Job Description

The Hearst Newspapers (HNP) DevHub is hiring a Newsroom AI and Automation Engineer who is passionate about local news, media technology and reader service. In this role, the successful candidate will help develop editorial tools and reader-facing projects that harness generative AI and automation technologies in responsible, innovative ways. The Newsroom AI and Automation Engineer will build internal tools and external experiences that enhance our newsrooms' focused, high-quality coverage of communities across the country.

In collaboration with HNP's Deputy Director, Newsroom AI and Automation, the successful candidate will work on projects such as Producer-P, our audience optimization tool; Dispatch, our newsletter assistant; Radar, our automated-alert system; and Chowbot, our first user-facing generative AI-powered chatbot that recommends restaurants to readers in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The HNP DevHub is a team of developers, computational journalists, digital designers and content strategists who collaborate with local newsrooms such as the San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle and Times Union of Albany, N.Y., to create best-in-class digital experiences. We make things like election results pages, searchable databases, severe weather trackers, elegantly designed self-service templates and whatever else you can dream up.

Read more about the DevHub and our team.

The Skillset

Ideal candidates will be able to showcase some of the following. We do not expect candidates to be proficient in every area.

• Proficiency in Python.

• Experience in a modern newsroom or a related work environment.

• Expertise in prompt engineering.

• Familiarity with LangChain and LangSmith.

• Skilled in fine-tuning large language models, with a focus on customizing AI models to fit specific project requirements.

• Experience creating and maintaining vector databases for use in retrieval augmented generation and other use cases.

• Experience in developing Slack bots.

• Proven experience in ingesting APIs and utilizing web-scraping tools to collect and process data from various sources.

• Advanced proficiency with Excel and Google Sheets, showcasing strong data manipulation and analysis skills.

• Solid working knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

• Proficiency with Git and GitHub.

• Aptitude to grasp the latest developments in generative AI, capable of distilling complex information into actionable insights for team members.

• Ability to self-manage and prioritize multiple projects simultaneously, meeting tight deadlines without compromising on quality.

The Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain AI-powered tools that help newsrooms produce high-quality local journalism and grow their audiences.

• Create experiences that make our readers' lives richer.

• Think big and push for innovation.

• Create work with respect for journalistic ethics, as well as brand and industry standards.

• Stay aware of generative AI advances and how they can affect media companies.

• Collaborate with journalists on major data-driven projects.

• Train journalists on how to use these tools and educate them on best practices for AI development.

• Build in an iterative way and incorporate feedback from multiple stakeholders across our

network.

If you're passionate about ambitious local journalism, don't hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself. We know there are many great candidates who may not check all of these boxes.

The Basics

• This position is full time.

• This position will have a Monday-to-Friday dayside schedule but evening work may be

required as news warrants.

• The successful candidate must be based in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City or near one of our HNP newsrooms (Houston or San Antonio - TX, Albany - NY, Norwalk - CT) and agree to a hybrid work schedule with a few days a week in the office.

The Benefits

• Health, dental, vision, disability and life insurance

• 401(k) with company matching

• Three weeks vacation annually

• Paid training opportunities, including journalism conferences

• Flexible spending account

• Parental leave and support

• Employee assistance program

• Health savings account

About HNP

With more than 3,000 employees across the nation, HNP (Hearst Newspapers) publishes 24 dailies and 52 weeklies, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News and Albany Times Union. We believe in the power of local news and we're building teams to help elevate our journalists' impact in the communities we serve.

At Hearst, it is our mission to be the most trusted, most respected and most accurate source of news and information in the communities that we serve. We place our readers' interests above all others, and dedicate ourselves to the principles of truthfulness, fairness and independence. We understand that the free flow of accurate information is vital to our system of government and the foundations of our economy.

Come join our world-class digital team!

The estimated base salary for this role is $90,000 - $100,000. The actual base pay offered is dependent upon many factors, such as transferable skills, work experience, business needs, market demands and conditions, including geographic location where the work will be performed, and other factors permitted by law. The base pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future.

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