering all of it. We’re not going to be covering the fights or the tweets. As data journalists, we’re not going to cover political horse races or opinion polls. We are going be digging into what’s really happening inside the halls of power that affects the lives of Americans. We plan to use the immense data generated by and about the federal government to make sure powerful people live up to the authority and influence they’ve been given.

We’re looking for someone with:

• A track record of excellence in at least two of these areas: design skill, coding acumen and a journalist’s insight, as well as an aptitude for and genuine excitement about developing all three.
• Diligence, attention to detail and a love for making things.
• Fluency in modern and widely supported front- and back-end programming languages. We’ve traditionally been a Ruby shop, but we’re using Python and Javascript in production more and more.
• The self-discipline to work independently, as well as genuine eagerness to work with others. Everybody at ProPublica has their own superpower. We do our best work together.
• A commitment to being a great colleague and respectful human being.

We are dedicated to improving our newsroom, in part by better reflecting the people we cover. (Here is a breakdown of our own 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.

This position is full-time with benefits. You can work in our new Washington office or in our main newsroom in New York City, though we expect you to travel between them quite a bit. For this position, we are currently not considering remote candidates.

What you should send us:

We cannot emphasize this enough: Great projects are the most important part of the application.

The application form will allow you to send us three projects from your portfolio, as well as give you the space to walk us through your own contributions to those projects. Take advantage of this to tell us everything you did, from behind-the-scenes wins you’re proud of to how you helped your colleagues.

Make sure to read the section above ("We’re looking for someone with") because it’s also our evaluation criteria for the position, and use your application to show us how you’ve got the skills we’ve listed, or why the skills you have are the ones we actually need.

We know there may be great candidates reading this who may not fit into what we’ve described, or who have alternative skills — anything from illustration to motion graphics to game design — that could bring a lot to this position. There also may be candidates who psych themselves out of applying even if they would be great at this job. If any of that describes you, please don’t hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself. There’s space in the application to tell us everything you bring to the table, and we look forward to reading it.

Interested? Use this form to apply. The last day to apply is Sunday, March 31 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern. We’ll start reviewing applications right after.

Questions? Email [email protected]. Sisi (Hi! 👋🏼) is the editor of our news apps team, and this position will report to her.

No phone calls, please.