Employment Opportunities at
Society for Science & the Public

Founded in 1921, Society for Science & the Public (SSP) is a nonprofit membership organization located in Washington, D.C. Its vision is to promote the understanding and appreciation of science and the vital role it plays in human advancement: to inform, educate, and inspire.

SSP publishes the award-winning Science News, Science News for Kids, and Science News Prime. It also offers outstanding education programs for students and teachers, including the Intel Science Talent Search, the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, the Broadcom MASTERS competition and the SSP Fellowship program for teachers. SSP also delivers membership, alumni, and outreach programming in support of its vision.

Full-Time Opportunities

1 - development assistant

Description:
Provide coordination, administration, research and other support for SSP fundraising, membership and alumni efforts. Provide direct support to development staff within the External Affairs department.

Primary Responsibilities:
Coordination and support of annual fundraising campaign and ongoing membership and donor activities, including:

• Assist with direct mail production including acquisition, renewals and acknowledgements.
• Coordinate with vendors to ensure timely fulfillment of membership benefits.
• Communicate with customer service team; troubleshoot issues as needed.
• Facilitate weekly gift import; gift data entry as needed.
• Prepare donor and member giving reports as necessary. 
• Participate in member and donor cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship activities.
• Other duties as assigned.

Research and support for major gift and general sponsorship efforts, including:

• Assist with creation of prospect lists and grant deadlines calendar.
• Enter data into Raiser’s Edge fundraising database including gifts, prospect information and appeal and mailing solicitation coding.
• Assist with research on donor, corporate and foundation prospects and develop prospect profiles.
• Research and assemble materials for internal and external meetings; coordinate with staff to maintain and update electronic and print files (when appropriate).

Qualifications:

• Excellent written and verbal communications skills.
• Excellent organizational skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite.
• Proficiency in Raiser’s Edge database or comparable donor management software.
• Proficiency/familiarity with Adobe Suite (Photoshop, InDesign, etc.) and HTML preferred, though not required.
• Familiarity with prospect research tools (Wealth Engine or similar) preferred, though not required.
• High attention to detail and demonstrated proactive and strategic approach to daily tasks.
• Demonstrated ability to work with others as a team, to multi-task, and to be a self-starter.

Education/Experience:

• 1-2 years experience in a development office or similar (membership) office.
• Bachelor’s degree or a combination of education, technical training and equivalent experience.

Other Requirements:

Attendance at all SSP education programs, which requires at least two weeks of travel annually.

How to Apply:

Send a cover letter, resume, and salary requirements to nmoulding@societyforscience.org. No phone calls please.

 

2 - Web producer

Science News, published by the non-profit Society for Science & the Public, is seeking an exceptionally talented web producer to join our science journalism team. We are looking for someone who, working with the Digital Editor, our in-house design team and a developer, will maintain, update and evolve content on our soon-to-launch new website, www.sciencenews.org, as well as assist in maintaining other Science News online content. We offer a competitive financial package and a creative, collaborative working environment. This is a full-time staff position located in Washington, D.C.

Duties include:

• Coordinate with editors and design team to post and circulate content to keep Science News websites current and dynamic.
• Prepare news, features, departments, blogs and other journalism for publishing online.
• Plan, create, find, obtain rights for and/or upload art and multimedia elements for stories.
• Write or edit captions, headlines and story summaries.
• Embed references and hyperlinks to related content.
• Promote Science News content through syndication opportunities, outside sites and by coordinating social media efforts with the Society’s communications department.
• Coordinate efforts on packaging web content for topical landing pages, events, special issues, etc.
• Review headlines for Search Engine Optimization.
• Monitor site statistics and collaborate with design team and developer to optimize search rankings and user experience.
• Report and write occasional short items such as photo captions, infographics, news briefs and blog posts.

This position reports to the Deputy Managing Editor, Digital.

Qualifications: Understanding of the practice of journalism and science. Strong writing skills and interest in science required. Undergraduate degree in journalism or science required, with graduate level study or equivalent experience preferred. Experience with SEO and working with Google Analytics. Familiarity with AP Style, basic HTML, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Adobe Creative Suite and experience with web content management systems and social media promotion required.

 To apply: Please send a cover letter, resume and 3 to 5 samples of professional work (writing clips, editing clips, website links), attention Kate Travis, at jobs@sciencenews.org. Top candidates will be contacted for interviews.

 

3 - production coordinator and Copy editor

Science News, published by the non-profit Society for Science & the Public, is currently seeking a talented copy editor and production coordinator to join our science journalism team. We are looking for someone with exceptional organizational skills, whose passion for grammar, style and accuracy will help maintain the highest quality in our print, tablet and online publications. We offer a competitive financial package and fast-paced, collaborative working environment. This is a full-time staff position located in Washington, D.C.

Duties include:

• Help prepare articles for publication on the ScienceNews.org website, for the tablet edition and for the print magazine.
• Copy edit and fact check daily news stories, correcting errors in grammar, spelling, usage and style.
• Copy edit and/or proofread department and feature articles.
• Write story headlines, decks, image captions and social media summaries as needed.
• Assist in image research and selection, coordinating with editors, writers and design team about art.
• Coordinate proofreading of pages for tablet and print publications.
• Collate and enter changes to proof pages for tablet and print publications.
• Working with writers, editors and fact-checker, resolve queries and conflicting edits on proof pages.
• Working with the Editor in Chief, get final sign-off on all pages prior to publication.
• Under the direction of the managing editor and in coordination with the design director, monitor the production process for all Science News products to ensure it is proceeding on schedule.

