US Data Journalist

About the role

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 FT’s visual and data journalism team is looking for an experienced data journalist to cover US politics, economics and financial news. This is a full-time staff position. 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 our core coverage areas of trade, economics and financial markets, as well as US electoral politics and campaign finance. You will have a record of working self-sufficiently, from story pitch to final product, and an interest in providing a global perspective for both US and overseas readers. You will also collaborate with the wider Visual & Data Journalism team, and 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 wishing to be based in Washington DC or New York City. External applicants must be eligible to work in the US. Occasional weekend/flexible working may be required as part of covering fast-moving news.

Responsibilities

• Help deliver compelling journalism on core coverage areas of trade, economics and financial markets, as well as US electoral politics and campaign finance.
• Work self‑sufficiently from story pitch to final product, providing a global perspective for US and overseas readers.
• Collaborate with the wider Visual & Data Journalism team and reporters/editors across the FT’s network to apply data‑driven methods to their work.
• Occasional weekend or flexible working may be required to cover fast‑moving news.

Requirements

• Strong portfolio of work in data journalism, ideally focused on business, finance, economics or politics in North America.
• 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 quantitative analysis simply to non‑specialist audiences.
• A passion for continuously learning to keep skills at the forefront of current practice.
• Ability to pitch, write and deliver original data‑driven stories.

Qualifications

• Experience of using data visualisation effectively in reporting would be a distinct advantage.

Skills

• Training in statistics, data science or quantitative social science methods.