Pollen is seeking Media Specialists
Job Type: Contract/freelance
Hours: Part‑time / Flexible (up to 30 hrs/week; per‑task time varies by complexity)
Rate: $35 CAD per hour
Location: Canada / Remote work
Role summary: Pollen Audio Group is hiring detail-oriented language specialists and audio annotators to produce high-quality, descriptive metadata for spoken dialogue.
This role does not include verbatim transcription. Instead, you will use a blind-listen framework to isolate speech layers and analyze the exact sonic and linguistic characteristics of various speakers. Your primary focus will be evaluating, categorizing, and mapping regional dialects, accents, and vocal deliveries.
Core Annotation Categories
Main English Variety: Categorizing broad geographic location and specific regional variants (e.g., Standard American baseline, Canadian raising/regional vocabulary, Inland Northern, Western American, or Global Non-Native Englishes).
Localization Mapping: Pinpointing specific provinces, states, cities, or sub-regions based on vocal characteristics (for high-confidence segments).
Phonetic Deviations: Identifying and documenting words pronounced in an unexpected way relative to the baseline dialect.
Vocal Delivery & Characteristics: Documenting speaker identity, gender, delivery performance (e.g., natural conversation, whispering, monologue), pitch, timbre, and pace.
Vocal Bursts & Paralinguistics: Tagging human-origin sonic elements that are non-speech (laughs, coughs, sighs).
Key responsibilities:
Review video and audio clips to create precise, objective metadata using natural language descriptions.
Apply your ear for phonetics to identify subtle regional shifts and note whether an accent sounds performed, caricatured, or exaggerated
Use provided guideline parameters to systematically track voice characteristics, speaking styles, and emotional delivery.
Follow strict accuracy and pacing standards (examples of good vs. poor annotations will be provided).
Preferred qualifications:
A background, training, or high interest in Linguistics, Phonetics, Speech-to-Text validation, Audio Production, or Dialect Coaching.
A highly attuned ear for regional accents across North America, the UK, and Global Englishes.
Strong written English skills and meticulous attention to detail.
Comfort working independently and handling variable task complexity.
Required Equipment: A reliable computer, high-speed internet connection, and headphones. No specialized hardware or software is needed.
Experience with data labeling/annotation, audio editing, dialogue editing, or video post-production is a plus.
Comfortable working independently and handling variable task complexity.
Deliverables:
Descriptive annotations submitted in the provided platform/template per asset.
Adherence to quality checks and example annotation standards.
Disclaimer: the role involves human annotation for AI and ML training purposes. The scope of this project does not involve creating synthetic voices intended to substitute for working AV professionals (e.g., voice cloning). We absolutely recognise the wider concerns within the AV community around AI, and we aim to approach this area thoughtfully and transparently.
How to Apply:
If you have a sharp ear for dialects and speech patterns, please fill out our short intake form:
👉 Apply via the Canada Dialogue Intake Portal (or use the button below)
As part of this application, you may be asked to complete a short evaluation task analyzing voice characteristics and accents. These tasks are used strictly for candidate assessment. We are making rolling hiring decisions until our network is fully staffed.
Please note that these tasks are used strictly for candidate evaluation and will not be used for any other purpose. We are basing our hiring decisions on your performance in this test and successful candidates will be selected until we are fully staffed.