Communications Officer

Job description

The Freelancer Group operates three global platforms: Freelancer – the world's largest freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplace by number of users and projects posted – Escrow.com, the world's leading online escrow payments platform, and Loadshift, Australia's largest freight exchange. About the Role This is primarily an earned media and social media role. We're not looking for a copywriter or a blogger. We're looking for someone who understands what makes a story land in a publication, who can spot a media angle in a data dashboard, and who can draft a pitch that a journalist actually wants to read. You'll work directly with the Director of Communications in Sydney as the execution layer for a fast-moving, data-driven earned media operation. The work spans three distinct brands and moves quickly – one day you might be pitching a freight industry story to a business journalist, the next you're pulling Escrow.com transaction data for a quarterly report or turning a freelancer's career story into a case study campaign. A background in journalism or PR is strongly preferred. If you've spent time in a newsroom, you'll understand the pace, the instincts and the standards we're working to.

What You'll Do Earned Media

- Support the Director of Communications on earned media pitching – drafting press releases, pitch emails and media materials for ongoing campaigns

- Maintain and update journalist contact lists across relevant beats (technology, business, finance, logistics, labour markets)

- Send and track pitch outreach; manage follow-up sequences; log coverage and calculate earned media value

- Respond to journalist callouts and HARO-style requests relevant to our platforms

- Research media angles daily – scanning RSS feeds, news aggregators and platform data for newsjacking opportunities that connect to Freelancer, Escrow.com or Loadshift

- Stay across the tech, business and labour market news cycle; identify moments where our platform data or user stories add something meaningful to an ongoing conversation and move quickly to capitalise

Case Studies

- Identify strong story candidates by mining internal data: transaction records, Trustpilot reviews, Loadshift carrier profiles, Preferred Freelancer inductees and high-value platform activity

- Conduct interviews with clients, freelancers and platform users; develop their stories into case studies for earned media, social media and blog use

- Maintain the Master Case Study Database – appraising new leads, updating status and flagging Tier A candidates for active campaigns

Social Media

- Draft social media copy across the four content pillars (Celebrate, Educate, Commentate, Captivate) for Freelancer, Escrow.com and Loadshift channels

- Monitor social media trends across platforms; identify formats, moments and cultural conversations with potential for high organic reach and bring ideas for content that could break through

- Work with the Motion Designer and Viral Media Specialist to develop integrated content campaigns

- Adapt tone and voice across three distinct brands: Freelancer (direct, no-BS, motivational), Escrow.com (premium, confident, trust-focused) and Loadshift (grounded, Australian, industry-respectful)

Data & Research

- Scan internal analytics weekly to identify content and story opportunities: trending job categories, keyword movements, recently completed projects and platform milestones

- Compile media monitoring reports and maintain earned media tracking logs

General

- Support the Social CX team with customer feedback across social platforms as required

Requirements What We're Looking For

- 2+ years in journalism, PR, media relations, or communications – ideally with experience pitching and placing stories

- Strong news instincts: you can read a data table or a trending chart and immediately know what's a story and what isn't

- Excellent written English – clean, direct prose that sounds like a person and reads well across formats (pitch email, press release, social caption, case study)

- Comfortable with research – you know how to find the angle, dig into a dataset and identify what's actually interesting

- Experience writing and placing pitches, or a journalism background that gives you a clear understanding of what editors and journalists are looking for

- Organised and self-directed – able to manage multiple briefs and deadlines without daily supervision

- Confidence on the phone or video call for interviews with case study candidates

Nice to Have

- Experience with media databases or PR tools (Muck Rack, Prezly or similar)

- Familiarity with analytics tools (Google Analytics, social platform analytics)

- Understanding of freelancing, fintech, logistics or marketplace business models