Senior Researcher

Who We Are:

American Oversight is a nonpartisan, nonprofit watchdog that advances truth, accountability, and democracy by enforcing the public's right to government records. We use multiple tools, backed by aggressive litigation, to fight attacks on democratic institutions, threats to civil rights and liberties, abuses of power, and erosion of government transparency. We expose and disrupt these attacks, and the officials and networks behind them, by forcing the government to turn over records officials would rather keep secret.

Since our founding in 2017, American Oversight has:

• Shut down Trump's bogus "voter fraud" commission.
• Revealed the Trump-sanctioned pressure campaign on the Ukrainian government by forcing the Trump administration to turn over records initially withheld from Congress.
• Uncovered rampant preventable deaths of immigrants in federal custody.
• Unmasked taxpayer-funded sham "audits" of the 2020 election.
• Obtained the fake electors' forged certificates submitted by fake electors during the 2020 election.
• Exposed networks of election denialists and subverters around the country.
• Halted the impeachment of a newly elected state supreme court justice in Wisconsin.
• Blocked state election board members in Georgia and Wisconsin from taking anti-democratic actions in secret.

For more information, please visit our website: www.americanoversight.org

About the Role:

Reporting to the Research Director, American Oversight is seeking a Senior Researcher to join its team.

A Senior Researcher is a core member of American Oversight’s Research team. This role is responsible for actively developing and leading in-depth investigations and research. A Senior Researcher supports the Research Director and Deputy Research Director’s execution of American Oversight’s strategic research vision.

What You Will Do:

• Develop and drive investigation strategies by leveraging public records, other intelligence, and in-depth subject matter knowledge in collaboration with the Research Director and Deputy Research Director.
  • Take ownership of advancing complex investigations that align with American Oversight’s strategic goals.
  • Pursue innovative approaches that enhance impact by recognizing potential for litigation, new target audiences, or other avenues that further American Oversight’s strategic objectives and core mission.
• Draft targeted, strategic, litigation-ready public records requests on important issues to federal, state, and local governments.
• Analyze complex government documents and draw upon available information to identify unreported insights and emerging trends. Synthesize findings into compelling narratives, with a focus on accuracy, newsworthiness, and the broader implications for government accountability.
• Produce clear, well-contextualized content that distills complex information from government documents and available information into formats like blog posts and reports that advance American Oversight’s mission and helps increase the public understanding of how these findings connect to the broader accountability landscape. Contribute to briefing documents, talking points, and other collaborative American Oversight work products.
• Serve as an in-house expert on how key issue areas, public records custodians, and document sets factor into American Oversight’s strategic priorities, including representing American Oversight on the record and briefing outside groups and journalists on our work.
• Play a leading role in designing and implementing projects that synthesize and present American Oversight’s investigative and research findings using innovative techniques. Coordinate internally to ensure that projects are aligned with strategic goals.
• Mentor and train Research team members, including reviewing and providing substantive and stylistic feedback on document review tasks, public records request drafts, and other projects and deliverables as necessary. Maintain active communication and follow up with government agencies about active open records requests as needed, using expertise to prioritize requests and pursue the appropriate response with American Oversight’s Legal team.
• Serve as a liaison between American Oversight’s Research team and appropriate strategic partners in collaboration with the Research team leadership and the Strategic Partnerships Director. Represent American Oversight in meetings and coalitions with allied organizations.
• On a rotating basis, manage American Oversight’s research intern program, including hiring, supervising, and identifying educational opportunities for interns. Supervise and manage the day to day work of Research team interns.
• Process incoming documents as needed to create searchable, paginated productions for internal and external use. Provide and help implement process improvement recommendations to enhance efficiency, accuracy, and utility of the Research team and cross functional operations. .
• Other special projects and duties as assigned.

