News Data Automation Lead, Content AI

News Data Automation Lead, Content AI

The USA TODAY NETWORK is seeking a News Data Automation & AI Workflow Lead to help design, build, and scale the next generation of data‑driven and AI‑assisted journalism across the nation's largest local news organization.

This role is ideal for a well‑rounded and innovative newsroom technologist - someone who is deeply skilled in data automation and scraping, but who also brings strong news judgment, comfort with emerging AI tools, and the ability to think beyond a single pipeline or use case. The successful candidate will help lead the development of automated workflows, AI‑assisted tools, and newsroom‑ready products that turn public data sources into the raw material our journalists need to do impactful work.

This is a hands‑on role that blends technical execution, experimentation, and leadership. On some days, the work will involve building or troubleshooting data pipelines and automation systems. On others, it will focus on ideation, product testing, mentoring, workflow design, and translating technical concepts into clear guidance for editorial partners.

This role is remote and can be based anywhere in the US, except for Alaska, Hawaii and Wyoming.

Why This Role Matters

The USA TODAY Network serves communities across hundreds of markets. Many of the most important stories in local journalism begin with a signal hidden in data or surfaced through automation. This role exists to help the Network find those signals faster, build smarter tools around them, and ensure journalists can act on them confidently and consistently.

• A strong technical practitioner with hands‑on newsroom experience in data automation and scraping, who is also curious, adaptable, and comfortable working across disciplines.
• Someone who enjoys moving between building, explaining, and improving systems, not just writing code in isolation.
• A collaborator who can translate technical language into newsroom‑friendly terms and help others understand how tools can support their work.
• Comfortable operating in a fast‑moving environment where priorities evolve and experimentation is encouraged.
• Grounded in journalistic values, with a clear understanding of accuracy, ethics, and editorial responsibility.

• Audit existing data automation and AI‑assisted workflows and recommend which should be maintained, narrowed, redesigned or retired.
• Stabilize and document at least one high‑value existing pipeline or internal tool.
• Begin building or redesigning at least one priority workflow around a timely, high‑value public dataset, including a clear plan for AI‑assisted components where appropriate.

• Deliver a focused set of reliable, documented pipelines and/or tools centered on high‑priority local signals.
• Create newsroom‑ready output formats and utilities that make those signals actionable quickly and consistently for multiple markets.
• Help shift resources away from low‑value recurring automation and toward better‑differentiated data and AI‑driven opportunities.

• Establish a durable portfolio of data‑driven and AI‑assisted workflows that support the Network's automation and audience‑growth strategy.
• Demonstrate that those workflows are producing actionable journalism opportunities, meaningful audience value and clear time‑savings for local newsrooms.
• Build systems that are resilient, scalable and useful across multiple markets without requiring constant reinvention.

• Build, maintain, and improve data automation pipelines, scrapers, APIs, and AI‑assisted workflows that support high‑value newsroom use cases.
• Identify, acquire, and structure high‑impact datasets and signals that can drive timely, differentiated coverage across local markets.
• Design and implement AI‑enabled tools and templates that help journalists move faster while maintaining high editorial standards.
• Work directly with editorial leaders, reporters, and automation teams to translate newsroom needs into technical solutions.
• Prototype, test, and refine new automation and AI workflows, balancing speed, reliability, and editorial usefulness.
• Troubleshoot automation, data, or tool issues as they arise, providing clarity and guidance to partners across the newsroom.
• Help evaluate existing automation efforts and recommend which should be expanded, refined, redesigned, or retired based on value and impact.
• Develop newsroom‑ready outputs that may include story drafts, alerts, tip sheets, reporting leads, dashboards, or other editorial tools, depending on the use case.
• Mentor and support journalists and teammates using automation and AI tools, helping raise overall technical fluency and confidence.
• Clearly document workflows and systems so they are understandable, resilient, and scalable beyond a single owner.
• Stay current on developments in AI, data automation, and newsroom technology, and help envision future use cases that responsibly support journalism.

• Bachelor's degree in journalism, communications, data science, computer science or a related field. Equivalent work experience welcomed.
• 3-5 years of experience in journalism, data journalism, newsroom automation, computational journalism, software development, or a closely related field.
• Strong technical skills, including experience with Python, scraping, APIs, data cleaning, and workflow automation.
• Demonstrated ability to work with messy, real‑world data and turn it into reliable, usable systems.
• Strong news judgment and a clear understanding of what makes a local data signal genuinely reportable, useful and differentiated.
• Familiarity with AI tools and the broader generative AI landscape, including benefits, risks, and responsible use in journalism.
• Strong communication skills, including the ability to document technical processes and explain them to non‑technical partners.
• Proven ability to manage multiple projects and priorities in a deadline‑driven environment.
• Experience in a local newsroom or in work serving multiple local markets.
• Experience building or maintaining automated journalism workflows end‑to‑end.
• Familiarity with CMS workflows and digital publishing operations.
• Experience designing alerts, triggers or threshold-based systems for editorial use.
• Experience working with public records or watchdog-style datasets such as inspections, enforcement actions, labor notices, court records, licensure data or government records.
• Experience using AI tools to support data processing, classification, summarization, or workflow efficiency.