Video Ad Editor - Meta Lead Gen Creatives (Long-Term Team Role)

WHO WE ARE

MSET is a US marketing agency running paid lead generation for local service businesses: contractors, roofers, remodelers, home services, and similar trades. Our ads run on Facebook and Instagram, and they exist to do exactly one thing: make a homeowner stop scrolling and fill out a form. Every editing decision gets judged against that. Views mean nothing to us. Leads are the scoreboard.

READ THIS FIRST

We are hiring a team member, not a gig worker. Someone we can rely on every single week, long term, who becomes part of how this agency operates and grows with it. The per-video pay is how we start, not what this is. And this is not a beginner role: if you are new to editing or new to ads, do not apply. You will not pass the test and it will waste your time and ours.

One more thing. This post contains everything we require, and we do not take anyone seriously who applies without reading all of it. Your application will show us whether you did.

THE JOB

You edit our ad creatives. We send you raw footage (real job sites, real crews, real talking-head takes) plus a written outline: the hook, the angle, the offer, the CTA. You turn that into a finished, high-performing ad that could go live the same day. The outline tells you what the ad says. You d ---------- how it hits: pacing, caption emphasis, b-roll choices, sound design, where the cut lands. That judgment is what we are paying for.

WHAT WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY YOU MUST KNOW MARKETING

This is the part most applicants fail, so read it carefully. We are not hiring a technical editor who waits to be told where to cut. You need to already understand, from experience:

• Hooks. Why the first 2 seconds d ---------- the whole ad. First-frame choice, opening line on screen, visual pattern interrupts, and how a hook changes when the audience is a homeowner with a problem versus a bored scroller.
• Retention. Scene changes every 2 to 3 seconds, no dead air, cuts that ride the voiceover, caption emphasis on the words that carry the claim.
• Muted-first editing. Most of Meta autoplays silent. If your ad needs audio to work, it does not work.
• Direct-response structure. Problem, agitation, proof, offer, CTA, and how to compress that into 30 seconds without it feeling rushed.
• The formats that win in lead gen, and when each one fits: owner talking direct to camera, job-site walkthroughs, before/after transformations, testimonial cuts, UGC-style phone footage, offer-led ads, VSL-style longer cuts.
• The offer. Why the hook and the offer have to match, and why a beautiful ad with a buried offer loses to an ugly ad with a clear one.

If you read that list and it felt like your day job, keep reading. If it felt like a course syllabus, stop here.

AI GENERATION SKILLS (TELL US IF YOU HAVE THIS)

We also want editors who have used AI video generation to assist an edit: Higgsfield especially, or similar tools, plus the prompt-writing skill to get usable output. To be clear about the role AI plays here: our ads are cut from real footage, and AI generation fills gaps: a b-roll shot we could not film, a transition, an accent element. You are never generating a whole ad from a prompt, and an application built on fully AI-made videos will not pass. If you have used AI this way, say so in your application and show an example.

DELIVERABLES AND STANDARDS

• Every ad delivered in both 9:16 and 4:5.
• MP4, H.264, captions burned in, safe margins respected for every Meta placement.
• Music and sound effects only from sources you hold rights to. Watermarked or unlicensed audio is an automatic reject and ends the test, no exceptions, because it puts ad accounts at risk.
• One revision pass included per video. We send notes in a single batch, you apply them once, done.
• Edit in whatever software you want. We judge output, not tools.

NON-NEGOTIABLE REQUIREMENTS

• Real, provable experience editing ad creatives or short-form content for lead gen or local service businesses. Not music videos, not gaming content, not wedding films.
• A real portfolio we can open: a reel, a site, or an organized Drive folder of your work. No portfolio, no consideration.
• You can take a folder of raw clips plus a one-page outline and come back with something high-performing, without a call, without twenty questions.
• Reliable on deadlines, every single time. We run ad calendars. A late video is a missed launch. One missed deadline without warning ends the engagement.
• Attention to detail, because a wrong caption or a missed spec burns ad spend.
• Responsive on WhatsApp or Messenger during agreed hours, with honest ETAs. "It will be late, here is when" is acceptable. Silence is not.
• You take notes without ego and apply them precisely.

DO NOT APPLY IF

• You are a beginner or still learning the basics. This is not a starter role.
• You have never edited an ad that actually ran with money behind it.
• You want a one-off gig instead of a seat on a team.
• You need every cut dictated to you.
• Your portfolio is cinematic montages with no captions and no CTA.
• You juggle so many clients that 48-hour turnarounds scare you.

BONUS POINTS

• You have edited for contractors, roofers, remodelers, cleaners, or other home services.
• You have seen the performance data on your own edits and changed how you cut because of it.
• You can suggest a stronger hook than the outline gives you, and you are right.

PAY AND GROWTH

$15 per finished ad, and the rate is negotiable up on quality: show us you cut at the level we are looking for and we pay for it. Steady weekly volume for editors who deliver consistently. For the right person this grows past editing into a creative strategist role: choosing the angles, writing the outlines, owning creative performance. Paid through Wise, on time, every time. We are hiring a long-term team member and we want this to become your anchor client.

HOW TO APPLY

Reply with the word HOOKS as your first line. Then: a link to your full portfolio (reel, site, or organized Drive folder), links to 3 ads you personally edited that actually ran for real businesses (say so plainly if any were spec), one sentence on which of the 3 hooks you would rewrite today and why, and a note on any AI video generation experience (Higgsfield or similar) with an example if you have one. We check applications against every instruction in this post, including ones not repeated in this section. Miss any of them and you get skipped unread.

NEXT STEP

Shortlisted editors get a paid $20 test edit: our footage, our outline, 48-hour turnaround. The test is the interview. Pass it and weekly volume starts immediately.

ONE LAST THING

Put the word SAWDUST in the title of your application. That is how we know you read the whole post. No SAWDUST in the title, no reply.