BuzzFeed News is looking for a sharp, ambitious, and enthusiastic reporter to cover climate and the energy industry on the science desk.

The ideal candidate will want to shake up the landscape of climate reporting — to avoid incremental advances in climate models, inconsequential changes in climate policy, and facile “debates” between scientists and climate change deniers, and instead find original and critical stories that will grab the attention of a large audience.

We want to tell stories big and small about how climate change (and the energy industry) is putting a dent in the world — how it’s hitting real people and businesses right now, not in 2100. We want to point fingers at bad actors, conspiracies, and cover-ups, and show exactly how money influences the policy debate. The ideal candidate should have thought hard about how the Trump administration and Republican congress will influence climate and energy issues, and have original ideas about how to cover the EPA, DOE, USDA, and other related agencies.

Over the past two years, our small team has tackled a wide range of climate stories and formats, such as: data visualizations of how sea level rise will hit Donald Trump’s properties, and how the California drought is part of a bigger pattern; personal essays about the Pope’s climate encyclical and the fall of a Pennsylvania fracking town; quizzes about the carbon footprint of large companies; huge scoops about the Trump administration’s transition; and longer features about oil-industry doings in Russia and Ghana. (We have a lot of in-house expertise on using data to tell stories, so the new reporter will have plenty of opportunity to learn or refine those skills if interested.)

If all this sounds exciting, please submit a short cover letter, noting:

• How you would own the climate/energy beat. Please include a broad vision of how you would approach your reporting here, as well as three specific story pitches that you would want to jump on right away.
• Your three best scoops/enterprise/investigative stories from the past year.

This position will ideally be based at the BuzzFeed offices in New York City or Washington, D.C. We offer competitive compensation and a stock option program.

Responsibilities:

• Find stories that make people who don’t care about science sit up and take notice
• Get exclusives and scoops, from places where no one else is looking
• Pitch early and often — and be willing to regularly spitball other reporters’ ideas
• Work quickly
• Juggle several stories at once, from quick scoops and enterprise news to narrative features and investigations
• Methodically fact-check every draft
• Understand basic statistics (or have a statistician on speed-dial)
• Collaborate with other reporters/teams on fast-breaking news and big projects

Requirements:

• At least 2 years of experience reporting on climate, the environment, or politics for a journalistic outlet
• Proven ability to turn complicated/subtle/contentious ideas into clear and lively prose
• Genuine enthusiasm for reporting, even when it’s annoying
• A critical, skeptical eye for hype / baloney
• Love for and excitement about the internet

About BuzzFeed

BuzzFeed is the leading independent digital media and tech company delivering news and entertainment content to a global audience. We have offices in 19 cities around the world and more than 1500 employees including reporters, video producers, data scientists, engineers, brand strategists, and more. We fuse hard work and fun, through a culture of experimentation, teamwork, equality, and humble confidence. As an employee, you’ll enjoy perks like office events, snacks, career development courses, and no work on your birthday! But most importantly, you’ll work with inspiring colleagues to build tools and create content that helps connect people all over the world.