US Data Journalist

About us

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 role

The FT’s visual and data journalism team is looking for an experienced data journalist to cover US national news, including the 2026 midterm elections. This role is offered on a fixed-term basis through to December 31 2026. 

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 US electoral politics, campaign finance and public policy, and how these topics intersect with our core coverage areas of global trade, international relations, economics and financial markets.

Able to work self-sufficiently, you’ll also collaborate with others in the wider Visual & Data Journalism team, as well as 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 currently eligible to work in the US and wishing to be based in either Washington DC or New York City. 

Occasional weekend/flexible working may be required as part of covering fast-moving news.

Essential skills

You will have a strong portfolio of work in data journalism, ideally focused on business, finance, economics or politics in North America. In addition, you will have:

• 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 your quantitative analysis work simply to non-specialist audience

• A passion for continuously learning in order to keep your skills at the forefront of current practice

Desirable skills

While this is not a graphics-production role, experience of using data visualisation effectively in reporting would be a distinct advantage. 

In addition, while we don’t expect you to have all of these skills, any of the following would be beneficial, so please mention them in your cover letter and résumé:

• Experience covering quantitative aspects of US political polling, electoral politics, campaign finance or public policy analysis

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

• Experience building, maintaining or working with pipelines for continuously acquiring and processing data

• Maintaining statistical models 

• Experience applying data analysis in economic, business or financial journalism

• Use of machine learning or large language models in a journalism context

• Training and supporting others in data-handling techniques

• Knowledge of working collaboratively with others on coding projects using version control systems such as Git

• Data analysis work related to political polling and elections, international trade, warfare or uncovering corporate wrongdoing

• Collaborating with data providers, subject specialists, journalists, designers and developers to deliver data-driven stories and data visualisations for a non-specialist audience

• Familiarity with the Flourish data visualisation tool

Please submit your application by the end of the day, Sunday May 10 2026. 

Salary range

A reasonable estimate of the salary range for this role is $90,000 to $120,000. To ensure pay fairness, the successful candidate will be offered a salary within the estimated salary range based on a number of considerations including but not limited to: skill set; experience and training; certifications; and other business and organisational needs. This position is represented by the News Guild.

The use of AI

Original reporting, great writing and intelligent commentary lie at the heart of FT journalism. Our readers trust us to produce quality journalism that is accurate, fair and insightful. This is why FT editorial staff do not by default use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to write articles or create other reader-facing content. For specific and pre-approved cases, AI can be harnessed for certain tasks, such as assisting data research for investigations.  

We expect applicants to the FT newsroom to refrain from using AI in their test submissions, and any written materials should be a genuine reflection of their own knowledge, skills and experiences. We encourage candidates only to employ AI as a tool to help with research and interview readiness for a role. 

Candidates should be aware that the use of AI throughout the application process is monitored to ensure a fair and transparent hiring process for all.

Our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion 

We believe in the power of unique perspectives and want all voices in our organisation to be heard, respected and valued. A supportive workplace is one where employees feel they can be themselves and operate to their full potential. We are committed to removing barriers for everyone, with a focus on addressing those faced by underrepresented groups.

What’s in it for you? Our benefits

Our benefits vary by location but we are committed to providing best-in-class perks across all our offices. These include generous annual leave, medical cover, inclusive parental leave packages, subsidised gym memberships and opportunities to give back to the community. Full details of our benefits are available here.

FT Newsroom staff are expected to work onsite a minimum of three days per week, subject to role requirements and regular review. While flexible working requests will be considered, not all patterns are suitable for Editorial roles.

Accessibility

We are a disability confident employer and Valuable 500 signatory. 

Please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments/personalisation as part of the application process or to enable you to attend an interview. If you would like to discuss your requirements or have any questions, email [email protected] and a member of our team will be happy to help.

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