A job description does two jobs: it aligns your team on what the role is, and it becomes the basis of the advert candidates read. A good one is short, specific and honest. This template gives you a structure that works for almost any position, and an example of how to fill it in.
The structure
Keep it to a single page. If a section does not help a candidate decide whether to apply, or help your team agree what the role is, cut it.
- Role purpose: one or two lines on why the role exists
- What you will own: the outcomes and responsibilities, in plain terms
- What you will bring: genuine must-haves, kept short
- Nice to have: the bonuses you can train or grow
- How we work and what we offer: team, location, pay range, benefits
- How to apply: a clear, simple next step
What good looks like in each section
The most common mistakes are vagueness and length. Write outcomes, not a list of tasks. Name the few things the role genuinely needs, not every skill you can imagine. Be specific about pay, location and how the team works, because that is what candidates actually want to know.
- Purpose: "Own onboarding and cut first-month drop-off", not "support the customer team"
- Must-haves: three or four real ones, not a wish list of ten
- Pay: a range, not "competitive salary"
- Tone: how the team really sounds, not corporate boilerplate
A short worked example
Role purpose: Own the customer onboarding experience and make sure new customers reach value fast.
What you will own: Run onboarding end to end, reduce first-month drop-off, and feed what you learn back into the product and the process.
What you will bring: Experience owning a customer-facing process, clear communication, and comfort working with data to spot where people get stuck.
Nice to have: Experience in a similar product, or with a customer success tool.
How we work: Small team, hybrid, clear pay range, real ownership from day one.
From description to advert
The job description is the internal source of truth. The advert is the candidate-facing version of it: same substance, but written to convert, leading with the work and the pay rather than the requirements. Keep the two in step, and update the description whenever the role really changes, so you are never advertising a job that no longer exists.
Use one simple structure: purpose, what you will own, what you will bring, nice-to-have, how we work, how to apply. Write outcomes not tasks, keep the must-haves short and honest, and turn the description into an advert built to convert.