The Highlander is Haliburton County's weekly community newspaper. We have one designer, David, who designs our ads and puts the paper together every week. We're looking for a second person who can work with him and cover for him when he's away.

Is this you?

This isn't a job for everyone. But if you’re the right fit, it could be the perfect gig.

Maybe you're a freelance designer who likes having one steady, reliable day a week with a client you know well, while keeping the rest of your week free. Maybe you enjoy designing for print and appreciate the role community papers play. And maybe you're the kind of person who's likes to step in and get the paper out from time to time.

Who you'd be working with

We're a small, friendly team. You won't be thrown in at the deep end. David will show you how everything works, and someone who did this role before left detailed notes covering the weekly production. You'll learn the paper at a steady pace on your regular days. By the time you cover for him, you'll know the job and the people.

What the work looks like In a normal week you'd work one day with us, ideally on one of our production days, alongside David on ads and page layout.

When David is on vacation, you'd take over the full weekly production, working four days a week. That includes sending the paper to the printer, posting the digital edition on our website and scheduling our e-newsletter. We'll give you at least four weeks' notice for planned absences.



We'd also like someone who can step in at short notice if David is suddenly unavailable.

If you step in at short notice, Monday to Wednesday is what we need most.

There are two ways this role could go

We expect to hire for the role described above: ad design plus backup layout and production. We're also thinking about moving layout in-house to one of our reporters. In that case the role would be ad design only, which would be more adaptable. If that version suits you better, please say so when you apply.

What you'll need

- Strong design skills, especially for print advertising. Print production experience (CMYK, print-ready PDFs, working with a printer) is a big plus
- Solid working knowledge of Adobe InDesign and Photoshop
- You stay calm and organised when several people need things from you at once: sales, editorial, classifieds and the printer, all against a firm weekly deadline
- Care about detail
- Excellent written and spoken English
- You must be in the Eastern time zone

The details

- Freelance, paid by the hour or by the day - $25 per hour
- Fully remote, and we can provide an Adobe Creative Cloud licence if you don't have one
- One day a week as standard, four days a week when covering a vacation

To apply

Please email to apply or with questions. We hope to fill this role as soon as possible.

Pay: $18.15-$25.00 per hour

Expected hours: 7.0 – 30.0 per week

Application question(s)

- Are you in the Eastern Time Zone?

Work Location: Remote

📌 Back-up designer and production assistant (Canada)
🏢 The Highlander
📍 Canada