Program Director, Fellowship

Job Description

Compensation:$115,000 – $160,000+ in the US; 75,000 – 90,000+ in the UK

Location:London / San Francisco (preferred); New York or Washington DC possible.

Application deadline:Sunday, March 8, 2026. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis and may close early if a strong candidate is hired.

TheTarbell Fellowshipis one of the most competitive journalism programs in the world. We select 20 fellows from 1,600+ applicants and provide fully-funded placements at Bloomberg, The Guardian, TIME, and MIT Technology Review. We’re hiring a Fellowship Program Director to scale it during a critical period for AI reporting, leading the team that makes it happen.

In your first year, you’ll grow the program from 15 to 30+ fellows annually, with ownership of a $3.5M+ budget. Strong performers will have a clear path to Chief Programs Officer within 1824 months, overseeing all talent programs with a combined budget of $8M+.

This is a rare opportunity to build a global network of AI reporters with the knowledge and resources required to cover AI during a transformative period.

About the Tarbell Center

TheTarbell Center for AI Journalismsupports journalism that helps society navigate the development and deployment of advanced AI. We provide funding and training to strengthen AI reporting at major news outlets.

Since 2023, we’ve raised ~$20M in funding and supported 50+ journalists through fellowships, grants, and residencies. We’re now entering a period of rapid expansion as we scale from a $4M budget in 2025 to $14M by 2027.

Across our programs, weve supported a wide range of impactful reporting:

• Accountability reporting:Our journalists have broken corporate accountability stories aboutOpenAIs legal tactics against nonprofitsandxAI violating its own safety policies. A recent investigation aboutCharacter.AI’s failure to protect minorson its platform contributed to the companybanning under-18swithin a week of publication.
• AI policy coverage:Our reporters have producedexpert policy analysis, revealed

  Applications must be submitted through the official careers portal. Female candidates and candidates from underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply.