Project Lead – Civic Information (Contract)

The American Journalism Project’s Product & AI Studio (PAIS) is seeking a Project Lead to work on a contract basis for twelve months on a civic information project that aims to expand the impact of AI-powered solutions within nonprofit news organizations.

This project aims to create and leverage AI tools for nonprofit newsrooms to access and utilize civic data in storytelling and audience engagement. This includes identifying, transcribing, extracting structure and generating content from civic databases, and information from city hall meetings, school board meetings, state legislative sessions, public records, press releases and interviews, etc.

This is a unique opportunity to work with a diverse subset of AJP’s portfolio, collaborating with product leads in newsrooms, AJP staff, partners, and contractors to deliver on a high-value product and showcase both direct impact to newsrooms and open, publishable findings for the broader journalism community.

The project’s public output will include case studies, landscape analyses, convenings, industry reports, and open-source software. This contractor will be a full-scale partner in this work.

This work will require collaboration with AJP’s staff, grantee newsrooms, partners, and the broader journalism community, to facilitate communication and resource-sharing, and to ensure that the project is in scope, on schedule, and delivering on the objectives and broader goals of the PAIS.

Ideal candidates will have:

  • Experience in project management, preferably in civic technology or AI-related projects with media organizations
  • Familiarity with technical challenges in media projects and working with technical staff – engineers, analysts, and others – to ensure projects move forward in scope and on time.
  • Strong leadership skills and ability to manage complex, multi-stakeholder projects.
  • Excellent communication and organizational skills.
  • A self-starting approach to tackling projects and challenges.

 

Deliverables will include:

Ongoing

  • Continuously track progress on each of the standing projects and stakeholders in a shared resource document
  • Give regular updates to the PAIS staff and program team leadership (biweekly writeups, monthly meetings)
  • Lead monthly cohort meetings with the Civic Information theme (agendas, guests, progress reports)
  • Co-lead individual quarterly updates with grantees and partners
  • Attend and/or review ongoing technical meetings with PAIS and engineering contractors
  • Publish progress reports outlining themes and accomplishments on the AJP blog

0-3 months

  • Draft a scope and strategy document for programs and deliverables for the year, in collaboration with PAIS staff
  • Collaborate with PAIS team on sourcing and hiring additional contract support
  • Connect with vendors and partners in the field, and work with PAIS staff to select partners for initial participation
  • Conduct a comprehensive landscape analysis for internal review

3-9 months

  • Draft requirements for building and scaling systems in collaboration with PAIS staff
  • Connect regularly with grantees and partners to ensure that all stakeholders are meeting expectations and deliverables
  • Continue to meet with potential partners for further collaboration
  • Evaluate standing partnerships and projects to strategize on projects for remainder of the year

9-12 months

  • Review and scope projects for the remainder of the year to ensure delivery.
  • Draft final reports on Civic Information projects for publication.
  • Lead survey of grantees in collaboration with Portfolio Learning

We expect the contractor to ensure timely completion of deliverables, with availability during typical U.S. business hours for key meetings or discussions as needed.

 

How to Apply:

Please submit your application here. If your experience and interest aligns with our needs, we will reach out for a follow-up discussion about our budget, vision, and next steps.