Privacy Policy

1. Who we are and the scope of this Policy

Jobistic is an online marketplace that connects employers and businesses (“Employers”) with freelancers, contractors, and job seekers (“Workers”). For the purposes of applicable data protection laws, Vardiano Technologies is the data controller (or “business”/“data fiduciary”, as those terms are defined under your local law) of the personal information processed through the Platform, except where we act as a processor on behalf of an Employer or Worker (for example, when handling content they exchange).

This Policy applies to all users of the Platform worldwide. Additional or supplementary notices may be provided at the point of collection and, where there is a conflict, those specific notices govern for that processing activity.

2. Key definitions

• Personal information / personal data — any information that identifies, relates to, or can reasonably be linked to an identified or identifiable individual.
• Sensitive personal information — information such as government identifiers, precise geolocation, financial account details, or data revealing certain protected characteristics, where recognized as sensitive under applicable law.
• Processing — any operation performed on personal information, including collection, use, storage, disclosure, and deletion.
• Controller / business / data fiduciary and processor / service provider / data processor — the parties that determine the purposes and means of processing, and those that process on their behalf, respectively.

3. Information we collect

3.1 Information you provide to us

• Account and identity data — name, email address, password (stored only as a salted hash), user role (Employer/Worker), username/handle, and profile photo.
• Contact and demographic data — phone number, date of birth, city/country, and, for Employers, company name and business details.
• Professional profile data — headline, bio, skills, work experience, education, portfolio links and samples, hourly rate, availability, and résumé/CV files.
• Marketplace content — job and project posts, proposals, cover notes, messages, attachments (images, videos, documents), reviews, forum posts, and deliverables you submit.
• Transaction and payout data — plan and Connects purchases, invoices, wallet balances, and payout details (such as bank account, IFSC/IBAN/SWIFT, or PayPal/Payoneer/Wise identifiers) that you enter to receive withdrawals. Full card numbers are collected and processed by our payment providers and are not stored by us.
• Verification data — information you submit for identity, phone, or business verification (including one-time passcodes and any documents you choose to upload).
• Support and communications — the contents of your correspondence with us, support tickets, and survey responses. This includes messages you send to our official WhatsApp business number (for example, when you reply to a verification message): we store these conversations, along with your WhatsApp display name and number, so our team can read and respond to you. You can ask us to delete this conversation history as described in Section 12.

3.2 Information we collect automatically

• Usage data — pages and listings viewed, features used, searches, clicks, and interactions with the Platform.
• Device and technical data — IP address, browser type, operating system, device type, language settings, and identifiers used for security and fraud prevention.
• Approximate location — coarse location derived from your IP address (for example, country and city), used for security, localization, and analytics. We do not collect precise GPS location.
• Cookies and similar technologies — see Section 7 and our Cookie Policy.

3.3 Information from third parties

• Authentication providers — if you sign in with a third-party identity provider (for example, Google via our authentication partner), we receive basic profile information such as your name and email to create or link your account.
• Payment providers — confirmation of payment status and limited transaction metadata (not full card details).
• Other users — information that an Employer or Worker provides about an engagement in which you are involved.
• Publicly available or licensed sources — where we lawfully import or enrich professional profile information, we identify such sources and honor opt-out and deletion requests.

4. How we use your information, and our legal bases

We use personal information for the purposes below. Where the EU/UK GDPR or similar laws apply, the legal basis for each purpose is indicated in parentheses.

• To create and administer your account and provide the marketplace — matching Employers and Workers, showing relevant projects and profiles, and processing applications and proposals (performance of a contract).
• To operate AI-assisted features such as profile analysis, matching, and proposal drafting (legitimate interests and/or consent).
• To process payments, purchases, invoices, and payouts, and to prevent fraud and abuse (performance of a contract; legal obligation; legitimate interests).
• To verify your identity, phone number, and business, and to keep accounts secure (legitimate interests; legal obligation; consent where required).
• To communicate with you about your account and transactions, and — as described in Section 5 — to send marketing, sales, and promotional messages (legitimate interests; consent where required).
• To review content, enforce our Terms and policies, comply with law, and establish, exercise, or defend legal claims (legal obligation; legitimate interests).
• To measure and improve the Platform, conduct analytics, and develop new features (legitimate interests; consent for non-essential analytics where required).

Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal. Where we rely on legitimate interests, you may object as described in Section 12.

5. Marketing, sales, and communications consent

When you provide contact details — including your phone number, email address, or messaging handles — on the Platform, in your profile, or through any form, you expressly consent to Jobistic and Vardiano Technologies contacting you for account, transactional, service, marketing, sales, promotional, and research purposes. This includes contact by phone call, SMS/text, WhatsApp and other messaging applications, email, and in-app or push notifications, including through automated dialing systems, autodialers, and pre-recorded or artificial-voice messages where permitted by law. You confirm that any number you provide belongs to you and that you are authorized to consent for it.

Consent to marketing or sales calls and texts is not a condition of purchasing any product or service. You may opt out at any time — reply STOP to texts, use the unsubscribe link in emails, adjust your notification settings, or email privacy@jobistic.io. Even after opting out of marketing, we will continue to send essential transactional and account messages (for example, security, verification, and payout notices). Message and data rates may apply, and message frequency varies. Region-specific rules governing these communications are described in Section 12.

6. How we share and disclose information

We do not sell your personal information for monetary consideration. We disclose personal information only as described below:

• With other users — as needed for the marketplace to function. Your public profile is visible to potential clients; however, direct contact details (such as email and phone) are protected and are not shown to other users until an engagement begins, as described in the Platform.
• With service providers (processors) — vendors that perform services on our behalf under contractual confidentiality and data-protection obligations, including: cloud hosting and databases, file/object storage, email delivery, SMS and WhatsApp/messaging delivery, payment processing, identity/authentication, AI processing, analytics, and customer support tooling.
• For legal and safety reasons — with courts, regulators, law-enforcement, or other authorities where required by law, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Jobistic, our users, or the public, and to detect or prevent fraud and security incidents.
• In corporate transactions — in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, or sale of assets, subject to appropriate safeguards.
• With your consent or at your direction — for any other disclosure you request or authorize.

7. Cookies and similar technologies

We use cookies, local storage, and similar technologies to keep you signed in, remember preferences, secure the Platform, and understand usage. Strictly necessary technologies are always active; non-essential cookies (such as certain analytics) are used in accordance with your choices where required by law. You can manage cookies through your browser and, where offered, our cookie controls. See our Cookie Policy for details.

8. Automated processing and AI features

The Platform uses automated systems and artificial intelligence to help match Employers and Workers, rank and surface listings and profiles, suggest content, and draft proposals. These features are designed to assist you and do not produce legal or similarly significant effects about you without human involvement. Where automated decision-making with such effects is used and required protections apply, you may request human review, express your point of view, and contest the outcome. We do not use your private messages or payout details to train third-party foundation models.

9. International data transfers

Jobistic is a global platform, and your information may be processed in, and transferred to, countries other than your own, including countries that may not provide the same level of data protection as your jurisdiction. Where we transfer personal data internationally, we implement appropriate safeguards required by applicable law — such as the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses, the UK International Data Transfer Addendum, or other lawful transfer mechanisms — and take steps to ensure your information remains protected.

10. Data retention

We retain personal information for as long as your account is active and as needed to provide the Platform, and thereafter as necessary to comply with legal, tax, accounting, and regulatory obligations, resolve disputes, prevent fraud and abuse, and enforce our agreements. Retention periods vary by data type and purpose. When information is no longer required, we delete it or de-identify it. You may request deletion as described in Section 12, subject to legal retention requirements.

11. How we protect your information

We maintain administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect personal information, including encryption in transit, hashing of passwords and session tokens, access controls, rate limiting, and monitoring. Payout, verification, and contact details are treated as private and are not exposed publicly. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure; while we work to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security. We will notify you and the relevant authorities of material personal-data breaches as, and where, required by law.

12. Your privacy rights

Depending on where you live, you may have some or all of the rights below. To exercise any right, contact privacy@jobistic.io. We will verify your request and respond within the timeframes required by applicable law. You may also use an authorized agent where the law permits. We will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights.

