[Hiring] Staff Writer (Satire) @Maze

Role Description

The Exploit ( theexploit.co ) is the security and tech industry's most trusted source of news that didn't happen. It's a satirical publication from Maze, an AI-native security company, covering the breaches, vendor launches, board meetings, AI news, and compliance audits that are hilarious and totally made up, even when they don't feel like it.

We're hiring two satire content creators who can write a story and then turn it into a video. Each story runs as an article on the Exploit, then becomes a short social video, usually a 30- to 90-second news segment.

• If you can shoot and edit the video yourself, that's a big plus.
• If you can't, your scripts need to be good enough that we'll happily make them for you.
• We'll take a great writer with no camera over a great camera with nothing to say.
• Two formats we like:
  • Matt Johansen's security news recaps, where one person covers one story fast with some comedy in it.
  • Ev Hand, who covers sports news in the article style we're after.

Some of our top articles, so you can see what works:

• French Locksmith Named Claude Launches Line of Padlocks; Cybersecurity Stocks Lose $18 Billion
• Judge Sentences CISO to 8 Consecutive Hours on RSA Expo Floor
• Meta Labs Proudly Announces Its AI Has Also Committed a Felony
• Burnt-Out CISO Forced to Decline Michelin-Starred Round Table Dinner
• Riot Breaks Out at Corporate Headquarters After Security Team Introduces Shift Left

Your Contributions to Our Journey:

• Writing:
  • Pitch and write 400- to 700-word articles in the deadpan voice of a real newsroom covering an unreal industry.
  • Pitch a lot of headlines and work them through with our team. The pieces are yours; we're there to keep the quality high.
• Video:
  • Write, and ideally shoot and edit, short news-desk videos.
  • Turn our best articles into video, and pitch video-first stories of your own.
• Ideas:
  • Test new formats, characters, and recurring bits instead of repeating whatever worked last week.
  • Bring material from your day job, with names changed to protect the guilty.

Qualifications

• Real practitioner experience in cybersecurity (SOC, IR, red team, GRC, security engineering or similar), AppSec or product security, cloud security, or software engineering.
• Not a marketer; this role isn't for content or marketing people.
• Funny on the page and on camera, not "has a good personality" funny.
• Tight writing; you know what works and what to cut.
• Never punches down; we laugh with the burnt-out CISO, not at them.
• Reliable; you ship 5 articles and 5 videos a month without anyone chasing you.
• Comfortable being named publicly; your byline goes on every article.

Nice to Haves

• You can shoot and edit your own short-form video.
• You've written sketch, standup, satire, or a security newsletter people actually read.
• You already post on X, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, or LinkedIn.

How to Apply

• 10 headlines about security, AI, or software, as they'd appear on the Exploit.
• Two or three short videos you've made, on any topic.
• One sentence on your background: your role, where you did it, and the worst thing you've seen in production.

Why Join Us

• Get paid to roast your industry and its vendors.
• Upside when a piece lands; we pay like a creator program, not a newsroom.
• A small team; we're starting with two or three people, not forty.
• Keep your day job; the role is remote and flexible.

Compensation

• $600 a month base for 5 articles and 5 videos.
• Extra content or videos requested by Maze staff are agreed project by project.
• If we spend ad money on your piece, you earn 3% of the spend on top of your base.