This position reports to the Editor in Chief.

Qualifications: Understanding of the practice of journalism. Multitasking abilities. Strong writing skills and interest in science required. College degree in journalism with a background in science preferred. Expertise in AP Style and proven skill in editing, grammar and punctuation are required. Familiarity with Adobe Creative Suite preferred. Must be comfortable reading primary scientific literature for fact checking and nurture a total commitment to accuracy.

To apply: Please send a cover letter, resume and 3 to 5 samples of professional work (writing clips, editing clips, website links, etc.), attention Eva Emerson, at jobs@sciencenews.org. Top candidates will be contacted for interviews.

4 - Front-end developer

The non-profit Society for Science & the Public, dedicated to increasing the public awareness of science and publisher of Science News magazine, is currently seeking an exceptionally talented front-end developer to join our team. We are looking for a creative problem-solver who has the desire to explore and push the boundaries of interactive platforms. This person’s primary responsibility will be maintaining, updating and evolving our upcoming Drupal-based website. We offer a competitive financial package and a creative, collaborative working environment. We are located in Washington, DC. 

Responsibilities:

• Work closely with our team of designers to build prototypes (including wireframes, site navigation, visual design and layout of content)
• Develop and support online storytelling tools such as photo galleries, data visualizations and info graphics
• Add to, modify and maintain existing templates for Drupal website
• Develop and build web-based applications
• Ensure that the layout of the content is easy to navigate, accessible and logical; recommend improvements as necessary
• Prototype new functionality
• Perform maintenance and updates to existing website
• Perform A/B testing
• Cross-train with designers 

The ideal candidate:

• 3+ years of website design and development experience
• Advanced knowledge of HTML, CSS and JavaScript
• PHP experience highly desired
• Experience with HTML5 and responsive design highly desired
• Advanced knowledge of digital imaging using Adobe Photoshop
• Experience with customizing Drupal themes
• Experience building interactive info graphics
• An understanding of online digital media including video and digital compression technologies
• Ability to monitor industry trends, technologies, and standards and be able to research, recommend and apply new technologies as necessary
• Experience with cross-browser and cross-platform issues
• An obsessive approach to accuracy
• Ability to visualize complex ideas in a clear, accurate, and intelligent manner
• Ability to work quickly and multi-task
• A collaborative nature
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills
• A background in science is not required, but intellectual curiosity about science and comfort with scientific ideas is essential
• Degree in Computer Science a plus

To apply: Send cover letter, resume and link to online portfolio to dd@sciencenews.org. 

 

5 - Project manager, Information technology 

Society for Science & the Public (SSP) seeks a seasoned project manager to provide leadership, management, expertise and support to Information Technology related projects and staff.  The Project Manager will deal predominantly with project-specific activities and will manage and control assigned projects to ensure the successful fulfillment of outlined goals and objectives. 

 

The ideal candidate has strong project management skills, is flexible and an innovative problem solver, and has an eagerness to develop and lead new initiatives. The Project Manager will communicate and collaborate effectively across the organization.   This position reports to the Director of Internal Operations.

 

Primary Responsibilities:

• Manage technology-related projects for various science education programs including the Broadcom MASTERS, Intel Science Talent Search, and Intel International Science & Engineering Fair.
• Plan large or complex project(s) following established project management methodology, including establishing milestones, resources needed in the form of staff hours, budget, use of technology and tools and document in project plan.
• Prepare requests for proposals and conduct all necessary meetings to facilitate selection of project services and products.
• Organize and manage all phases of a project to ensure on-time completion.
• Meet with application owners and developers to determine business needs and functionalities desired for new or revised web applications.
• Provide technical oversight to staff and track attainment of project milestones.
• Report on progress and budget expenditures to senior staff/project owners.
• Monitor project scope; manage the impact of scope change request 

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• In depth knowledge of project management principles, practices, techniques, and tools.
• Ability to follow up on outstanding issues and bring closure to projects’ tasks and activities.
• Excellent inter-personal skills to facilitate meetings, briefings, presentations, and other project tasks and activities.
• Core understanding of internet related technologies, web programming, and database development.
• Demonstrated ability to work within a team as well as independently with minimal oversight, to multi-task, and to be a self-starter.
• A strong understanding of and appreciation for science and other STEM fields is desired.
• Experience with any of the following technologies is desired:  ASP, .NET, Drupal, IIS, Coldfusion, SQL Server, Raiser’s Edge, Blackbaud NetCommunity, WordPress, and other web technologies.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree, preferably in either information systems or computer science.
• 8 years of technology related experience with a minimum of 5+ years of full lifecycle IT project management experience.
• Ability to travel for SSP programs and conference events is required.

Other Requirements:

Send a cover letter, resume, and salary requirements to ssp@societyforscience.org. No phone calls please.

To learn more about Society for Science & the Public, please visit www.societyforscience.org

Internships

1 - Science News Internships

Science News, the award-winning magazine covering all fields of science for a general readership, is now accepting applications for its science writer internships.

The internship is intended for people planning careers in science writing and is offered three times a year for at least a three-month stay within the following periods: spring (January to April), summer (May to August) and fall (September to December). One applicant will be selected for each period. Preference is given to people completing an advanced degree in journalism with an emphasis in science writing. Skilled writers working toward an advanced degree in one of the sciences and experienced journalists in transition to a science specialty are also considered.

Applicants should send by e-mail a cover letter, résumé, names of three references and at least three science writing samples to:

Allison Bohac
Science News
1719 N Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036
abohac@sciencenews.org

Additional information about internships