Talent Acquisition Director

ProPublica is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. 

ProPublica is seeking a talent acquisition director to oversee recruitment and hiring across our organization, helping ensure that we continue to attract and employ the best talent in the industry.

About ProPublica

ProPublica is an award-winning independent nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force. We dig deep into important issues, shining a light on abuses of power and betrayals of public trust — and we stick with those issues as long as it takes to hold power to account. Our investigative journalism does more than expose wrongdoing and injustice; we intend for it to spark real-world change . With a team of more than 100 dedicated journalists across the country, we produce reporting that has contributed to the passage of new laws; reversals of harmful policies and practices; and accountability for leaders at local, state and national levels.

About the Talent Team

The talent team is responsible for ensuring that ProPublica recruits, hires and retains the talented and diverse staff we need. We are committed to recruiting and retaining people from a  broad range of backgrounds and perspectives, including communities that have long been underrepresented not only in journalism, but particularly in investigative journalism. (Read more about our commitment to building a diverse and inclusive workplace .) In addition to guiding our recruitment and hiring process with a focus on fairness, inclusion and a positive candidate experience, the department also leads our development and retention efforts by spearheading initiatives such as the Investigative Editor Training program and Emerging Reporters program, as well as internal staffwide trainings to build skills and other enriching development opportunities.

About the Role

The talent acquisition director will direct our recruiting and hiring process to ensure that ProPublica attracts and hires the people we need to achieve our goals. The person in this role will build strong relationships with hiring leaders and work with them to identify qualified candidates, conduct hiring processes that meet our standards for fairness and rigor, manage communications with all candidates, and navigate discussions around offers and rejections.  

Our newsroom has experienced significant growth over the past five years, and we expect to continue to do so in the near future. You’ll oversee the development and management of a talent pipeline to help us meet our growth goals by attending hiring conferences and awards ceremonies; monitoring coverage by other news organizations; and scheduling regular meetings with senior leaders in editorial and business departments to seek leads or for meetings with prospective candidates. 

This role will report to the assistant managing editor for talent and work collaboratively with the human resources department. You will manage the talent acquisition manager and temporary staff as needed. 

In This Role You Will: 

Oversee recruitment for both business and editorial employees in a growing investigative journalism organization.

With support from the talent acquisition team, you will conduct full life-cycle recruitment for hires across the company. 

Build relationships with hiring managers and serve as a trusted adviser through their hiring process and decisions, including suggesting candidates for other current, future or temporary roles.

Develop and oversee process and technology training for hiring managers and interview panelists.

Make data-informed decisions on ProPublica’s advertising and search strategy to help us refine our recruitment and hiring approach to find the best talent.

Make recommendations on how best to improve and streamline our hiring process, and oversee their implementation. 

Manage staff workload and other resources to best support forecasted hiring demands and programs.

Report on departmental success metrics and goals to leadership.

Develop and manage external talent pipeline strategy and strategic partnerships.

Create a system to ensure talented individuals flagged by staff or through other recruitment efforts are identified, cultivated and converted into candidates. 

Identify opportunities to deploy senior leaders to recruit passive candidates and otherwise nurture relationships with promising talent.

Proactively cultivate ProPublica’s talent pipeline by identifying competitive candidates for current and future openings through conferences, awards ceremonies and other industry events.

Set the strategy, proposed budget and execution plan for ProPublica’s presence at affinity and industry conferences. 

Manage and develop the talent acquisition team.

Qualifications:

At least seven years experience overseeing recruitment, preferably in a media or nonprofit organization.

At least five years prior supervisory or people management experience required, including overseeing hybrid or remote employees.

Prior experience and success building and nurturing competitive and diverse talent pools, preferably in a media or nonprofit organization. 

Familiarity with best practices for using metrics to create a fair hiring experience. 

Ability to think strategically and operationally. You’ll be on the ground managing individual hires, but you’ll also need to identify and implement ways to improve our hiring and recruitment processes overall. 

Knowledge of Google Workspace tools, including Drive and Sheets, as well as Microsoft Excel.

Expert ability to use an applicant tracking system (ATS) such as Greenhouse and prior experience deploying it to serve the hiring needs of an organization. 

Comfort juggling multiple projects and responsibilities at once. You build systems to track the nuances of different projects so you can quickly switch between them. Strong organizational skills are a must.

Ability to meet deadlines and handle pressure while remaining calm and keeping the larger picture in focus. 

Strong communication skills; you’ll need to effectively communicate with leadership across the organization and set the tone for how candidates experience ProPublica.

Mission alignment. You believe in the importance of nonprofit investigative journalism and can communicate as a credible representative of our organization. You also have a keen understanding of the challenges and opportunities that come with recruiting and hiring a mission-driven staff.

Ability to travel, as needed, for events, team meetings, conferences and training. 

This job is full time and includes benefits . ProPublica is based in New York, but we’re open to remote candidates. Candidates in New York or Washington, D.C., are strongly encouraged to apply. Applicants must be eligible to work in the U.S.

The expected salary range for this position is $160,000-$175,000.

This is a good-faith estimate of what we expect to pay for this position. The final salary figure will take into account a person’s experience, accomplishment and location. ProPublica is committed to paying its staff equitably, and these ranges should not be considered career salary limits or caps.

We will begin reviewing applications as we receive them, but we will continue to consider candidates as long as the posting remains live on our site.

Questions? Send an email to talent@propublica.org . No phone calls, please. We know there are great candidates who may not fit into what we’ve described above or who have important skills we haven’t thought of. If that’s you, don’t hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself.

We are dedicated to improving our newsroom, in part by better reflecting the people we cover. (Here is a breakdown of our staff .) We are committed to diversity and building an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and ages. And we are taking steps to meet that commitment . We especially encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities. We are an equal opportunity employer and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age or any other status protected under applicable law.