We’re hiring: Come use transparency, journalism and technology to strengthen our democracy

Over the past decade, MuckRock has grown from a simple records request tool to a network of open source platforms that help journalists, researchers, and the public better understand how the world around them works.

MuckRock Foundation sites - including DocumentCloud, FOIA Machine, and oTranscribe - now reach 40 million people each month, thanks to 300,000 users from over 2,700 newsrooms. But the work is just getting started. Later this year, we will be hiring two positions to position us to continuing growing our impact for the next decade.

A note on timing: We are announcing these positions early to allow for a broader applicant pool, and we currently plan to hire in November. If you’re curious if the role is a good fit for you, we’re happy to discuss what we’re looking and share more about how we work in the meantime.

Both roles are full time with health, dental, and vision benefits. While we are headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, we are remote friendly are are continuing to build a more distributed team. If you have questions not addressed in the job listings, please get in touch.

Apply to be our new editor

After five years of developing MuckRock’s unique voice and spreading the power of FOIA to millions, executive editor JPat Brown is leaving us later this fall, and we’re looking to fill his shoes with someone excited to work with our network of thousands of newsrooms on exploring new ways of using documents to tell critical stories. The editor will also have an opportunity to develop an editorial strategy for DocumentCloud, focused on equipping the thousands of newsrooms that rely on it become better at document analysis and user engagement.

Applicants should be eager to experiment with ways of collaborating with newsrooms and the public to report on key issues at both the local and national levels, building off prior work such as our investigations into license plate readers and scouring the Mueller Report.

The right candidate will understand the fundamentals of how investigative journalism works while also pushing to develop new techniques, strategies, and technologies for our field to be more effective and responsive.

While not necessarily a technologist, we will be looking for candidates comfortable with tapping everything from artificial intelligence and crowdsourcing to community workshops and, of course, public records requests, with a particular focus on building new models for local transparency, collaboration, and civic engagement.

The editor will also be charged with thinking how to effectively use all of the tools in our portfolio as well as helping integrate additional services and programs that we launch or integrate in the future.

Read the full job description and application instructions here

Apply to be MuckRock’s first development associate

Over the past three years, we’ve doubled in size to six (soon seven!) staff members overseeing six services, conducting dozens of events and trainings, and helping millions of people better understand their government, communities, and world.

We’re hoping to continue that growth, and we are looking for our first development associate. Reporting to the chief executive officer, the development associate will take the lead on helping communicate the MuckRock Foundation’s vision of a more open, engaged democracy, and then identifying and pursuing key grant and other funding opportunities to bring that vision into reality.

The role will primarily be focused on identifying grant opportunities and crafting winning proposals while also helping communicate the scope of our work to key funders. The right candidate will have excellent strategic communications and interpersonal skills while eager for a role that offers broad growth potential, including the potential to be involved in helping rethink and shape our crowdfunding platforms and other creative fundraising approaches that help support journalism and transparency work at organizations throughout the country.