Offer : WordPress Project Manager | DI

About Red Earth Design, Inc.   https://redearthdesign.com/

Red Earth Design, Inc. is a woman-owned distributed company that was created in 2001. There is no office and all team members work remotely. The team consists of seven full- and part-time project managers, WordPress developers, and designers, who have been working together for several years.

We specialize in supporting creative agencies, non-profits, such as environmental education organizations, animal rescues, and social justice organizations, and small businesses – organizations on a budget. We help people help the world.

Our main focus is building out WordPress websites and providing ongoing support and maintenance. Our most important values are genuinely caring about the people we are working with and tenacity in solving problems. We listen, we’re accessible and patient, and we make things work. We train clients on how to use their website in an empowering way.

Job Description

We are looking for a WordPress Project Manager to join our team for 30-35 hours a week as an employee. Hourly rate $25/hr. during the trial period and $30/hr. when hired. Benefits include medical health insurance.

The purpose of this position is to facilitate the delivery of quality work on time and in budget. You will work as a tech translator – ensuring first that you understand a request thoroughly so you can interpret it for a team member instead of simply forwarding a request. Once a task is ready, you won’t simply pass on a link. Instead you will review and test the update to confirm that what you are sending back to the client is what the client requested. So while delegation is primary, checking the quality and accuracy of an update is important for maintaining our high standards, reducing back and forth, and reducing your and the client’s stress.

Though we work remotely, this position does require a quiet environment conducive to answering phone calls and a stable internet connection. Team communication is done via email, Slack chats, and a project/task management tool. We also hold video conferences three to four times a month to touch base as a team along with regular one on one check-in calls between each team member and the business manager.

This position requires regular work hours during U.S. business hours. You will need to be available for 6-7 hours each day during Pacific or Mountain time business hours.

There is no set vacation limit other than it needs to be scheduled in advance so we can make sure to cover your work while out of the office. Paid sick time is included according to your state’s regulations.

This position requires US residency. Excellent written and verbal communication skills and WordPress proficiency are required. Our team would like to work with someone who is modest and easy to get along with.

The position begins with a paid 60 hour trial period with one check-in after 30 hours and another at the end to determine whether it is working for you and working for us. The hours can be completed in 2 weeks or spread across several weeks as needed. Either party reserves the right to end the trial period at any time.

Required Skills/Experience

• Basic experience using WordPress: editing pages, posts, widgets, navigation menus
• Ability to interact with clients and team in a kind, respectful and professional manner
• Ability to talk to clients without using jargon
• Delegation
• Ability to identify priorities and organize tasks and people around meeting those priorities and deadlines
• Ability to solve problems with minimal direction
• Ability to identify or coordinate the team to explore alternative approaches to meet a need and a budget
• Willingness to learn new things
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Self-motivated, self-starter
• Uses time efficiently
• Patient, positive, and supportive attitude with clients and team members

Familiarity with:

• WooCommerce
• Photoshop
• Email marketing
• Email account POP3/IMAP connections/set-up

Initial Responsibilities

• Draft communications to client for update requests
• Delegation of project tasks to team members as appropriate
• Monitor task estimates and project’s monthly budgets
• Small content updates on WordPress sites only when absolutely necessary. Delegation is a primary goal of this role.
• Join/shadow on WordPress training calls

Target Responsibilities

• Manage project communication between a client and the RED team for day to day update requests, larger or ongoing projects, and be the main point of contact who keeps things moving forward
• Acknowledge receipt of all incoming requests within 1 business day, even if it is a simple note saying that we are looking into it – letting clients know that their request was received is extremely important
• Test/check a website after a team member completes upgrades
• Test features and styling on a website during a site build
• Be the backup contact when other team members are out of the office
• Train clients on how to use WordPress by phone call and screen share
• Assist with sales by creating estimates for website builds, and then monitor the time spent when managing a site build

Examples of tasks:

• A client sends a photo to replace a photo on a webpage. You reply to the client to let them know we’re working on it and will update them once it’s ready for review. You set it up for a team member in our project management system with an appropriate deadline and time estimate. Once the task is complete, you review the work to ensure that it’s what the client wanted. You follow up with the client and let them know that the work is done and include any links they need to see it directly from the email. If the client wants to learn how to do it themselves, you request a tutorial from a team member and then  send a link to the client of the updated webpage along with a link to the tutorial.
• Train clients on how to use a page builder, like Visual Composer, Beaver Builder, or Elementor to make content edits on a website.
• A client sends a question about a missing purchase order number that used to show up in their online order email receipts. You review their request to make sure you understand what’s happening (or not happening) and ask for more information if needed. Then you create a task in our project management system and assign it to one of our developers to look into. Once they solve it, you reply to the client to let them know. You keep communication open on both sides and the task moving forward so the issue is solved in a timely manner.
• A plugin license holder for one of the plugins we’ve developed reaches out with a question. You review their request to make sure you understand what’s happening (or not happening) and ask for more information if needed. If the question is addressed in our documentation, share the link. If not, coordinate with a developer to address the question.
• Follow up on tasks where you’re waiting on information from a client.
• Follow up on tasks where you’re waiting on information from a team member to keep the task moving forward.
• Keep an eye on deadlines within large projects, such as site builds, to ensure that we and the client are meeting intermediate deadlines. Follow-up where necessary.
• A team member identifies a functionality issue or security upgrade required on a website. You share the information with the client to get approval to move forward with an update.
• A client asks for a simple task but doesn’t understand that there are backend complications or that it will take more time than they anticipate. You check in with the developer to receive an estimate and confirm with the client to move forward before having the developer begin on the task.
• Security packages are completed by the team and the report is ready to send to the client – you send out the report for our white label clients.
• After a developer upgrades plugins and core software on a website, assist with checking through the website to make sure things are still working properly.
• When a website is about to launch, perform a cross-browser/cross-device check using your devices as well as our BrowserStack account. You would go through a list of standard devices in our checklist to make sure the pages look and work as they should on common browsers, tablets, and phones.
• Report any issues to the developer building the site, and review after they’ve made updates to what you found.
• If a project has a check-in point, such as 10 hours per month, use our alert system to keep tabs on our tasks and check in with a client if a new request would put them over their threshold for the month.
• Create an estimate based on past task data and input from any team members that would work on the task you are estimating, and once approved, monitor the time used.
• Participate in our internal Professional Development blog, where we share what we have learned while working on a project, or from listening to a podcast or reading.
• Join the regular team video call, 3 to 4 times a month, where we catch up, share highlights and lowlights from what we’ve been working on, and learn something new from a team member’s presentation or project debrief, or talk through areas that need improvement, ideas, or business development.

Required Tools

• Computer with internet connection
• Phone number clients can call and text with professional voicemail recording and quiet background environment (email account will be provided)

Please answer the following questions in your application:

• Name
• Email
• Location
• What about working with Red Earth Design intrigues you? Why are you interested in this job in particular?
• Tell us one thing you did that seemed impossible, and what happened.
• Tell us about some of your experiences with WordPress and/or share examples of your work.
• Tell us about your project management experience and/or your experience working directly with clients.
• What are your hobbies outside of work?
• Attach a resume.

Please send an email with responses to each of the above questions and your attached resume to jobs@redearthdesign.com. The email must be sent to that address and contain the subject line: “RED Project Manager Position“ to be considered.

Deadline: Applications will be accepted through February 14th at 5 pm PST.