12.1 General rights

• Access — obtain confirmation of whether we process your data and a copy of it.
• Correction — have inaccurate or incomplete data rectified.
• Deletion / erasure — request deletion of your data, subject to legal exceptions.
• Portability — receive certain data in a portable format and, where feasible, have it transmitted to another controller.
• Restriction and objection — restrict or object to certain processing, including processing based on legitimate interests and direct marketing.
• Withdraw consent — withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent.

12.2 European Economic Area & United Kingdom (GDPR / UK GDPR & PECR)

We process personal data on the legal bases described in Section 4. In addition to the general rights above, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority (in the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office). Electronic and telephone marketing is conducted in accordance with the ePrivacy Directive and the UK Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).

12.3 California (CCPA/CPRA) and other U.S. states

If you are a California resident, you have the right to know the categories and specific pieces of personal information we collect, the sources, the purposes, and the categories of third parties to whom it is disclosed; to correct and delete personal information; to opt out of the “sale” or “sharing” of personal information and of targeted advertising; and to limit the use of sensitive personal information — all without unlawful discrimination. In the preceding 12 months we may have collected identifiers, contact and professional/employment information, commercial/transaction information, internet activity, approximate geolocation, and content you submit, for the business purposes described in this Policy. We do not sell personal information for money. To exercise your rights, contact us using our Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information channel. Residents of Virginia (VCDPA), Colorado (CPA), Connecticut (CTDPA), Utah (UCPA), Texas (TDPSA), and other U.S. states with comprehensive privacy laws have comparable rights, including the right to appeal a refusal of a request where required.

12.4 United States — telephone and email marketing (TCPA & CAN-SPAM)

Telephone and text-message marketing is governed by the U.S. Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). By providing your phone number and consenting as described in Section 5, you give prior express consent to receive autodialed and pre-recorded calls and texts for the stated purposes; you may revoke this consent at any time by replying STOP or contacting us. Commercial email complies with the CAN-SPAM Act and includes a functional unsubscribe mechanism and our identity and postal contact where required.

12.5 India (Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023)

If you are located in India, we process your personal data in accordance with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act), including notice and consent, purpose limitation, and your rights to access, correction, completion, updating, and erasure of your data, to nominate another person to exercise your rights, and to grievance redressal. You may withdraw consent at any time. Grievances may be directed to our Grievance Officer at grievance@jobistic.io.

12.6 Canada (PIPEDA & CASL)

We handle personal information in accordance with Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), and commercial electronic messages are sent in accordance with Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), including its consent, sender-identification, and unsubscribe requirements.

12.7 Australia (Privacy Act & Spam Act 2003)

We handle personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles under the Privacy Act 1988, and marketing messages comply with the Spam Act 2003, including consent, identification, and a functional unsubscribe facility.

12.8 Other jurisdictions

Where you are located elsewhere — for example, Brazil (LGPD), Singapore (PDPA), South Africa (POPIA), the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia (PDPL), Nigeria (NDPA/NDPR), and other countries — we honor the notice, consent, opt-out, and data-subject rights required by your local law.

13. Children’s privacy

The Platform is intended for individuals who are at least 18 years old. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us personal information, contact privacy@jobistic.io and we will take appropriate steps to delete it.

14. Third-party links and services

The Platform may contain links to third-party websites, tools, or services (such as portfolio links, payment providers, and messaging apps). We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those third parties. We encourage you to review their privacy notices.

15. Do Not Track

Some browsers offer a “Do Not Track” (DNT) signal. Because there is no common industry standard for DNT, we do not currently respond to DNT signals, but we honor recognized opt-out preference signals (such as Global Privacy Control) where required by applicable law.

16. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the “Last updated” date and, where required, provide additional notice through the Platform or by email. Your continued use of the Platform after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Policy to the extent permitted by law.

17. How to contact us

For any privacy question, request, or complaint, contact us at privacy@jobistic.io (data protection) or grievance@jobistic.io (grievances). Jobistic is a unit of Vardiano Technologies.

This document is provided for general information and to describe our practices; it is a template and should be reviewed and adapted by qualified legal counsel for your specific jurisdictions and operations before being relied upon.