Responsible to: Head of Research
Location: Flexible, with the option of using our London office
Key purpose: To lead on the Center’s data gathering and analysis
Salary: £45,000
Contract: Full-time, permanent role
Opening date: 28 January 2022
Closing date: 28 February 2022
Interview date: 7 March 2022 onwards​

Why This Role Is Important – And Why You’ll Make A Difference Doing It

The Center for Countering Digital Hate is a new organisation with offices in Washington DC and London that actively counters the spread of digital hate and misinformation. In the last year we have grown rapidly, while cutting the reach of vaccine disinformation, uprooting far-right networks and exposing the digital ads funding climate denial.​

We are looking for a Data Researcher who can develop our techniques for analysing the spread of harmful content on social media. If you have a talent for data-driven social media research and want to help stop the spread of hate and lies online, we want to hear from you.

What You’ll Be Doing In This Role

In this role, you will be responsible for taking our systems for gathering and analysing data on the spread of digital hate and misinformation to the next level. The data you extract from social media platforms will form the basis of substantial new research reports, and support our ongoing campaigns pressing for action on harmful content.

The successful candidate will become our in-house data expert, playing an important role in research that will be quoted by governments, journalists and academics. You will work closely with other members of our talented research team, and collaborate with other teams to ensure our research has an impact.

What We Think You’ll Need To Be Able To Do The Job

To do this job, you will need proven experience of producing original and insightful analysis of social media data. Detailed knowledge of the topics we study is not required, but you will need to show a deep understanding of how social media platforms work and previous experience of researching digital hate or misinformation is a plus.

We are keen to interview candidates from a range of research backgrounds, from social scientists to data journalists. Your application will be particularly strong if you can show an ability to collaborate and communicate your research verbally, in writing or in graphics.

We know our work will be at its best if it is created by people with a range of backgrounds and experiences. We are keen to interview people who will add diversity to our team.​

Job Description

• Building effective new systems for monitoring online trends and conversations
• Providing rapid analysis of emerging trends in online hate and misinformation
• Scraping useful qualitative and quantitative data from social media networks
• Presenting research findings in clear writing and compelling visualisations
• Contributing original, in-depth data analysis to reports
• Managing and improving the organisation’s existing databases
• Investigating how digital hate and misinformation is spread and funded
• Providing research support to the organisation’s other priorities as required
• Support the team in any other way that is required in a small organisation
• This role will work across our team, but will not have direct reports at present​

Person Specification

Essential

• University degree in a relevant field (such as social or computer science) or experience in a relevant profession (such as data journalism or think tank research)
• Strong technical skills for extracting and analysing data from social media networks
• Good technical understanding of social networks and an interest in online culture
• Familiarity with tools for analysing social media trends, such as CrowdTangle
• Proficiency with common data analysis applications such as Microsoft Excel
• Ability to clearly communicate data analysis verbally, in writing or in graphics​

Desirable

• Experience using data analysis to research topics in digital hate and misinformation
• Working knowledge of programming languages such as Python or R
• Knowledge of open source digital research and verification techniques
• Experience of operating social media accounts for a campaign or organisation
• Experience of using project management software such as Trello

How To Apply

Please click here to apply for this job using our online application form. Please mention Journo Resources when you apply. It really helps us out.