Fellow, Election Data Analytics

The mission of The New York Times is to seek the truth and help people understand the world. That means independent journalism is at the heart of all we do as a company. It’s why we have a world-renowned newsroom that sends journalists to report on the ground from nearly 160 countries. It’s why we focus deeply on how our readers will experience our journalism, from print to audio to a world-class digital and app destination. And it’s why our business strategy centers on making journalism so good that it’s worth paying for. 

Join the 2026 New York Times Fellowship class as an elections analyst in New York. 

As an elections analytics fellow, you will contribute to The Times’s data-driven coverage of American elections. You will be part of the Election Analytics team, which produces The New York Times/Siena University Poll, the live election-night forecast known as The Needle and our polling tracker, in addition to stories that explore decisions voters are making and analyze past elections.

Election Analytics is an interdisciplinary team of reporters, editors, developers and statisticians. You should have experience working on one of these areas and be excited to learn about the others. You will use your knowledge of elections and voting to contribute to stories, graphics and our longer-term projects.

The exact form of this role will depend on your background. Perhaps you are more comfortable writing than coding and want to deepen your technical skills to more easily answer questions yourself. Or perhaps you bring a background as a developer or statistician and want to work on your ability to communicate your ideas in words.

This is an in-office position and includes regular attendance in the office four days each week. There may be some flexibility to work remotely per your departmental guidance. You may be required to work some nights, weekends and holidays as needed.

Responsibilities:

• Contribute original analyses of polls, voter registration trends and recent election results for articles or graphics
• Increase the team’s understanding of elections through data collection, scraping, statistical analysis and reporting 
• Participate in training and social programs designed for the fellowship
• Collaborate with colleagues across the newsroom
• Demonstrate support and understanding of our value of journalistic independence and a strong commitment to our mission to seek the truth and help people understand the world

Basic Qualifications:

• No more than five years of full-time, professional journalism experience, excluding internships 
• A deep and demonstrated understanding of American elections
• Experience working with data
• Expertise in at least one of the team’s focus areas: 
• Data-driven reporting, including reporting clips or blog posts that demonstrate analytical findings meant for a broad audience 
• Statistics, including experience developing statistical models in R or Python
• Development, including proficiency in R or Python, experience working with cloud computing providers and experience building productionized web applications 

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience writing news stories, such as for a college newspaper

To apply, upload a résumé, cover letter and an essay of no more than 500 words on a trend in American politics that you are watching ahead of the 2026 election. Also include links to one to three examples of nonacademic examples of elections analysis you have performed. These can include social media threads, Substack posts or unpublished works. The application will prompt you when to upload materials. Applications that fail to include any of these materials or follow these instructions will not be considered.

You must be authorized to work in the United States. We will not sponsor work visas for the fellowship, but we will consider applicants with valid work authorization or a valid student visa that can be extended with Optional Practical Training.

You may apply to only one fellowship position per year. For instance, if you apply as an Elections Analytics fellow, you should not apply for any other positions in the fellowship. Duplicate applications will be discarded.

The application deadline is 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Nov. 19. 

The Times Fellowship generates a high level of interest, so we cannot acknowledge the status of applications upon receipt or during the vetting process, which can take eight weeks or more. We cannot accept applications that are mailed or emailed to us. We will contact you for interviews as needed.

The fellowship program will begin on or about June 1, 2026, and end on May 21, 2027, subject to satisfactory performance. There is no guarantee of a full-time position upon completion of the program.

For more information about the Times Fellowship, visit here. 

This position is represented by the NewsGuild of New York.

The annual base pay range for this role is between:$82,414.80—$82,414.80 USD

The New York Times Company is committed to being the world’s best source of independent, reliable and quality journalism. To do so, we embrace a diverse workforce that has a broad range of backgrounds and experiences across our ranks, at all levels of the organization. We encourage people from all  backgrounds to apply.

We are  an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate on the basis of an individual's sex, age, race, color, creed, national origin, alienage, religion, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation or affectional preference, gender identity and expression, disability, genetic trait or predisposition, carrier status, citizenship, veteran or military status and other personal characteristics protected by law. All applications will receive consideration for employment without regard to legally protected characteristics.  The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)’s Know Your Rights Poster is available here. 

The New York Times Company will provide reasonable accommodations as required by applicable federal, state, and/or local laws. Individuals seeking an accommodation for the application or interview process should email reasonable.accommodations@nytimes.com. Emails sent for unrelated issues, such as following up on an application, will not receive a response.

The Company encourages those with criminal histories to apply, and will consider their applications in a manner consistent with applicable "Fair Chance" laws, including but not limited to the NYC Fair Chance Act, the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act.

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