Data Reporter, Education

Job description:

The San Antonio Express-News seeks a data reporter to produce high-impact data stories that help readers understand and explore how schools and other public institutions shape their daily lives.
This position is part of our data visualization team, which produces quick-turn, graphics-focused stories, interactive projects and data-driven deep dives for the San Antonio Express-News and the Austin American-Statesman. The successful candidate will collaborate closely with reporters and editors across the San Antonio newsroom — particularly on the education beat — to find original angles and deliver high-impact journalism that readers can’t get anywhere else.

We’re seeking a self-starter with high standards who can collaborate well, has excellent communication skills, and is comfortable providing and taking feedback. We want a teammate who aspires to be a key player in an exciting, modern news operation that values a smart, local readership and aims to take risks in how we report and present journalism online. 

Key responsibilities:

• Write audience-focused stories and build data visualizations.
• Analyze, interpret and visualize large public datasets to produce compelling graphics- and data-driven stories.
• Collaborate with beat reporters and editors to identify opportunities where data can strengthen coverage.
• Help raise data literacy across the newsroom by documenting work, sharing methods and occasionally leading trainings.
• Write and document reproducible, bulletproof code for data analysis. 

Qualifications:

• Experience working collaboratively in a deadline-driven newsroom environment. 
• Experience as a data journalist in a modern newsroom or similar environment.
• Ability to self-manage and handle multiple projects concurrently.
• Command of Excel and Google Sheets. 
• Comfort with Python, R or similar tools to clean, analyze and present data.
• Comfort with data visualization tools such as Datawrapper or Adobe Illustrator/ai2html.
• Working knowledge of Git and Github.
• Desire and ability to learn on the job.
• Any experience with the following tools/systems is a plus: 
  • Mapping tools such as ArcGIS or QGIS. 
  • APIs and web-scraping tools.
  • Federal and Texas open-records law. 

Success is measured by:

• Producing exclusive, data-driven journalism that distinguishes our data coverage.
• Helping elevate education coverage by surfacing original storylines.
• Delivering clean, accurate and well-documented analysis that builds trust with readers.
• Collaborating effectively across teams to ensure the San Antonio Express-News and the Austin American-Statesman make the most of public data.
• Contributing to a culture of innovation, experimentation and data literacy.

Additional Requirements and Information 

This role is a hybrid position based in the San Antonio Express-News newsroom. You will be expected to be physically present in the newsroom at least three days per week on average.

To be considered you must submit all required documents in PDF format: 

• Résumé.
• Cover letter that explains why you would be a good fit.
• One page that includes three work/character references including titles, email addresses and phone numbers, and links to at least three digital work samples.

About the San Antonio Express-News

The Express-News is the third-largest daily newspaper in Texas and the only daily in San Antonio. It serves a metro area of 2.5 million people. By one name or another, it traces its roots back to 1865. Over the past three years, the paper has reorganized to focus on digital journalism and substantially increased the audience for its subscriber website, ExpressNews.com. Over the same period, the Express-News has won a George Polk Award, two IRE (Investigative Reporters and Editors) Awards, and numerous regional and state journalism prizes.

It is part of Hearst, a diversified global media, services and information business. Hearst Newspaper Group includes the Express-News, the Houston Chronicle, the Austin American-Statesman, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Albany Times Union and other daily