NPR’s News Apps/graphics team is looking for a civic-minded graphics reporter to join us to cover the 2024 elections. Our team works on data visualizations, information design, creative story presentations and custom tooling to help tell stories in the NPR newsroom. (You can see some of our past work on our team blog and GitHub sites.) 

This is a temporary position, running through Jan. 26, 2025, and can be based at our Washington, DC, headquarters or at a remote location in the U.S. approved by NPR.

In this role, you will have the opportunity to help our audience make sense of the elections, including key issues, results and analysis. Your biggest responsibilities will be to help design and build our results displays for the general election, and to work on related stories and analysis. You will be assigned other projects as bandwidth permits.

On this team, you will have to work quickly in a dynamic environment. Members of our team wear many hats — designer, reporter, data wrangler, developer, cartographer, sysadmin, etc. Depending on your experience and the team’s needs, you’ll also utilize different skills day-to-day. And you’ll work closely with various journalists and storytelling units around the NPR organization and across our network of member stations, including photographers and video journalists, beat reporters and show producers, copy editors, digital editors and engagement editors.

This is a union represented role covered under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement with SAG-AFTRA. 

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Design and build user-facing election results displays for use on NPR.org and member station websites
• Help our audience understand issues in the news through visual storytelling methods, which may include information graphics, data visualization, interactivity and illustration
• Work closely with individual story producers, editors and teammates to identify opportunities for visual storytelling, data visualization and/or analysis
• Assess what work realistically can be executed in the time available and meet agreed-upon deadlines
• Uphold and extend existing design standards for NPR graphics and editorial projects
• Document your work for teammates, newsroom colleagues and/or external audiences, as relevant
• Coach other team members, articulating story, design and code suggestions in a helpful and supportive way

The above duties and responsibilities are not an exhaustive list of required responsibilities, duties and skills. Other duties may be assigned, and this job description can be modified at any time.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Three or more years of experience in news design / graphics (or a similar field)

EDUCATION REQUIREMENT

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience

WORK LOCATION

• Remote Permitted: This is a remote permitted role. This role is based out of our Washington, DC office but the employee may choose to work on a remote basis from a location that NPR approves.

REQUIRED SKILLS

• Solid news judgment and the ability to think in terms of the information needs of the audience
• Fluency in JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS3, including responsive web design techniques
• Proven success implementing complex designs in HTML/CSS
• Experience with Adobe Creative Suite, or other design/visual prototyping software
• Cultivate and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace
• Cultivate and support an inclusive and equitable workplace culture

PREFERRED SKILLS

• Demonstrated experience applying user-centered design thinking to editorial work
• Experience with GIS/mapping software such as QGIS, Leaflet, topojson, mapshaper, or ESRI.
• Familiarity with data analysis techniques, especially in command-line or scriptable environments like Jupyter Notebook
• Demonstrated writing, reporting and research skills
• Experience working with the Git version control system

JOB TYPE

• This is a temporary full time position.

COMPENSATION

Hourly Rate: The U.S. based anticipated hourly rate for this opportunity is $46.88-$48.07 plus benefits. The range displayed reflects the minimum and maximum hourly rate NPR expects to provide for new hires for the position across all US locations.

Benefits: NPR offers access to comprehensive benefits for employees and dependents. Regular, full-time employees scheduled to work 30 hours or more per week are eligible to enroll in NPR’s benefits options. Benefits include access to health and wellness, paid time off, and financial well-being. Plan options include medical, dental, vision, life/ accidental death and dismemberment, long-term disability, short-term disability, and voluntary retirement savings to all eligible NPR employees. 

Does this sound like you? If so, we want to hear from you. Please submit a cover letter, your resume, portfolio and (if applicable) GitHub profile.