Business Reporter, Online Education

Become the leading voice covering the business of online education.

The online education industry lacks a dedicated, major publication that covers it with investigative depth. That's the opportunity.

Class Central is the most popular search engine for online courses, helping 100+ million learners find their next course. We also publish The Report, the most widely read publication on online education.

Over the years, we've expanded our reporting to include in-depth business analysis of the education industry.

For example, we have:

• Analyzed 2U's $800M purchase of edX, correctly flagging the cash-flow risks that led to its 2024 bankruptcy.
• Investigated Scaler's misleading marketing, finding it had inflated its revenue by 15 times.
• Broken down Coursera's business model.
• Caught Udemy breaking its promise to instructors with a $30.7M pay cut in 2024.
• Examined Khan Academy's $365M in donations.

We combine financial analysis with a real-world knowledge of how the ed-tech business operates (SEO, lead-gen, etc.). That's how we spotted the risks in 2U's $800M edX deal three years before their bankruptcy.

About the Role

This is an opportunity to make your name. You'll own the online education beat, a multi-billion dollar industry with zero investigative coverage.

Work directly with our founder on high-impact investigations, build your personal brand as the industry authority, and see the direct impact of your journalism on both our business and millions of learners.

You won't just rewrite press releases; you will dig through company filings to find details others miss, track data over quarters to catch companies on their promises, and explain stories that AI-generated content gets wrong.

The role balances investigative deep dives with rapid analysis of breaking news. We prioritize getting it right over getting it first.

This is your chance to hold the industry accountable and become the definitive voice in the sector.

What You'll Do

• Analyze company filings and regulatory disclosures from around the world to find critical details others miss.
• Track company data and metrics across multiple quarters to hold companies accountable to their stated goals and promises.
• Explain complex industry developments that AI-generated content typically gets wrong, providing original analysis and context.
• Pitch, research, and write exclusive, investigative articles based on your analysis of company financials, revenue models, and market strategy.
• Author definitive, data-driven analyses of key industry verticals like online degrees, bootcamps, and language learning.
• Create clear data visualizations (charts, tables, models) to make complex financial information accessible.

About You

• Proven experience in business journalism or financial analysis, with deep experience reading and interpreting company financial statements and regulatory filings.
• Investigative skills, with a track record of using primary source documents and data to uncover original stories.
• Exceptional writing skills, with the ability to turn complex business topics into clear, compelling narratives.
• Strong data skills, including experience using spreadsheets to track trends over time, analyze metrics, and create visualizations.
• Ability to provide original analysis and context that goes beyond surface-level coverage, drawing on deep understanding of the online education industry.
• History of amplifying journalism through video content and building an audience is a strong plus.

Why Join Us

• Own the beat. No publication covers the business of online education with investigative depth.
• Editorial independence. We publish critical stories about our biggest advertisers when the story demands it.
• Work directly with our founder on investigations. He's broken major stories in this space. No layers of editors, no bureaucracy.
• Real impact. Your reporting drives our brand, authority, and competitive advantage.
• Stability. We're profitable and independent in an industry facing layoffs and consolidation.
• Flexibility. Remote work globally, no set hours, very few meetings.

We're a small, US-based company with a fully remote, distributed team spread across the globe. We're excited to find someone who shares our enthusiasm for holding this industry accountable.

Compensation

We're a small, bootstrapped, profitable team and can't match top US journalism salaries. We offer competitive compensation for international markets. The role provides editorial freedom and ownership of an uncovered beat.

Our AI Policy

• AI can speed you up, but it can't do the job for you.
• If you expect AI to parse financial documents or analyze quarterly results, this role isn't for you.
• AI gets the details wrong and can't connect the dots that make analysis valuable.

We're hiring an investigative business reporter, not a prompt engineer.

Hiring Process

Our process is thorough and respectful of your time and existing portfolio.

What to Expect:

1. Application Review - We personally review every application
2. Paid Writing Test - Demonstrate your skills through a comprehensive assignment
3. Interview - Meet with our founder to discuss your approach and experience
4. Paid Trial - Work with our team on real articles
5. Final Decision - Join us full-time or receive constructive feedback

Instructions to Apply

Please send an email to careers[at]classcentral.com with the subject line "Business Reporter, Online Education".

Include the following:

• A link to your CV, resume, or LinkedIn profile.
• Links to 3-5 writing samples that best demonstrate your business analysis and reporting skills.
• In your introduction, please mention one online education company whose business you find particularly interesting and, in a few sentences, explain why.