Research & Asset Sourcing VA — Detail-Oriented, Organized, Self-Starter

Role Type: Paid trial first, then ongoing role based on performance
Pay: Hourly (please include your rate)

About Us:
We're a U.S.-based creative agency launching a new product brand. We're putting together a large library of source material — stock images, video clips, news articles, scientific studies, podcast clips, competitor ads, and community quotes — that our creative team will use to build ads, landing pages, and emails.
We need a detail-oriented research VA who can find, organize, and document this material to spec. You won't be writing copy, designing anything, or making creative decisions. Your job is to find the raw material, name and organize it correctly, and log it in tracking sheets.
If you love checklists, organization, and clean folder structures — this role is for you.

What You'll Do:
You'll work through a structured task list with 15 separate research tasks. Each task has a clear target number, a specific folder structure, and a "what we want / what we don't want" checklist.

Examples of what you'll be sourcing:
Stock images and video from Pexels, Unsplash, Pixabay, Envato, Adobe Stock, Artgrid (we provide paid accounts)
News articles from mainstream publications (NYT, WSJ, Atlantic, etc.) — documented in a Google Doc
Scientific studies from PubMed and Google Scholar — verified and logged with PMID, dose, duration, and key finding
Podcast clips from health/fitness podcasts — with timestamps and summaries
Competitor ads from the Meta Ad Library — screenshots organized by brand
Competitor landing pages captured with the GoFullPage Chrome extension
Reddit community quotes from health/fitness subreddits
Government and institutional data from CDC, NIH, FDA, WHO, EPA

Everything goes into a structured Google Drive folder system with a strict file naming convention, and every asset gets logged in a Google Sheet tracker.

Who We're Looking For:
Extremely detail-oriented — you can follow a 16-page task brief without skipping steps
Organized — you naturally keep clean folders, consistent file names, and well-formatted spreadsheets
Strong research skills — you can find quality sources and verify they're real
Comfortable with Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets (required)
Comfortable installing and using Chrome extensions (e.g., GoFullPage)
Comfortable navigating PubMed, Google Scholar, Meta Ad Library, Reddit, podcast platforms (YouTube, Spotify)
Good written English — you'll be writing short summaries and quote excerpts
Honest about limits — if you can't find enough quality assets to hit a target, you say so rather than padding with junk
Reliable — you can give a weekly Friday update on what's complete, in progress, and blocked
Self-starter — once you have the brief, you can run with it without daily hand-holding

What Would Make You Stand Out:
Prior experience as a research VA, creative producer, or content librarian
Familiarity with stock asset platforms (Pexels, Envato, Adobe Stock)
Familiarity with Meta Ad Library / competitor research
Past work organizing large digital asset libraries
Background in marketing, advertising, or e-commerce

Trial Period:
We'll start with a paid trial covering the first 2–3 tasks (sourcing stock images and competitor ads). This lets us evaluate:

Quality of assets you select
How well you follow the spec
File naming and folder organization
Spreadsheet logging accuracy
Communication and turnaround speed

If the trial goes well, we'll move you to an ongoing role to complete the remaining tasks and continue with similar work for the agency.

How to Apply:
Please send:

A short note about your research/VA experience (2–3 sentences, no long résumé)
2–3 examples of past work where you organized assets, sourced research, or built a content library (links to Drive folders, spreadsheets, or docs preferred)
Your hourly rate
How many hours per week you can commit
Your time zone and overlap with U.S. hours
Confirm you're comfortable with: Google Drive, Google Sheets, Google Docs, Chrome extensions, PubMed, Meta Ad Library, Reddit
The word "ARCHIVE" at the top of your application so we know you read this

Applications without examples of past organizational/research work will not be considered.
We'll shortlist within 3–5 days and start the paid trial with top candidates the following week.