About the organization
The Armed Conflict Location & Event Dataset (ACLED) collects data on political violence and protest everywhere in the world. The ACLED team also conducts analysis to describe, explore, and test conflict scenarios, and makes both data and analysis open for free use by the public. ACLED material is regularly used to inform journalism, academic research, and public discourse on conflict, and to support the work of practitioners and policymakers. ACLED is the highest quality and most widely used real-time data and analysis source on political violence and protest around the world.
The role
ACLED is recruiting a Senior Editorial Officer to join our growing Publications team. The successful candidate will apply their strong structural and line editing skills to help ACLED’s experts produce incisive, accessible, and compelling written analysis of political violence and protest around the world. We’re looking for an agile and sharp editor who can cut through dense thickets of verbiage to produce accurate, logically structured, and reader-friendly publications that inform the work of journalists, policymakers, academics, and other stakeholders.
We are especially interested in candidates with proven experience in working with analysts and researchers to identify, highlight, and argue for findings in our data or programmatic work that illustrate new trends.
This position is fully remote and can be done from any location with reliable internet service. It is open to nationals of any country. This position sits within the External Affairs, Communications department and has no direct reports.
For more information, please review the Applicant FAQs. Please submit your salary range for consideration.
Job roles and responsibilities
The Senior Editorial Officer will be responsible for the following tasks:
- Develop, review, and revise ACLED written material prior to publication
1. Report development | Provide in-depth writing and structuring support for authors in the development phase of analytical pieces (e.g., regular situation updates, thematically focused reports, in-depth reports, short briefs, or infographics). Before an output is drafted, the editor will support Analysis and Research colleagues to shape the focus, angle and structure of the text through a collaborative outlining process. The editor will also shepherd the piece through the editorial process from outline to publication. The editor should work with the author and relevant colleagues on the following:
- Working with authors, identify and build up any findings or trends that are new or striking and make them central to the new publication.
- Apply expertise in narrative argument construction to help authors develop, structure, and clearly articulate their arguments, ensuring their conclusions are driven by the data.
- Identify any claims in the piece that require more supporting information, such as a citation or reference to ACLED data, and work with authors to integrate appropriate evidence to buttress their arguments.
- Ensure the structure and framing of the piece take into account the intended audience, the narrative around the conflict, and ACLED’s added value.
- Ensure that publications are written in accessible language, avoid academic jargon, explain acronyms, contextualize information, and keep all material relevant to what is part of mainstream discussions.
2. Editorial review (Line edit) | Following a final review of the content conducted by others, conduct a thorough final editorial review. This review should include the following:
- Line edit to enhance the quality and readability of prose.
- Stay alert for anomalies in the text regarding statistics and calculations, and if necessary prompt colleagues to check that references to ACLED dashboards are correct and replicable.
- Identify any outstanding ambiguities or unclear arguments and work with the author to enhance clarity.
- Proofread to remove errors and to ensure text conforms to ACLED style and formatting guidelines.
- Fact-check information from external sources as necessary.
3. Final proofread | Conduct a thorough proofreading of text edited by another editor before publication or dissemination. Work with the Web team to shepherd the piece to publication.
- Advise and contribute to new project development
Provide editorial support and advice at the start of any new special ACLED initiative that aims to produce written content ensuring the project team is well prepared to create and update compelling content, including through the development of templates, one-on-one writing sessions with new authors, and engaging in an iterative feedback process with the Analysis team to develop editorially sound and accessible outputs.
- Support other departments with editorial review
On occasion, provide line editing, proofreading, and other editorial support to other ACLED departments on outputs including donor reports, internal policy documents, and updates to ACLED’s methodology.
- Support External Affairs and Publications work
Edit and/or proofread press releases, social media postings, and other department materials; maintain and expand ACLED style and formatting guidelines; and perform other ad hoc support, administrative tasks, and External Affairs tasks as required.
Skills and competencies
ACLED is seeking applicants who have the following skills and experience:
- Fluency in English (essential); fluency in other languages an advantage, notably French, Arabic, Amharic, Spanish or Portuguese
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Experience in structural editing; facility with plain language editing for clarity, grammatical integrity, and flow
- Experience in developmental editing with authors whose first language is not English
- Experience working collaboratively and collegially with writers through multiple rounds of edits
- Good judgment and extremely high attention to detail
- Ability to work in a fast-paced remote environment and meet deadlines with limited supervision
- Experience working in a multicultural environment
- Strong problem-solving skills
- A bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in English, journalism, communications, international relations, or a related field
- 2-3 years of experience in journalism, publications, communications, or a related field (experience at a non-profit is a plus)
- Experience working in peacebuilding, conflict, human rights, and/or global affairs
- Interest in human rights and global affairs
- Comfort working with data trends, numbers, data science, or quantitative research and analysis
How to apply
To apply, please submit a CV and cover letter detailing your qualifications and experience through our careers portal.
Additionally, as evidence of your experience and skills, please submit a writing and/or editing sample, or other evidence as an attachment.
Further information is available at acleddata.com. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so please apply early. Please make sure to check your spam folder for emails from the ACLED recruitment team.