Senior Graphics Reporter

Summary

Join NPR's Editorial Graphics team as a Senior Graphics Reporter and help shape visual storytelling methods. Collaborate with journalists and storytelling units across the organization to create data visualizations, information graphics, and interactive stories. You will work quickly in a dynamic environment, wearing many hats as a designer, reporter, data wrangler, and developer. The role requires strong news judgment, communication skills, and proficiency in JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and data visualization tools. This is a union-represented, remote-permitted role based out of Washington, DC, offering a competitive salary and comprehensive benefits.

Requirements

• At least five years of experience designing/developing for news (or a similar field)
• Solid news judgment and the ability to think in terms of the information needs of the audience
• Fluency in JavaScript, HTML and CSS, including responsive web design techniques and other modern development practices
• Proficiency with code-based methods for building responsive data visualizations (such as D3) and related tools like ai2html
• Demonstrated ability to create presentations that incorporate video, images, graphics, audio and text
• Experience with Adobe Creative Suite, or other design/visual prototyping software
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience

Responsibilities

• Help our audience understand issues in the news through visual storytelling methods, which may include information graphics, data visualization, interactivity and illustration
• Work closely with individual story producers, editors and other teammates to identify opportunities for visual storytelling and data visualization
• Pitch, report and write digital stories — either solo or in collaboration with others
• Assess what work realistically can be executed in the time available and meet agreed-upon deadlines. Have the agility to shift priorities if needed
• Triage requests and manage larger projects as needed, coordinating with colleagues across the organization
• Uphold and extend existing design standards for NPR graphics and editorial projects
• Help shape our team’s visual storytelling methods and strategy
• Document your work for teammates, newsroom colleagues and/or external audiences, as relevant
• Coach other team members, articulating story, design and code suggestions in a helpful and supportive way

Preferred Qualifications

• A broad toolbox of visual storytelling skills, but perhaps also an area of specialization such as cartography
• Experience with developing story ideas, reporting and writing for news
• Proficiency with GIS/mapping software (such as ArcMap or QGIS), technologies for producing web-based interactive maps (such as Leaflet or MapLibre) and command-line geo tools
• Experience with data analysis techniques, especially in command-line or scriptable environments like Python / Jupyter Notebook or R
• Ability to convey interactive story ideas and complex interactions with sketches, wireframes or prototypes
• Demonstrated experience applying user-centered design thinking to editorial work
• Experience developing projects with web accessibility best practices in mind
• Experience working with the Git version control system / GitHub
• Experience working iteratively and collaboratively (for example, using Agile or a similar project management process)

Benefits

• Access to health and wellness
• Paid time off
• Financial well-being
• Medical
• Dental
• Vision
• Life/ accidental death and dismemberment
• Long-term disability
• Short-term disability
• Voluntary retirement savings