Citizens for John Kelly is hiring: Data Journalist & AI Builder in Chicago

Citizens for John Kelly · Multiple locations · 27 days ago

Somewhere in Chicago right now, a reporter is writing about one of our issues. We want to

know within five minutes, and we want John Kelly in the story by the next news cycle.

You build the machine that gets us headlines. Then you run it.

We don't care about your degree or how many years you've put in. We care what you've shipped: stories that ran,

coverage you landed, tools that work. If you're good at this, this job is your thesis.

We're hiring a data journalist, not a creative. You find the story in the numbers, prove it, and turn it into earned

media: print, TV, radio, and digital.

What you'll build

• Earned media, every day. Land John Kelly in the news: pitch reporters, producers, editors, and neighborhood

outlets, follow up until the story runs, and turn every placement into the next one.

• A database of every reporter covering the mayor's race: who they are, what they cover, what they wrote

last week, and how to reach them.

• A live alert system. When a reporter posts or publishes on one of our issues, or on any fight that sets John

Kelly apart, we hear about it within minutes, matched to the right position and the right person on staff.

• A media map of all 77 Chicago community areas. Every neighborhood Facebook page, newsletter, and

small outlet from Edgewater to Hegewisch, and a system that gets John Kelly into them again and again.

• Data stories reporters can't ignore. Find the number in budgets, crime stats, and city contracts that becomes

the next headline, and hand it over with the chart already built.

• A scoreboard that counts earned media. Which reporters bite, which issues drive coverage, which

neighborhoods we're winning. Every week, the numbers decide where we push.

• AI workflows that do the work of five people, so the team spends its time on judgment, not busywork.

You might be right for this if

• You've built something real: a scraper, a bot, a dashboard, an automation, or a side project nobody asked you

to make

• You know Python, SQL, or APIs, or you can show us what you built without code and prove it runs

• You use AI every day, and you've built with it, not just chatted with it

• You write clean and fast, and you know what makes an editor say yes

• A lot of IQ, and you can read the room

The details

You'll work side by side with veteran communications pros, with real responsibility on day one. Pay:

$4,500–$5,500 per month, depending on experience. Schedule: Full-time, in

person in Chicago, through the February 2027 election and the April runoff if there is one. The hours are long,

nights and weekends included. News doesn't keep business hours, and neither does a mayoral race.

How to apply

Send three things to [EMAIL] by [DEADLINE, OR "ROLLING"]:

1. Your résumé

2. A link to something you built

3. One paragraph: how would you get us an alert within five minutes when a Chicago reporter posts about one of

our issues?

We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome applicants of every background.

Our goal is the summit of Everest. We're starting at base camp. Ready to change the

world?