Freelance Food Writing Jobs in Virginia (NOW HIRING)

Location: Remote-first with occasional in-person collaboration in Norfolk, VA / Raleigh, NC. We're prioritizing candidates who live within ~90 miles of Norfolk (Hampton Roads and the surrounding region).
Sway Creative Labs is seeking an experienced, organized, and inventive Producer to lead integrated projects from kickoff through delivery. This role is built for someone with real agency mileage who can hold a client relationship, run a video shoot, scope a website build, and keep a multi-market campaign on schedule without being asked twice.
You will be the strategic bridge between what the client says they need and what our creative, development, and media teams actually build. Our producers are trusted with scope, budget, and client relationships, and they are expected to have a point of view.
Be clear-eyed about what this is. It is in-the-trenches work at an independent shop, which means you will run the strategy call and then build the schedule yourself. In exchange you get autonomy that does not exist at a holding company, direct access to the principals, and a genuine seat in where the agency goes next. We are looking for someone hungry enough to want that.
What You'll Own
Multi-Channel Project Leadership

• Lead projects across video, digital, print, social, and out-of-home, from single-deliverable retainer requests to media-supported integrated campaigns
• Own website builds in partnership with our development team, including IA, content workflow, QA, and launch
• Lead video productions end to end: pre-production planning, crew and vendor booking, talent, locations, on-set leadership, and post workflow
• Sequence deliverables against media flight dates so creative lands ahead of the buy, not alongside it

Client Partnership

• Serve as the primary point of contact on assigned accounts, setting and managing expectations proactively
• Lead status calls and project meetings with clients, vendors, and internal teams, anticipating next steps before they are asked for
• Build relationships that outlast individual projects and surface the next opportunity naturally

Scope, Schedule & Budget

• Author clearly defined scopes of work and estimates: strategic narrative, phased deliverables with quantities, schedule, and explicit exclusions
• Hold the line on scope. Identify change orders early, document them, and communicate them before work proceeds
• Build schedules that account for internal review, client review, and revision rounds, not just production time
• Track actuals against estimate throughout the project and flag variance while there is still time to act

Internal Leadership

• Allocate resources in coordination with fellow producers and directors while monitoring capacity and incoming forecast
• Mentor Junior Producers and set the standard for task hygiene, meeting agendas, and follow-up
• Contribute to process improvements and to new business proposals and pitches
• Build AI into your own workflow and then into the team's: scope and estimate first drafts, call transcript synthesis, competitive and category research, QA passes, and status reporting. Bring back what actually works so we can standardize it

What We're Looking For
Core Qualifications

• 3-5+ years of production or project management experience in an agency or comparable client-side environment
• Demonstrated fluency in at least two of the following: digital/web, video/broadcast, print production
• Hands-on experience authoring estimates, scopes of work, and detailed schedules
• Working knowledge of design and development processes well enough to scope them accurately and speak to them credibly
• Pre-production and on-set leadership experience
• Strong command of project management tooling; we run on Smartsheet, Slack, and Google Workspace
• Practical fluency with AI tools and the ability to write a precise, well-constructed prompt. More importantly, the judgment to know which parts of this job AI should touch and which parts require a human who understands the client
• Occasional travel and on-set availability required

The Mindset We Value

• Proactive Problem-Solving: You work the solution before you escalate the problem
• Creative Partnership: You know what good work requires and you protect the conditions that produce it
• Influence Without Authority: You coordinate teams through clarity and credibility
• Scope Discipline: You get agreements in writing and you know the difference between a favor and a precedent
• Genuine Ownership: Project outcomes are yours, not the team's collectively

Additional Assets

• Understanding of media planning and buying fundamentals, including trafficking, insertion orders, and flight scheduling
• Experience with digital accessibility standards (WCAG / ADA Level AA)
• Experience managing external freelance and vendor partners against fixed-fee agreements
• Background on healthcare, tourism/destination marketing, food/beverage, legal, or CPG accounts

What Success Looks Like
After your first year, clients will request you by name on their most important initiatives. Creative and development team members will want to be staffed on your projects because they know you set them up to do good work. Your estimates will hold, your schedules will be believed, and leadership will trust you to run complex, high-visibility work independently.
Where This Goes
The path from Producer to Senior Producer and into account and department leadership is open and it is short. We are small enough that there is no queue to stand in, and our growth plan is built around deepening client caliber rather than adding headcount, which means the people who prove they can hold more get handed more. If you want to eventually run a book of business or shape how the shop operates, that is available here in a way it is not at a larger agency.
Why Sway Creative Labs
Sway is an independent agency where your contributions are seen and valued by hands-on leadership. Our producers are genuine partners in client success and contributors to the agency's direction, not order-takers between a brief and a deadline. You will work directly with agency principals across a range of industries and project types, with real ownership over how the work gets made.
What We Offer

• Health Plan: Three Optima Health Plan options; Sway covers 80% of employee premiums and 50% of dependent premiums
• Dental Insurance: Sway pays 100% of employee's United Concordia Dental Plan
• 401(k): 1:1 match on the first 3% of pay; 50% match on the following 2%
• 15 Paid Vacation Days, resetting at your start date with up to a 5-day negative balance available
• 17 Paid Holidays, including your birthday, the Monday after the Super Bowl, Juneteenth, and the full week between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day
• Two-Hour Windows: Leave windows at the start (9-11am) and end (3-5pm) of the workday for personal appointments, not counted against PTO
• Remote Work Affordance: 100% remote with occasional pre-scheduled in-person meetings and on-set requirements
• Year-end performance bonus eligibility; additional bonuses available based on individual and company performance
• Upskilling: 100% reimbursement for at least one approved course, workshop, or conference annually

Salary: $60,000 - $75,000