At Wired, the space beat begins in the wispy shreds of the upper atmosphere and stretches all the way to the farthest reaches of the cosmos. We’re looking for a talented, creative reporter who’s excited to explore this expanse for us, covering everything from satellite internet to spacesuit design, from asteroid mining to exoplanet hunting, and from gravitational wave measurement to dark matter detection.
And while our readers love offbeat science, cool tech, and ambitious space missions—and you should too—we want you to be driven by the question of how space can be used for the good of humanity. That may not mean sending colonists to Mars as much as it means using space to improve conditions back here on Earth, whether that’s by monitoring biodiversity from satellites or creating new economic opportunities in the growing global space industry.
Depending on your interests, you can also range more widely. The writers on our science desk are often polymaths, and we care more about finding someone with great ideas, reporting skills, and writing chops than a person who fits neatly into a subject area.
Whatever the topic, you should be experienced in reading and parsing academic research and data, and as interested in the economic and policy implications of the topics you cover as in the science and technology itself. Yet in your reporting and writing you’ll always have an eye on the human factor: how these issues affect people, what the takeaway is for your readers, and how you can both inform and engage them.
We’re looking for someone who’s excited by the prospect of storytelling across a wide range of formats, from breaking news and sharp, timely analysis to deeply reported narrative features. (If you’ve never written one of those, don’t worry: Wired has some of the finest longform editors in the business, and we love helping people who’ve got reporting chops and raw writing talent grow into gifted storytellers.) You might also get to take part in our podcasts, video series, or live events. We’ll encourage you to find and tell stories from all around the world, and you’ll be part of a growing and increasingly global newsroom of smart, kind, nerdy, and well-informed colleagues who are always brimming with ideas and eager to help each other out.
Our main offices are in San Francisco and New York but we’re open to applicants based remotely.
Primary responsibilities:
Pitch, report, and write stories on the space beat, balancing news and analysis of the most important health stories with original investigative reporting, features, or essays
Collaborate with other members of the science team in shaping the WIRED coverage agenda for space-related issues
Collaborate with audio, video, events, and social media teams as needed to develop ways of telling stories about space on other platforms
Skills and qualifications:
Experience as a science or technology journalist
Experience covering the space beat preferred
A clear, engaging, jargon-free writing style
