How to write a freelance job brief that gets great proposals (with template)

The quality of the proposals you receive depends mostly on the quality of your brief. Here's a template that works for almost any project.

The template

1. Title

Make it specific: "Automate lead routing from Typeform to HubSpot with Slack alerts", not "Automation expert needed".

2. The business problem

Two to five sentences: what's happening today, why it matters, and any numbers you have.

3. Deliverables

One per line. For example:

• A working workflow in our Make.com account
• A one-page runbook and a 5-minute screen recording
• Error alerts to our ops Slack channel

4. Acceptance criteria

How you'll judge that the work is done:

• 20 consecutive test leads routed correctly
• Failures trigger an alert within 5 minutes
• Runbook reviewed and approved by our ops lead

5. Budget and timeline

Give a range and a target date. If you're unsure, say so and invite the freelancer to propose a first discovery milestone.

6. Context

Tools, access, constraints, decision-maker, and anything that must not change.

Common mistakes

• Listing technologies instead of outcomes. Specialists can recommend the right tools.
• No acceptance criteria. This is the most common cause of disputes.
• Hiding the budget. You'll get proposals that are wildly off in both directions.
• Asking for free sample work. Offer a small paid first milestone instead.

Use the structured brief on Freelancers India

Our job form follows exactly this structure — problem, deliverables, acceptance criteria, budget and timeline — so every freelancer sees the same clear picture.