Edtech.com's Summary

University of Maryland College Park (UMCP) is hiring an Associate Director for Data & AI Investigations and Partnerships. The role involves launching and managing a new initiative to curate newsworthy data and document collections, coordinating data-driven reporting collaborations with newsroom partners, overseeing investigative data journalism projects with students and partners, and integrating AI technologies into investigative workflows. The position also includes supervising staff and fellows and teaching a hands-on course tied to the Howard Center's data investigations.

Highlights

Launch and manage a curated data and document collection initiative for journalists and researchers.
Establish and manage collaborations with professional and academic newsroom partners for data-driven reporting.
Manage student-led investigative data journalism projects partnered with professional news organizations.
Integrate large language models and AI responsibly into investigative reporting workflows.
Oversee staff and graduate fellows specializing in investigative data journalism.
Teach one hands-on class annually as part of faculty responsibilities.
Requires at least a bachelor's degree and four years of professional journalism experience including data journalism.
Preferred experience includes investigative data journalism, project management, AI and machine learning application, editorial collaboration, teaching or mentoring, and management of early career journalists or students.
Salary range is $155,000 to $180,000 with excellent State of Maryland benefits, including generous leave, retirement plans, healthcare, tuition remission, and paid parental leave.
Position is full-time, 12-month non-tenure professional track faculty at the Howard Center, requiring on-site presence with limited remote work permitted.

Associate Director for Data & AI Investigations and Partnerships Full Description

Job Description Summary & Additional Information

Organization's Summary Statement

The Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, consistently ranked among the world's top journalism schools, develops journalists and media scholars with rigorous reporting, research and analytical skills, a commitment to ethics, and an appreciation for the First Amendment's key role in a free society. Located a few miles from the United States capital, Washington, D.C., the college employs acclaimed researchers and repeat winners of journalism's top awards — including the Pulitzer, Peabody, and Emmy awards — and prepares students to join a dynamic profession.

Merrill College students — who enjoy small classes but also have access to the resources and opportunities available at one of the nation's top public universities — leave Maryland with strong writing and visual skills, a command of technology, and a nuanced understanding of data analysis and audience engagement.

The college has approximately 500 undergraduate and graduate students and about 50 faculty and staff. The college is housed in Knight Hall, located on the UMD College Park campus. The college also runs news bureaus in Annapolis and Washington, is the home of the award-winning Howard Center for Investigative Journalism and The Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism, and hosts the national office of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Several online services rank Merrill College among the top journalism schools in the country, including No. 2 by Course Advisor (2023), No. 3 by College Rank (2024), No. 4 by Universities.com (2024), No. 5 by CollegeVine (2024), No. 5 by Transizion (2024), No. 6 by College Factual (2025), No. 6 by CollegeRanker (2024), No. 6 by Successful Student (2024), No. 7 by AP Guru (2021) and No. 8 by College Transitions (2025). Merrill College is fully accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications.

Overview

The Howard Center for Investigative Journalism is seeking an innovative and collaborative data journalist to serve as Associate Director for Data & AI Investigations and Partnerships.

The Howard Center is an investigative reporting unit and journalism training program based at the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism. Funded by the Scripps Howard Foundation, it regularly partners with major national newsrooms — such as NPR, PBS NewsHour, The Associated Press and FRONTLINE (PBS) — to produce deeply reported investigations.

The center specializes in investigative reporting that requires complex data and digital document analysis, advanced computational methods, open source intelligence (OSINT), applied machine learning, large language models and other forms of artificial intelligence. The center is also launching a new program to maintain a curated set of newsworthy data and document collections for use by other journalists.

The center, working with AP and FRONTLINE, was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Investigative Reporting in 2025 for an in-depth, data-driven investigation into police custody deaths. The investigation employed large language models to sift through hundreds of thousands of digital documents acquired through more than 7,000 public records requests. The team built an original database — shared with partner newsrooms — documenting more than 1,000 deaths after police used "nonlethal" restraint methods.

