Digital Democracy Research Coordinator (m/f/d)

Digital Democracy Research Coordinator (m/f/d)

Join to apply for the Digital Democracy Research Coordinator (m/f/d) role at Democracy Reporting International.

• Background
• Form of Employment: Full-time
• Starting Date: As soon as possible
• Application Deadline: 12.12.2025

Contract Duration: limited to one year, with the possibility of extension.

Democracy Reporting International (DRI) is a non‑partisan, independent, not‑for‑profit organisation registered in Berlin with several country offices worldwide.

DRI promotes political participation of citizens, accountability of state bodies, and the development of democratic institutions worldwide.

• Your tasks
• Act as the technical focal point for DRI’s online monitoring work and, together with the Digital Democracy team, provide colleagues at HQ and country offices with technical support for implementing digital democracy activities in their areas.
• Coordinate research outputs and other associated activities in collaboration with and supervising other digital democracy researchers.
• Further develop and implement DRI’s actionable research approach to generate evidence for the enforcement of digital regulation (Digital Services Act, AI Act).
• Develop and update innovative research methodologies for collecting and analysing social media and other public data and adapt these methods to DRI’s areas of work, such as the auditing of AI tools or electoral monitoring.
• Keep track of and map emerging technologies, most prominently artificial intelligence, and understand its policy implications.
• Pro‑actively design, develop and implement activities to monitor and analyse political online discourse, especially during electoral processes.
• Analyse findings, provide contextual analysis, draft, and contribute to reports for publication in line with project timelines.
• Contribute to fundraising efforts by writing project proposals and concept notes and identifying and pitching project ideas to donors.
• Design and facilitate events and workshops on areas relevant to DRI.
• Participate in conferences, trainings and expert working groups on behalf of DRI, including business trips outside Germany.
• Collaborate with programmatic, policy and research colleagues to ensure adherence to project implementation requirements, donor deliverables and deadlines.
• Establish and maintain partnerships with researchers, academia, technology companies, data analysts, journalists or other civil society groups working on civic tech initiatives.
• Other relevant duties, as required.
• Required skills and experience
• Degree‑level qualification in political science or related fields.
• Four or more years of relevant experience in social media research, digital democracy and election monitoring.
• Understanding of issues surrounding online disinformation, polarisation, online hate speech, foreign interference, information integrity, democratic debate and/or related topics.
• Advanced knowledge of Python for data collection, processing, analysis and visualisation.
• Experience and knowledge of political communication and data analysis.
• Experience and knowledge of methodologies of social media monitoring/listening, including online analytical tools and approaches.
• Experience in data gathering and quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis as well as structuring investigations.
• Strong understanding of emerging technologies with a particular focus on the evolution of generative AI and natural language processing and how these technologies can be used (for good) and abused.
• Experience in supervising and providing guidance to other colleagues to support project and research objectives.
• Complex analytical and critical thinking skills.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Ability to work as part of a diverse team.
• Fluency in written and spoken English.
• Working permit for Germany.
• Preferred
• Data visualisation and mapping skills, including experience with tools such as Tableau, Gephi, Datawrapper, Flourish or Infogram.
• Strong understanding of LLM agentic workflow integration.
• Knowledge of additional languages will be considered an asset (Germany, French and especially those of DRI countries of operation).

What we offer

• Flexible working hours.
• Hybrid work model (depending on the role/team).
• 30 days of annual leave.
• A contribution to public transport (company ticket with BVG).
• Vocational training for every employee.
• Comprehensive onboarding to help you settle easily and familiarize yourself with DRI.
• Regular team events (yearly retreat, BBQ, etc.).
• Application Instructions

If you are interested in this position, please submit your application (cover letter and CV) here.

This position is subject to funding.

Applying for this position by post mail is possible; please find our address details below.

Closing date for applications: 12 December 2025. The position may be closed before the deadline has been reached, so early applications are encouraged.

In the interest of transparency, the salary band for this position is 47,850 - 52,200 € (depending on former relevant experience).

DRI is committed to diversity and treats everybody equally, independent of gender identity, sex, pregnancy, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, age, ability, socio‑economic status, political opinion (as long as respectful of democratic principles), or any other status protected by the laws in the locations where we operate.

Please note that a criminal background check will be required toward the final stages of the recruitment process, should we decide to proceed with an offer of employment.

The costs will be covered by DRI once the candidate is hired.

Data processing of personal data in third countries will not take place.

We process your data in accordance with the provisions of 26 German Federal Data Protection Act.

More information about processing your personal data: privacy policy.

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