What You Will Bring:

• 4+ years experience in government investigations, investigative journalism, or policy research, or a related field involving in-depth investigative, research, analyses.
• Interest in American Oversight’s mission of government accountability and transparency; commitment to public interest advocacy.
• Exceptionally strong skills in the following areas:
  • Problem Solving and Critical Thinking: Identifies and anticipates problems and surfaces creative solutions to achieve desired outcomes; scans the landscape and connects dots among many disparate data points and situations.
  • Communication:
    • Oral: Effectively conveys information, ideas, and emotions in a clear, concise, and engaging manner; uses language that is understandable and relevant; appropriately adapts language to different audiences and contexts.
    • Written: Effectively distills complex ideas into clear, concise, and engaging written content; appropriately adapts language to different audiences and contexts; ensures work product is free from errors, typos, or inconsistencies.
    • Attention to Detail: Thoroughly and accurately completes tasks, ensuring that all details, no matter how small, are correct and align with American Oversight’s standards.
  • Project Management: Ability to multitask and independently manage multiple projects with varying scopes, timelines, and stakeholders; adapts priorities as necessary to meet organizational goals while maintaining good judgment of relative priorities.
  • Judgment and Decision Making: Carefully assesses information and weighs competing priorities before making sound and timely decisions; predicts likely results based on patterns, experiences, and logical inferences; considers potential consequences and ensures alignment with American Oversight’s values and objectives; makes thoughtful recommendations or decisions that lead to effective outcomes.
  • Strategic Thinking: Obtains information and identifies key issues and relationships relevant to achieving a goal or vision; evaluates potential risks and benefits to potential plans of action before recommending courses of action; adjusts plans as needed to achieve key objectives.
  • Collaboration: Is an inclusive, highly engaged team player; proactively seeks and provides thought partnership, assistance, and/or resources with/to colleagues.
• Strong editing skills and experience providing constructive feedback on written products.
• An understanding of and fluency in relevant news developments, the political landscape and how public records can inform news coverage, and government action, and accountability.
• Experience conceptualizing, managing and driving complex projects, including those that are cross-functional cutting, strategic, and/or long-term.
• High degree of professional ethics and integrity.
• Ability to work independently or as part of a team.
• Experience working in and/or desire to contribute to workplaces with a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Strong technology skills with an aptitude to learn quickly, ramp up on, or test new platforms or technology. Proficiency inMicrosoft Suite (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint); Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Slides) and file-sharing platforms (Dropbox).

Desired Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university.
• Experience conducting investigations or research within American Oversight’s priority areas (attacks on U.S. democratic institutions, threats to civil rights and liberties, and erosion of government transparency); or investigations and research experience focused on federal government waste, fraud, and abuse.
• Proficiency with federal Freedom of Information Act and public records requests.
• Experience with other datasets and information sources (e.g., IRS Form 990s, campaign finance data) that could be used to enhance American Oversight’s existing accountability work.
• Experience with American Oversight’s core tools (e.g., Airtable, DocumentCloud) and/or with data analysis and visualization tools.

We encourage individuals to apply even if they do not have any of the desired qualifications.

What We Offer:

American Oversight offers its employees a generous and comprehensive benefits package that includes 80% of health, dental, and vision premiums paid by the organization, a retirement plan with a matching contribution, and remote office reimbursements for personal devices and wireless connectivity.

Location:

American Oversight is a remote-first location. This position may require travel to attend in-person work-related events and functions, and work on-site as needed in American Oversight’s Washington, DC office.

Salary Range:

$65,000 - $80,000 (commensurate to experience)

Application Deadline:

Interested applicants are encouraged to apply by January 8, 2024 to ensure consideration of your application. Following this deadline, applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

Our Commitment to an Inclusive Workplace:

At American Oversight, we value and strive to hire, develop, and grow a diverse and inclusive team. We are an equal opportunity employer, and encourage applications from all individuals without regard to an individual’s race, color, sex, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, national origin or ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, family care status, marital status, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, genetic information, military or veteran status, or any other basis protected by federal, state, or local laws. We strongly encourage individuals to apply for opportunities at American Oversight even if they do not have any of the desired qualifications.