Responsibilities

The Associate Director for Data & AI Investigations and Partnerships will:

Launch and manage a new initiative to gather and maintain a curated set of newsworthy data and document collections for journalists and researchers to use.
Assist the Howard Center director in establishing and managing data-driven reporting collaborations with professional and academic newsroom partners.
Manage selected student-driven investigative data journalism projects in collaboration with professional news organization partners.
Work to responsibly incorporate large language models and other forms of artificial intelligence into the investigative reporting workflow.
Oversee the work of a Howard Center staff member and graduate fellows specializing in investigative data journalism.
As a member of the Merrill College faculty, teach one hands-on class per year tied to Howard Center data investigations.

Preferred Experience

We expect successful candidates to bring some of the experiences listed below. No candidate is expected to have all of them. We are looking for someone who can demonstrate relevant experience in some of these areas, while articulating a clear interest in the others.

Experience producing investigative data journalism as a reporter.
Experience managing investigative data journalism projects as an editor, project manager or similar role.
Experience building and maintaining newsworthy databases or document collections for internal newsroom or external partner use — or managing people engaged in that work.
Experience experimenting with — or a demonstrated interest in learning — new approaches to investigative reporting using large language models, agentic systems, machine learning or other forms of artificial intelligence.
Experience establishing or managing editorial collaborations with internal or external newsroom partners.
Teaching and mentoring experience (which could include university-level teaching, running a workshop at a professional conference like IRE or NICAR, or informally teaching newsroom colleagues).
Management experience (which could include experience managing professionals or experience managing early career journalists, interns or students).
Experience with - or a demonstrated interest in learning - storytelling forms tailored to reach new audiences.

Minimum Requirements

Applicants must have a bachelor's degree and a minimum of four years of post-college experience working as a professional journalist, including data journalism experience.

Application Materials

Please provide:

A resume.
A cover letter. Please explain your interest in the position and how your prior work aligns with the list of responsibilities and preferred experience posted above.
Links to three examples of your work, along with a brief explanation of your role in their production. The work could be data-driven investigative stories, data products (databases or document collections), tools (web applications, software libraries, GitHub repositories), or other materials (documentation, white papers, teaching or presentation materials, fact-checking notebooks).

BENEFITS

The position has excellent State of Maryland benefits, including:

41 days of leave per year (22 vacation days, 3 personal days, 16 holidays) and 15 days of sick leave.
A choice of an excellent defined-benefit retirement plan (a State of Maryland pension) or a defined-contribution retirement plan — the public sector equivalent of a 401(k) — with a generous employer contribution (employer contributes an extra 7.25% of salary, with no employee contribution required to receive it).
Great State of Maryland insurance for healthcare, prescription drugs, dental, vision, term-life, accidental death and long-term disability.
Tuition remission at the University of Maryland, College Park and other University System of Maryland schools for you and your dependents.
Up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave.
Additional benefit details here: https://uhr.umd.edu/benefits-and-wellness

JOB TYPE DETAILS

This position is a 12-month, full-time, professional track faculty position, based in the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism. The internal university title is Lecturer. The position does not carry tenure.

This is a five-day-per-week, in-person position based at the University of Maryland campus in College Park, Maryland. The position reports to the Howard Center director. The position is not eligible for a permanent, fully remote or hybrid schedule, but occasional remote work is allowed with the approval of the Howard Center director. College Park is located three miles from Washington, D.C., inside the Capital Beltway, and is easily accessible by car, bike and public transportation (Metro, bus, campus shuttles).

Physical Demands: N/A.

Application Details

Best Consideration Date: June 18, 2026
Posting Close Date: N/A
Open Until Filled: Yes

Department

JOUR-Philip Merrill College of Journalism

Worker Sub-Type

Faculty Non-Regular (Fixed Term)

Salary Range

$155,000 - $180,000

Background Checks

Offers of employment are contingent on completion of a background check. Information reported by the background check will not automatically disqualify anyone from employment. Before any adverse decision, the finalist will have an opportunity to provide information to the University regarding disclosable background check information. The University reserves the right to rescind the offer of employment or otherwise decline or terminate employment if the information reported by the background check is deemed incompatible with the position, regardless of when the background check is completed.

Employment Eligibility

The successful candidate must complete employment eligibility verification (on Form I-9) by presenting documents that establish identity and work authorization within the timeframe required by federal immigration law, and where applicable, to demonstrate renewed employment authorization. Failure to complete employment eligibility verification or reverification within the timeframe set forth by law may result in suspension or termination of employment.

EEO Statement

The University of Maryland, College Park is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment. Please read the University's Equal Employment Opportunity Statement of Policy.

