In late 2016, New Knowledge formed a non-profit partner organization called Data For Democracy. Many of the company’s initiatives are in collaboration with or directly support Data for Democracy and its volunteers.

Data for Democracy is looking for a Operations Manager for our most ambitious project: establishing a code of ethics of the data science community.

Background:

Over the past year, in collaboration with Bloomberg and BrightHive, Data for Democracy has led a grassroots initiative to build and adopt a set of behaviors for responsibly using and sharing data. The purpose is to give guidelines, cohesiveness, and practical applications to navigate the murkiness of ethical decisions in a rapidly changing and expanding field that has an enormous impact on society.

The current Code of Ethics project has already inspired nearly 1200 volunteers to participate in discussing or drafting the code of ethics within Data For Democracy, has been endorsed by former US Chief Data Scientist DJ Patil, and was featured by Wired. We’ll build on this early success and make the code of ethics ubiquitous in the data community by gathering 100,000 signatures in support of code’s core principles.

Program goal:

• Over the next 12 months, Data for Democracy will obtain 100,000 signatures on an ethics pledge that outlines a set of behaviors for responsibly using and sharing data.
• 1. Launch a website to house the ethics pledge, and accept signatures
• 2. Target students, practitioners, and industry luminaries through partnerships and direct outreach
• 3. Direct signatories to Data for Democracy’s active Slack community, engage them with volunteer ethics programming, and encourage peer-to-peer, viral advocacy for the pledge

About the Role:

• As Operations Manager, you’ll set priorities, communicate with stakeholders, manage the team, and will be ultimately responsible for the project’s success. Duties include:
• Manage important milestones, assign staff and volunteers to pertinent projects
• Coordinate with stakeholders to ensure that objectives are being achieved in a timely and efficient manner
• Be the person of contact for updates and changes to the objectives of the project
• Lead the Data For Democracy slack channel and be equipped to make decisions about how to best move forward to complete milestones

Requirements:

• 7+ years of project management, preferably in a public-facing role in a mission-driven environment
• A high-energy, creative, and resourceful self-starter who demonstrates outstanding leadership skills and personal accountability
• Experience with marketing and communications campaigns
• Attention to detail and ability to multitask
• Familiarity with the data science and broader technical community (not necessarily as a data science practitioner or engineer)

Perks:

• Competitive salary and healthcare
• Flexible work hours
• A leadership team that wants to do it right and is open to new ideas
• Ability to work from home
• Lots of available and free parking
• Unlimited vacation (and no, that is not code for you never take a vacation, we encourage and value time off)
• Stocked kitchen full of healthy snacks
• Professional development opportunities

About Data for Democracy

Data for Democracy is an inclusive community for data scientists and technologists to volunteer and collaborate on projects that make a positive impact on society. Our community of over 3,500 volunteers focuses on projects that increase civic participation from the tech sector, encourage the ethical development of new technology, facilitate collaboration between civil society, government policymakers and the technology industry, and defend public discourse from propaganda and manipulation.

Over the past 12 months we've partnered with media companies, cities, international NGOs, and other mission-driven organizations, and spawned dozens of community-led projects to investigate online disinformation and increase election transparency. We advised the House and Senate Intelligence committees before hearings with the social media companies, and have presented at dozens of conferences and convenings around the world