Inside Life Writer

Big Cabal Media (BCM) is an African digital media publication creating high-quality media brands and original content with global reach and impact.

Our publications, TechCabal and Zikoko, produce smart and sophisticated content in relatable and easily digestible ways and currently serve hundreds of thousands of readers on and off the continent. Since launch, our young but immensely talented team has told cutting-edge stories across culture, money, relationship, and lifestyle that have changed and are changing the way Africans see themselves and the world sees Africa.

Zikoko creates and curates humorous and insightful content that draws heavily from Nigerian youth pop culture. From viral quizzes to insightful stories about the spending habits of Nigerians, the publication caters to a very diverse audience and has been the epicenter of many cultural conversations.

About the role While Zikoko’s voice is known to be young, jargon-less, and fun, Inside Life is home to all the laughter. With this category, we’ve been able to craft a space for our ‘unhingedness’, and we want you to become one of the landlords. The Inside Life writer will be concerned with creating humorous content for the publication across text, audio, and video. This writer has experience creating humorous content and has worked with various media types. This role reports to the Managing Editor of the publication. We want a candidate who recognizes humor and knows how to use it for good. You know that a punchline is only as good as its timing, and you know how to land it right. Your tweets have your followers in stitches, and on multiple occasions, the admin of your friend group chat has threatened to remove you because of your silly stickers. We want you to bring that energy to Zikoko. As we tell important stories about our realities as young Nigerians — the good, the bad, the ugly — we want to give our audience a healthy dose of humor to help them feel a little better. Will you do that with us? This role is full-time and remote-friendly. While we would love to get a cup of coffee with you in the chaotic city of Lagos, we don’t mind if you want to join us over Google Meet from Makurdi. Just be hilarious. No pressure, hehe.

What you’ll do:

• You’ll write at least five hilarious stories a week.
• You’ll ideate, develop and publish weekly content that positions Inside Life as the home for the funniest relatable content for young Nigerians and Africans. These stories must be SEO-compliant, follow Zikoko’s Style Guide, be 99% grammar error-free using available tools (like Grammarly), and above all else, be funny AF.
• You’ll stay on top of trends by prowling the internet and social media, searching for and writing about the most ridiculous shit. We’re documenting the times with humor!
• You’ll conduct storytelling experiments to find new ways to delight our audience.
• You’ll launch hilarious flagship series that keep readers coming up for more.
• You’ll be obsessed with distribution, and finding the communities that need the stories you write. You’ll work with the Growth team to distribute your stories through various means with the goal of attracting new readers and growing Her’s audience.
• You’ll work with other teams to create content in various formats for social media and our YouTube channel.
• You’ll contribute to the Zikoko Daily newsletter.
• You’ll excel in this role if:
• You have experience creating humorous content for a young audience through your personal platforms or with a publication.
• You are a talented writer who can, with rigor, turn a story into content.
• You use editorial judgment in navigating sensitive themes.
• You are the hilarious child of your parents. They’ve contemplated giving you out before.
• You are creative and love working in a team of diverse creators.
• You can work independently and have a bias for execution.
• You have keen attention to detail and love to document.
• You love experiments because you know they lead to innovative solutions.

Working at Big Cabal Media

• You'll join a team of talented, hard-working, disciplined professionals passionate about telling stories that matter and solving complex problems for an African audience.
• We're a digital company currently working almost full-remote (there are occasional in-person strategy sessions and meet-ups, but we work well with colleagues who are not in Lagos or Nigeria). We use Slack, Google Docs, Notion, and Airtable to keep on top of things.
• We typically try to arrange work between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. WAT, but we don’t have a stick up our butt about hours. We care about quality and results. Our people get things done fast and well, and we ask them to care for themselves. Burnout isn’t fun or useful.
• While collaborative work will be the norm and requirement, team members who want to work at BCM must also demonstrate initiative and the ability to work independently.
• Applicants for this role may come from a range of backgrounds. We’re an equal-opportunity employer.
• While this is a fairly senior role, we would like to encourage candidates of all experience levels to apply. If the above doesn't describe you perfectly, please get in touch and tell us why you want to work with us.