Title IX Non-Discrimination Notice

Resources

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Original Job Description

Job Description Summary & Additional Information

Organization's Summary Statement

Overview

The Howard Center for Investigative Journalism is seeking an innovative and collaborative data journalist to serve as Associate Director for Data & AI Investigations and Partnerships.

Responsibilities

The Associate Director for Data & AI Investigations and Partnerships will:

Launch and manage a new initiative to gather and maintain a curated set of newsworthy data and document collections for journalists and researchers to use.
Assist the Howard Center director in establishing and managing data-driven reporting collaborations with professional and academic newsroom partners.
Manage selected student-driven investigative data journalism projects in collaboration with professional news organization partners.
Work to responsibly incorporate large language models and other forms of artificial intelligence into the investigative reporting workflow.
Oversee the work of a Howard Center staff member and graduate fellows specializing in investigative data journalism.
As a member of the Merrill College faculty, teach one hands-on class per year tied to Howard Center data investigations.

Preferred Experience

Experience producing investigative data journalism as a reporter.
Experience managing investigative data journalism projects as an editor, project manager or similar role.
Experience building and maintaining newsworthy databases or document collections for internal newsroom or external partner use — or managing people engaged in that work.
Experience experimenting with — or a demonstrated interest in learning — new approaches to investigative reporting using large language models, agentic systems, machine learning or other forms of artificial intelligence.
Experience establishing or managing editorial collaborations with internal or external newsroom partners.
Teaching and mentoring experience (which could include university-level teaching, running a workshop at a professional conference like IRE or NICAR, or informally teaching newsroom colleagues).
Management experience (which could include experience managing professionals or experience managing early career journalists, interns or students).
Experience with - or a demonstrated interest in learning - storytelling forms tailored to reach new audiences.

Minimum Requirements

Applicants must have a bachelor's degree and a minimum of four years of post-college experience working as a professional journalist, including data journalism experience.

Application Materials

Please provide:

A resume.
A cover letter. Please explain your interest in the position and how your prior work aligns with the list of responsibilities and preferred experience posted above.
Links to three examples of your work, along with a brief explanation of your role in their production. The work could be data-driven investigative stories, data products (databases or document collections), tools (web applications, software libraries, GitHub repositories), or other materials (documentation, white papers, teaching or presentation materials, fact-checking notebooks).

BENEFITS

The position has excellent State of Maryland benefits, including:

41 days of leave per year (22 vacation days, 3 personal days, 16 holidays) and 15 days of sick leave.
A choice of an excellent defined-benefit retirement plan (a State of Maryland pension) or a defined-contribution retirement plan — the public sector equivalent of a 401(k) — with a generous employer contribution (employer contributes an extra 7.25% of salary, with no employee contribution required to receive it).
Great State of Maryland insurance for healthcare, prescription drugs, dental, vision, term-life, accidental death and long-term disability.
Tuition remission at the University of Maryland, College Park and other University System of Maryland schools for you and your dependents.
Up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave.
Additional benefit details here: https://uhr.umd.edu/benefits-and-wellness

JOB TYPE DETAILS

Physical Demands: N/A.

Application Details

Best Consideration Date: June 18, 2026
Posting Close Date: N/A
Open Until Filled: Yes

Department

JOUR-Philip Merrill College of Journalism

Worker Sub-Type

Faculty Non-Regular (Fixed Term)

Salary Range

$155,000 - $180,000

Background Checks

Employment Eligibility

EEO Statement

Title IX Non-Discrimination Notice

Resources

Learn how military skills translate to civilian opportunities with O*Net Online

Search Firm Managed Recruitment

There are some positions that are not advertised on this career site as the search is being managed by a Search Firm.

Please visit the link below to see these available opportunities:

Search Firm Managed Vacancies

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Associate Director for Data & AI Investigations and Partnerships

Edtech.com's Summary

Associate Director for Data & AI Investigations and Partnerships Full Description

Job Description Summary & Additional Information

Organization's Summary Statement

Overview

Responsibilities

Preferred Experience

Minimum Requirements

Application Materials

Application Details

Department

Worker Sub-Type

Salary Range

Background Checks

Employment Eligibility

EEO Statement

Title IX Non-Discrimination Notice

Resources

Search Firm Managed Recruitment

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