Category: Jobs

Be Our Paid Fall/Spring News Applications Intern

Posted on by Adam Schweigert

UPDATE: Applications for the fall have now closed but if you're interested in interning with us in the spring or summer next year, you can send your resume/portfolio to adam@inn.org and we'll reach back out to you when those applications open.

The Investigative News Network (INN), a network of 100+ nonprofit news organizations, is looking for one or more good interns to join our news applications and technology team.

A bit about us: as a team, we exist to support the work of our member organizations, many of which are small nonprofits with limited technology resources. We focus primarily on problems that we are uniquely suited to tackle at a network level, for example:

  • Hosting and supporting about 30 member websites using a WordPress-powered platform/framework we've built and maintain - http://largoproject.org
  • Building open source tools to support members' editorial work and presentation needs with the goal of making their work look as great as any of the largest for-profit newsrooms
  • Supporting editorial collaborations between member organizations, facilitated by INN's data and collaborations editor
  • Providing general technology consulting, training and developing resources to help increase the overall level of tech knowledge and ability across the network

You can read more about us on our team blog and check out our projects on github.

Our interns work closely with our full-time team members and, in some cases, with members directly on all of the above. You will not be making coffee and running errands. You will however build stuff, work on real projects, ship code and write about your experience on our team blog.

Some skills/technologies/attributes that would be helpful for this position include:

  • Some familiarity/experience with user-centered design and standards-driven web development (HTML/CSS, JavaScript, one or more server-side languages such as PHP, Python or Ruby)
  • Able to work independently (particularly important for remote candidates) and communicate effectively with other team members and (where applicable) with member organizations directly
  • Some experience with version control systems such as git(hub) and WordPress (particularly theme design/development)
  • Ideas for what you'd like to learn/make/accomplish during your time with us

We'd prefer a 6 month commitment working about 20 hours a week but the schedule and length of the internship is flexible.

This is a paid (hourly) position and remote candidates are fine.

INN is an equal opportunity employer and we are committed to creating a workplace where diversity is valued. In addition to federal law requirements, INN complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities.

To apply: send resume/portfolio, brief cover letter (email is fine) explaining what you'd like to get out of your internship with us and links to recent projects you're proud of to adam@inn.org.

Open until filled, but for priority consideration please apply by Friday, August 15, 2014 at 5pm ET.

We’re Hiring! Be Our Next News Apps Designer/Developer

Posted on by Adam Schweigert

UPDATE: Applications for this position are now closed. If you'd like, you can still submit a resume for consideration for future FT positions and we do occasionally work with freelancers/contractors. Email: adam@inn.org.

Come help us build the future of nonprofit news!

We're looking for a full-time designer/developer to join our team. Abbreviated job description follows, full description is right over here.

INN's tech team is a small (but growing!) team of makers (presently two, soon to be three full-time employees with a handful of contractors and interns) and this position would be our de facto "design lead" although everyone pitches in and does a little bit of everything.

The ideal candidate is passionate about news and information design and looking to put her/his skills to use tackling design and technology problems facing nonprofit news organizations.

We have a fair amount of flexibility on exactly what this role will be and how it will fit in with the rest of the team. That said, here are some desired skills and attributes (we understand you might not meet all of these but if this roughly sounds like you, we'd love to hear more):

  • 3-5+ years professional experience in design and technology (degree in a related field would be nice but is not strictly necessary), previous experience working in the news/media/nonprofit space would be extremely helpful, passion for nonprofit news is required
  • Expert level knowledge of front-end web design/development, particularly HTML and CSS (use of CSS preprocessors such as LESS or SASS is a nice to have), some experience with JavaScript programming would also be helpful
  • Strong visual design sense (our team is not currently geeked out enough about typography, this needs to change) and relentless focus on improving overall user-experience
  • Experience with rapid prototyping and an understanding of the right level of fidelity needed to clearly communicate an idea
  • Some exposure to and/or experience with one or more modern server-side programming language such as PHP, Python or Ruby (or at least the willingness to learn)
  • We use WordPress (a lot) so some experience creating WordPress themes, plugins, etc. would be very useful
  • Experience with various project management tools (we use Atlassian programs, mostly) and version control (we use Git(hub), mostly)
  • Experience working with data visualization and mapping tools; photo, video, illustration and other visual/graphic design skills would also be great to have
  • Strong communication skills including the ability to explain complex things simply
  • Commitment to openness and showing/writing/talking about your work. We open source and write about nearly every project we do and encourage our team members to speak at industry conferences, local tech meetups, etc. about their work
  • Curiosity and the willingness to learn, adapt and teach

This is a full-time salaried position with benefits. Our compensation package is commensurate with experience and extremely competitive. We are also committed to giving our employees the tools they need to do their job and supporting their professional growth so you'll get an allowance for hardware, software, travel to conferences, etc.

Our team is presently distributed so remote candidates are fine as long as you're comfortable with that. Previous experience working remotely would be helpful. If you'd rather work with us (in the same room) Columbus, OH or Chicago, IL would be the preferred locations for this position.

INN is an equal opportunity employer and we are committed to creating a workplace where diversity is valued. In addition to federal law requirements, INN complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities.

To apply, please send the following to adam@inn.org:

  • Brief resume/cv
  • Cover letter (an email is fine) explaining why this is the perfect position for you
  • A few projects you're particular proud of (links to projects in the wild, your github repo, design portfolio, etc.)
  • Salary expectations (ballpark is fine)