Freelance Plain-Language Copywriter and Communication Strategist

WE HIRING: Freelance Copywriter for the Summer. Not "vibes and a laptop by the pool" summer, actual, paid, brief-and-deadline summer.

We need a freelance Plain-Language Copywriter & Communication Strategist to help us take a large, regulated South African client's very correct, very unreadable communications and make them make sense.

Contract: Freelance / project-based. Location: South Africa / Remote. Potential for ongoing work.

The situation

We've got a client (large, regulated, very South African) whose communications are technically correct and practically unreadable. Somewhere along the way, "clear" got traded for "safe." Our job is to fix that without breaking anything, not simplify for the sake of it (some qualifying language is genuinely load-bearing), but tell the difference between a sentence that's complicated because the subject is, and one that's complicated because someone was in a hurry in 2014.

What you'll actually be doing

You'll start in the trenches: reading the client's existing comms and sorting the necessary from the merely habitual (jargon, passive voice, three sub-clauses where one would do). Then you rewrite: specialist language into plain English, sentences tightened, information reordered so a busy person can find what they need. Once you've proven that, you'll help build something more permanent: a language matrix and tone-of-voice guide.

Who we're looking for

We don't care which industry you cut your teeth in, financial services, insurance, healthcare, government comms, legal or compliance, UX writing, content design, technical writing. What we're not flexible on: editorial judgement, strong writing and editing, and the ability to explain why you cut a clause, not just that you cut it.

To apply, send: your CV or profile; a portfolio with 2-3 examples involving complex or technical information (the original, what you changed, why, and what it did); a short note on why this work interests you; your freelance rate or range; and your availability over the next few weeks. [click apply]

Posted by: Lesedi Ngema, Founder and Creative Strategist