Photo of Priceonomics office from SF Chronicle profile of our company.
Priceonomics is looking to hire a full-time writer to join our team. With just two writers, our blog has grown into something with millions of visitors and a unique business model for content. Come help us build something great.
Priceonomics brings information into the world: our data team helps bring information to businesses, and our writing team helps bring information to people. On this blog, we tell stories using data and research. We strive for a very high level of both rigor and interestingness in everything we publish.
You’ll spend 90% of your time writing articles for the blog, and 10% of your time working on our next book, which will be published at the end of the year. To get a sense of the writing we produce, please check out some of our most popular posts. Also, take a look at this post introducing our first book, Everything is Bullshit. We don’t chase news stories or viral slideshows; instead, we try to write essays that will stand the test of time.
We think it’s interesting that we are a fairly large-sized content site that is making money by selling things to businesses and consumers instead of relying on ads. It’s working well, and we have a real shot at reshaping the economics of the content business, and at building a durable institution. The SF Chronicle did a story about how we use journalism to drive our business that clarifies some of our innovation.
We’re based in San Francisco’s Mission District and you’ll work from our office with the rest of the team. We offer a competitive salary, generous equity, healthcare, free snacks and lunches, and other fun startup benefits.
The Role
Your role will be to write great things that help bring transparency to the world. This could include making previously opaque information well-known, exploring the business model of a company or industry, or writing about the massive data sets that Priceonomics is building. An economic slant and data-driven analysis are your tools to tell important stories in novel ways.
The responsibility to come up with a perpetual stream of good story ideas also comes with the freedom to pursue them. You could spend your time interviewing plastic surgeons, reading quirky behavioral economics research, or analyzing the revenue streams of airports, for instance.
You should be:
* Able to write clearly and with humor
* Skilled at synthesizing lots of information and explaining complicated concepts simply
* Proficient with basic statistics and microeconomics
* Fascinated by the prospect of writing about things like SkyMall magazine, the economics of living a van, how food trucks make money, and the economics of Girl Talk
* Eager to come up with interesting topics to write about. This is the most important criteria
We are interested in hearing from a wide range of applicants — mainly those who have great ideas and a desire to write stories that engage millions of readers. It’s also nice if you’re fairly active on Twitter, Reddit, Tumblr, or other platforms where awesome things spread. However, it’s more important that you can write well and have a nose for good stories.
How to Apply
Send us an email to jobs@priceonomics.com with the following:
1. What you consider to be your relevant resume information (that would probably be some links to your online footprint, your Linkedin, your resume, etc.).
2. Send along story ideas about things you’d like to write about. Check out our most popular posts to get a flavor of what kind of topics we like. Please include the angle you’d take rather than just a topic or headline (ie. “market manipulations in the fine art market” rather than just “fine art is bullshit”).
3. Your best writing sample. Send us a link or attachment of the writing sample that you’d like us to read. You can send along more than one, but please highlight to us the one you’re most proud of.
Generally, show us your writing style and what kind of topics you want to explore. We look forward to working with you!