Staff Writer, Investigative

We are hiring at The Marshall Project, and we are offering hiring office hours with our editors as part of the process! You will be anonymous to others in the webinar except the editors at the open house and the confidentiality of your application will be maintained. You can submit your questions through the Zoom Webinar Q&A tool or the Zoom chat.

Register for any of these upcoming sessions below (each webinar will have at least 2 editors joining to share their experiences).

• Thursday April 20, 12-1 PM ET https://lnkd.in/gzcRQ2Kn

• Monday May 1, 1-2 PM ET https://lnkd.in/gWRqqbj4

• Friday May 5, 1-2 PM ET https://lnkd.in/grQuFHJ7

The Marshall Project is looking for a staff writer with a track record of delivering impactful investigative reporting for a national audience.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• We seek candidates with deep experience in building and expanding sources; an ability to generate story ideas that have national resonance and potential impact; and a zest for pushing past reporting barriers to unearth what institutions want hidden.

• We are looking for someone comfortable talking to people with a range of perspectives and experiences across the criminal justice system. The successful candidate will be adept with data and public-records requests, able to build thoughtful pieces off breaking news while focusing on deep dives.

• To succeed in this job, you must be able to write clearly, translate jargon, and use narrative and other techniques to make readers care.

• You should identify local stories and granular examples that illustrate major trends. We seek to hold the powerful accountable, but also to delineate systemic problems. We value impact, as well as surprise, colorful writing and counter-intuitive analysis.

• While we do not specify years of experience, this is not an entry-level job; we are looking for seasoned reporters with demonstrated records of impact and ambitious stories.

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCES

• Identify, conceive and execute major investigative and explanatory projects on various aspects of criminal justice, with deep reporting, original insight and narrative grace; contribute shorter pieces of reporting or analysis. Ability to juggle and meet deadlines on both long and shorter-term projects.

• Substantial investigative experience. Familiarity with investigative tools including: using FOIA and state open records laws; analyzing legal and court documents, government reports, tax filings; understanding data; fact-checking and bullet-proofing the story. Ability to work with databases and basic analytic techniques a plus.

• Cultivate and expand a broad network of sources and mine them for story ideas.

• Pursue opportunities to deepen your investigative skills and toolkit.

• Obsessiveness with accuracy.

• Collaboration is in our DNA. You’ll work closely with colleagues from The Marshall Project and partner organizations— online, print, audio, broadcast and alternate story forms. Ability to work constructively with reporters, editors, data team, developers, designers, photo editors, video and audience and engagement teams.

• Seek alternatives to text narrative as you report, including visual journalism, audio, video, and engagement journalism potential.

• Contribute to audience engagement and promotion through headline writing, social media, media requests, appearances, and live events.

We do not expect every candidate to be equally skilled in all these areas, and this is not a complete list of all relevant qualifications applicants might bring to the job. Please tell us about your other assets not mentioned here that may be valuable to this role. Reaching talent across a range of backgrounds and experiences is deeply important to us. If you do not have the exact combination of skills listed here, but are still interested in this role and/or in The Marshall Project, we'd love to hear from you.

WHO YOU’D BE WORKING WITH

You will report to a senior editor seasoned in editing investigative projects. You’ll meet weekly as well with a group of reporters and editors who specialize in investigative projects.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

This job is full-time, with a competitive salary and benefits including:

Annual Salary Range: $105,000 to $130,000

100% employer-paid medical, employer subsidized vision and dental insurance; matching traditional and Roth 401k (immediate vesting). Voluntary benefits include: Health and Dependent Care FSA, commuter benefits, pet insurance, short and long term disability insurance, employee and dependent life insurance, AFLAC accident, hospital indemnity, and critical illness coverage, legal benefits, personal excess liability insurance, and employee discount marketplace. We also observe 17 days of paid time off each year (in addition to office closure between Dec. 24 and Jan. 2), and provide paid parental leave.

We are headquartered in New York City, but this job can be filled remotely.

WHO WE ARE

The Marshall Project is a nonprofit news organization dedicated to covering America’s criminal justice system. We have won two Pulitzer Prizes: in 2021 for national reporting and in 2016 for explanatory journalism; we were also a Pulitzer finalist for investigative reporting. We are not advocates—we follow the facts and we do not pander to any audience—but we have a declared mission: to create and sustain a sense of urgency about the criminal justice system. We do not generally cover breaking news (although we curate the reporting of other news outlets in our morning newsletter). Our work includes investigative and explanatory projects and shorter pieces aimed at highlighting stories that other news organizations miss, underestimate or misunderstand. To assure our work reaches a larger audience we partner or co-publish with other media outlets on almost all of our work; we have partnered with more than 100 newspapers, magazines, broadcasters and online sites.

We are an equal opportunity employer, committed to diversity. We welcome qualified applicants of all races, ethnicities, physical abilities, genders and sexual orientations, including people who have been incarcerated or otherwise involved with the criminal justice system.

HOW TO APPLY

To apply, use this form to send a cover letter, resume, and three work samples (if work samples are paywalled, please send login info).

Due to the expected volume of applications, we will follow up with the most promising candidates, but cannot respond individually to all applicants. Please know it usually takes us more than two months to review applications.