Cornerstone · Templates

Freelance hiring brief template

Updated Nov 5, 2026 (America/Denver) · Copy, adapt, fund a milestone, then start

A good brief lowers price noise and revision loops. Paste this into your job post, Gig request, or email. Delete sections that do not apply.

1. Goal
2. Audience
3. Deliverables
4. Deadline
5. Budget
6. Acceptance criteria

1. Snapshot

• Working title:
• Company / project:
• Primary contact + timezone:
• Hard deadline:
• Budget range or fixed bid: (state currency)
• Decision makers: who must approve

2. Goal

In 2–4 sentences: what success looks like for the business, not just the file deliverable.

3. Audience and context

• Who is the end user?
• Where will this be used?
• What exists today (links, brand kit, competitors)?

4. Deliverables (definition of done)

• Exact outputs (pages, screens, files, word counts, formats).
• What is out of scope.
• Licensing / IP expectations (work made for hire, portfolio rights, third-party assets).

5. Constraints

• Brand rules, accessibility targets, tech stack, languages.
• Tools the freelancer must use (or must not use).
• Compliance or confidentiality needs (NDA separately if required).

6. Milestones and review

Fund milestone 1 before work starts. See how escrow and milestones work.

7. Revisions

• Included revision rounds:
• What counts as a revision vs. new scope:
• How feedback will be collected (one consolidated note per round):

8. Communication

• Primary channel (prefer the platform’s thread if you want platform protection).
• Response-time expectations on both sides.
• What happens if someone goes silent (point to platform rules or written silence defaults).

9. Risks and dependencies

• Assets you still owe the freelancer:
• Third parties who can block progress:

10. Proposal request

Ask freelancers to reply with: relevant work samples, assumed scope boundaries, proposed milestone split, questions, and earliest start date. Reward clear questions — they predict clearer delivery.