WordPress.com VIP Support Engineer (aka VIP Wrangler)

Description

Job Description

Through our WordPress.com VIP program, we provide support, hosting, training, and other services to some of the biggest and best WordPress sites on the web. Our engineers (affectionately called VIP Wranglers) are responsible for providing support to all of our customers, building and shaping our products, and just generally Making Stuff Go.

Skills & Requirements

Advanced proficiency with WordPress. Low-level language or systems experience a plus, but not required.

A strong understanding of the Web including HTTP, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Must be comfortable working primarily in a customer-facing role, including providing support and training.

You enjoy collaborating with other developers, reviewing code, and making recommendations on technique or approach.

Great troubleshooting skills. Must be able to take big problems and break them down into manageable pieces with elegant solutions—and importantly, keep our customers apprised of progress throughout.

The ability to iterate and ship ideas quickly, with loose (at best) direction.

ALL JOBS REQUIRE

Great communication skills. We’re a distributed team, so frequent and clear written communication is a must.
Self-driven work ethic. You need to be a self-starter who loves taking initiative and seeing things through to completion.
Curiosity and the desire to learn.Our business is changing and growing fast, who knows what will be the skills of tomorrow? Flexibility is key.

About Automattic / WordPress.com VIP

Automattic is the company behind WordPress.com, WordPress.com VIP, Akismet, Intense Debate, Gravatar, Polldaddy, Simplenote, and more. We're focused on making the web a better place.

We're also a 100% distributed company: everyone works from their own home or office, and we’re spread out all over the world — California, Texas, New York, Canada, Ireland, Japan, Iceland, Bulgaria, Australia, and more. We track about 70% of our projects on P2-themed WordPress.com blogs, 25% on private IRC channels, and the rest on Skype—no email! Because of the geographic variance, we’re active pretty much 24/7. We care about the work you produce, not just the hours you put in.

You can learn more about how we work, benefits, our development process.
Joel Test score: 12 out of 12

The Joel Test is a twelve-question measure of the quality of a software team.

Do you use source control?

Can you make a build in one step?

Do you make daily builds?

Do you have a bug database?

Do you fix bugs before writing new code?

Do you have an up-to-date schedule?

Do you have a spec?

Do programmers have quiet working conditions?

Do you use the best tools money can buy?

Do you have testers?

Do new candidates write code during their interview?

Do you do hallway usability testing?

How to apply

If you feel you might be the best person in the world for this job please send a short email telling us about yourself and attach a resumé. Include the title of the position you’re applying for and your name in the subject. Proofread! Make sure you spell and capitalize WordPress and Automattic correctly. We are lucky to receive hundreds of applications for every position, so try to make your application stand out. Most hear a reply within two weeks. If you apply for multiple positions or send multiple emails there will be one reply.