Data Journalist, AI & Automation

ConsumerAffairs

United States

On-site

USD 65,000 - 90,000

Full time

5 days ago

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Benefits offered by this job

Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental &amp

401k Retirement Plan

Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary &

Paid Time Off

Family Leave

Short/Long Term Disability

Training & Development

Job summary

ConsumerAffairs is seeking a Data Journalist specializing in AI and automation to turn complex data into engaging, consumer-focused stories. You’ll analyze datasets, develop methodologies, and produce data-driven content that informs and earns media attention.

You’ll work across data storytelling, research, and editorial production, collaborating with editors and freelancers, and exploring AI-assisted workflows to improve efficiency while maintaining accuracy.

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in journalism, communications, data analytics, statistics, computer science, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.
1–3 years of experience in journalism, content, research, data storytelling, data visualization, digital PR, or related areas.
Strong quantitative and statistical reasoning with percentages, rates, averages, distributions, rankings, changes over time.
Strong writing and communication skills, with ability to explain data clearly and accurately.
Interest in credible data sources, including government datasets; prior experience is a plus.
Detail-oriented and committed to accuracy, with ability to question results.
Strong organizational skills; ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines.

Responsibilities

Develop original, data-driven story ideas timely for consumers.
Research credible data sources and evaluate data support for stories.
Develop defensible methodologies for data analysis and measurement.
Interpret datasets to identify trends, comparisons, and outliers.
Assess what data does and does not support, noting limitations.
Create charts, maps, tables, rankings to illustrate findings.

Skills

Quantitative reasoning

Writing

Organizational skills

Analytical thinking

Data storytelling

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Tools

Excel/Google Sheets

APIs

Data visualization tools

AI tools

Job description

As a Data Journalist specializing in AI and automation, you’ll work at the intersection of data, technology, research, and storytelling to help produce original, data-driven content for ConsumerAffairs. You’ll turn complex datasets into clear, compelling stories that are useful to consumers, earn media attention, and strengthen ConsumerAffairs’ authority.

This role is highly analytical and increasingly technical. In addition to developing story ideas and interpreting data, you’ll help us build smarter ways to research, analyze, QA, and produce data-driven content. That includes experimenting with AI tools and building and improving workflows to make repetitive work faster and more scalable.

You don’t need to be a software engineer, but you should be comfortable working with data beyond a basic spreadsheet. We’re looking for someone who understands quantitative analysis, can learn technical tools quickly, and is interested in using AI, automation, and code to solve editorial problems.

You might come from journalism, data journalism, statistics, economics, research, computer science, communications, or another related field. What matters most is your ability to work confidently with data, analyze it critically, identify the story behind the numbers, and continuously look for better ways to do the work.

Responsibilities Include:

Help develop original, data-driven story ideas that are timely, relevant, and useful to consumers.
Research credible data sources and evaluate whether potential story ideas can be supported by reliable data.
Help develop clear, defensible methodologies for analyzing data and measuring the topics we cover.
Interpret datasets to identify meaningful trends, comparisons, outliers, and other findings that can shape the story.
Think critically about what the data does — and does not — support, including limitations that should be considered when presenting findings.
Identify opportunities to bring findings to life through charts, maps, tables, rankings, and other data visualizations.

Data Storytelling & Research

Help develop original, data-driven story ideas that are timely, relevant, and useful to consumers.
Research credible data sources and evaluate whether potential story ideas can be supported by reliable data.
Help develop clear, defensible methodologies for analyzing data and measuring the topics we cover.
Interpret datasets to identify meaningful trends, comparisons, outliers, and other findings that can shape the story.
Think critically about what the data does — and does not — support, including limitations that should be considered when presenting findings.
Identify opportunities to bring findings to life through charts, maps, tables, rankings, and other data visualizations.

Editorial Production & Project Management

Turn research and data findings into clear editorial direction, including story angles, outlines, key findings, and guidance for freelance writers.
Coordinate with data analysts and freelance writers throughout the production process, communicating expectations, answering questions, and keeping projects on track.
Review and QA analysts’ work for accuracy, including source data, calculations, formulas, methodologies, and final results.
Review writer drafts to ensure they follow the intended story structure and research direction and highlight the most important findings.
Manage multiple projects at different stages of production while meeting deadlines and keeping stakeholders informed.
Collaborate with editors, designers, Digital PR teammates, and other stakeholders to move projects from initial concept through publication.

AI & Automation

Identify opportunities to use AI and automation to make research, data analysis, QA, and production workflows faster and more scalable.
Build, test, and improve AI-assisted or automated workflows for repetitive production tasks while maintaining human review and editorial standards.
Experiment with new tools and approaches that can improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of data-driven projects.
Document successful workflows and help integrate them into the team’s production process.
Evaluate AI-generated outputs critically and independently validate data, calculations, sources, and findings before they are used in published work.

Creative & Strategic Thinking

Stay curious about consumer trends, news, emerging datasets, and new approaches to data storytelling.
Consider how research findings can be framed and presented to resonate with both consumers and journalists.
Contribute ideas for improving our research, production processes, storytelling, and visual presentation.
Use performance results and team feedback to understand what makes data-driven content successful and apply those lessons to future projects.

Minimum Qualifications & Credentials

Bachelor’s degree in journalism, communications, data analytics, statistics, computer science, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.
1-3 years of experience in journalism, content, research, data storytelling, data visualization, digital PR, or a related area. Internships, academic projects, freelance work, and relevant coursework are welcome.
Strong quantitative and statistical reasoning, including the ability to work confidently with percentages, rates, averages, distributions, rankings, changes over time, and other common forms of analysis.
Strong writing and communication skills, with the ability to explain data and complex ideas clearly and accurately.
Interest in researching and evaluating credible data sources, including government and other publicly available datasets; prior experience is a plus.
Detail-oriented and committed to accuracy, with the ability to question results that seem unusual or inconsistent.
Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple projects, priorities, and deadlines.

Technical Skills

Strong proficiency in Excel or Google Sheets, including formulas, filtering, sorting, lookups, conditional logic, pivot tables, and working with larger datasets.
Working knowledge of basic statistical analysis and an understanding of how to choose appropriate ways to analyze and compare data.
Ability to inspect, clean, transform, and validate datasets from multiple sources.
Comfortable using APIs.
Strong interest in building AI-assisted and automated workflows. Experience with tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Zapier, n8n, or similar platforms is a plus.
Ability to use AI tools thoughtfully for research, coding, analysis, ideation, and production while independently validating outputs and maintaining editorial standards.
Interest in data visualization; experience with Datawrapper, Flourish, Tableau, Infogram, or similar platforms is a plus.
Familiarity with AP Style and digital publishing is a plus.

Why You’ll Love Working Here

At ConsumerAffairs, your voice matters. We foster a collaborative environment where you’re encouraged to take initiative, experiment boldly, and grow professionally. We're committed to work-life harmony, career development, and celebrating wins together.