Research Journalist Jobs (NOW HIRING)

*No oil and gas experience required but preferred*

Position Summary:

We are seeking a Research Journalist / Analyst to support high-level investigative, legal, regulatory, and public-records research projects.

This role is ideal for someone with strong legal instincts, outstanding writing ability, deep research discipline, and the persistence to uncover facts in complex, document-heavy matters. The right candidate will be able to analyze court filings, regulatory records, corporate documents, public-company disclosures, deposition materials, FOIA responses, and source interviews to develop clear, accurate, evidence-backed narratives.

This is not a routine communications role. We are looking for someone who is highly intelligent, discreet, ethical, relentless in fact development, and comfortable working on sensitive matters involving litigation, regulatory agencies, public companies, reputational issues, and complex financial or energy-industry disputes.

Key Responsibilities:

• Investigative Research & Document Analysis: Review and analyze court dockets, lawsuits, regulatory filings, depositions, public-company disclosures, agency records, corporate filings, land records, press reports, and other public records to identify key facts, timelines, inconsistencies, and investigative leads.
• Public Records & FOIA Work: Draft, file, track, and manage federal, state, and local public-records requests, including FOIA requests, state open-records requests, agency requests, and administrative appeals when appropriate.
• Legal and Regulatory Research: Evaluate civil litigation records, regulatory actions, agency communications, enforcement records, permitting materials, compliance documents, and other legal or regulatory materials.
• Source Development: Identify, contact, interview, and maintain relationships with knowledgeable sources, including industry participants, subject-matter experts, legal experts, former employees, regulators, consultants, whistleblowers, and community stakeholders.
• Fact Verification: Build timelines, fact memos, source files, document databases, claim-support matrices, and evidence-backed summaries. Every major claim must be tied to a reliable document, filing, transcript, interview, or verifiable public record.
• Risk Management: Assist in reviewing investigative findings and proposed public statements for factual accuracy, defamation risk, privacy concerns, source reliability, and reputational exposure prior to external distribution.
• Writing and Narrative Development: Translate complex legal, financial, operational, and regulatory facts into clear written materials for internal briefings, executive memoranda, communications strategy, public statements, investor materials, or investigative reports.

Required Qualifications:

• JD, master’s degree in journalism, investigative reporting background, legal research background, or equivalent high-level investigative experience
• Strong understanding of civil litigation, regulatory processes, court procedures, public-records law, and legal document analysis
• Advanced research skills using tools such as PACER, LexisNexis, Westlaw, Factiva, SEC EDGAR, state court systems, state corporation records, property records, bankruptcy records, lobbying records, and regulatory databases
• Excellent writing ability, with experience producing clear, concise, fact-heavy memos and investigative reports
• Ability to organize large volumes of information and distinguish between proven facts, allegations, assumptions, and open questions
• Strong ethics, discretion, confidentiality, and sound judgment
• Ability to work independently on complex, long-term projects
• High attention to detail and a conservative approach to factual claims

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience in one or more of the following areas is strongly preferred:

• Energy, oil and gas, natural resources, or environmental regulation
• Public-company disputes, securities litigation, or corporate governance
• Regulatory investigations or agency proceedings
• Litigation-support research or law-firm investigative work
• Forensic accounting, financial investigations, or corporate intelligence
• Investigative journalism involving legal, financial, or government accountability matters
• Public affairs, crisis communications, or reputation management research

Ideal Candidate Profile:

• Intellectually curious and highly skeptical
• Persistent, organized, and fact-driven
• Comfortable challenging incomplete or misleading narratives
• Strong at connecting facts across legal, financial, regulatory, and media records
• Aggressive in research but conservative in conclusions
• Capable of working around sensitive litigation and public-company issues
• Able to build trusted sources while protecting confidentiality and minimizing risk

Application Instructions:

Candidates should submit:

·       Resume

·       Writing sample, preferably involving legal, financial, investigative, regulatory, or public-records research

·       Short note explaining relevant investigative, legal, journalism, or research experience

Finalists may be asked to complete a paid research exercise involving a public-records, litigation, or regulatory matter.

Work Environment:

• Full-time, in-office role • Fast-paced, team-oriented environment