Research Analyst/ Journalist Job at Empire Petroleum Corporation in Houston

No oil and gas experience required but preferred

Position Summary
We are seeking a Research Journalist / Analyst to support high-level investigative, legal, regulatory, and public-records research projects.

This role is ideal for someone with strong legal instincts, outstanding writing ability, deep research discipline, and the persistence to uncover facts in complex, document-heavy matters. The right candidate will be able to analyze court filings, regulatory records, corporate documents, public-company disclosures, deposition materials, FOIA responses, and source interviews to develop clear, accurate, evidence-backed narratives.

This is not a routine communications role. We are looking for someone who is highly intelligent, discreet, ethical, relentless in fact development, and comfortable working on sensitive matters involving litigation, regulatory agencies, public companies, reputational issues, and complex financial or energy-industry disputes.

Key Responsibilities

Investigative Research & Document Analysis: Review and analyze court dockets, lawsuits, regulatory filings, depositions, public-company disclosures, agency records, corporate filings, land records, press reports, and other public records to identify key facts, timelines, inconsistencies, and investigative leads.

Public Records & FOIA Work: Draft, file, track, and manage federal, state, and local public-records requests, including FOIA requests, state open-records requests, agency requests, and administrative appeals when appropriate.

Legal and Regulatory Research: Evaluate civil litigation records, regulatory actions, agency communications, enforcement records, permitting materials, compliance documents, and other legal or regulatory materials.

Source Development: Identify, contact, interview, and maintain relationships with knowledgeable sources, including industry participants, subject-matter experts, legal experts, former employees, regulators, consultants, whistleblowers, and community stakeholders.

Fact Verification: Build timelines, fact memos, source files, document databases, claim-support matrices, and evidence-backed summaries. Every major claim must be tied to a reliable document, filing, transcript, interview, or verifiable public record.

Risk Management: Assist in reviewing investigative findings and proposed public statements for factual accuracy, defamation risk, privacy concerns, source reliability, and reputational exposure prior to external distribution.

Writing and Narrative Development: Translate complex legal, financial, operational, and regulatory facts into clear written materials for internal briefings, executive memoranda, communications strategy, public statements, investor materials, or investigative reports.

Required Qualifications

JD, master’s degree in journalism, investigative reporting background, legal research background, or equivalent high-level investigative experience

Strong understanding of civil litigation, regulatory processes, court procedures, public-records law, and legal document analysis

Advanced research skills using tools such as PACER, LexisNexis, Westlaw, Factiva, SEC EDGAR, state court systems, state corporation records, property records, bankruptcy records, lobbying records, and regulatory databases

Excellent writing ability, with experience producing clear, concise, fact-heavy memos and investigative reports

Ability to organize large volumes of information and distinguish between proven facts, allegations, assumptions, and open questions

Strong ethics, discretion, confidentiality, and sound judgment

Ability to work independently on complex, long-term projects

High attention to detail and a conservative approach to factual claims

Preferred Qualifications
Experience in one or more of the following areas is strongly preferred:

Energy, oil and gas, natural resources, or environmental regulation

Public-company disputes, securities litigation, or corporate governance

Regulatory investigations or agency proceedings

Litigation-support research or law-firm investigative work

Forensic accounting, financial investigations, or corporate intelligence

Investigative journalism involving legal, financial, or government accountability matters

Public affairs, crisis communications, or reputation management research

Ideal Candidate Profile

Intellectually curious and highly skeptical

Persistent, organized, and fact-driven

Comfortable challenging incomplete or misleading narratives

Strong at connecting facts across legal, financial, regulatory, and media records

Aggressive in research but conservative in conclusionsCapable of working around sensitive litigation and public-company issues

Able to build trusted sources while protecting confidentiality and minimizing risk

Application Instructions
Candidates should submit:

Writing sample, preferably involving legal, financial, investigative, regulatory, or public-records research

Short note explaining relevant investigative, legal, journalism, or research experience

Finalists may be asked to complete a paid research exercise involving a public-records, litigation, or regulatory matter.

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