Looking to manage WordPress projects part-time?

Overview

We’re looking for a part-time, contractor-basis project manager for WordPress projects. This is more a client management and project management position than a technical or design position.

Responsibilities

Here’s a rough breakdown of time this job might entail.

  • 50% client management (communicating with clients)
  • 30% project management (coordinating who does what and when)
  • 20% WordPress design, building, fixing, maintenance, etc. (actually doing some WP work)

You: You know and love WordPress. Maybe you’ve built a bunch of sites for friends or maybe you have a small website design business, but you’re not sure you really want to run a business … or you’re thinking about it! In other words, you’ve had your own clients. You might tinker with code or CSS but aren’t necessarily a coder or designer. You like juggling tasks and projects and clients and finding solutions for clients—and getting it all done efficiently, effectively and professionally.

Us: We’ve been building and designing WordPress sites for almost 10 years (at Likoma and lately through WPU). We’ve been around the block from customizing any old theme to having a few favorite theme companies to now where we pretty much only use WOO Themes Canvas for all sites. We’ve built hundreds of sites over the years and, frankly, one challenge has been trying to keep up with the thousands of themes (and plugins) out there—especially then later helping clients figure out that old theme. So we choose WOO Themes Canvas as our base theme and customize each site using child themes. It’s been going great since the switch to WOO or Nothing and we could use some help managing new (and existing) sites using Canvas.

Requirements

WordPress: You basically need to know (and love) WordPress. You don’t need to know how to code or build custom plugins, but you should know WP from the perspective of someone who builds (or at least puts together) WP sites but also as a user. You’ve been working with WP for at least 2 years.

Project Management: In my years of managing projects, I think it comes down to “Managing Expectations.” If you communicate well with the client about what to expect, everything will flow more smoothly. Of course, this is harder said than done. How can we (you and I) together manage and streamline projects? Expectations? Meet budgets and deadlines? Manage contractors, designers and scope creep? You’ve had at least 10 successful client relationships.

  • Manage a handful of projects simultaneously
  • Understand and be able to talk with clients about project expectations
  • Set client expectations and timelines
  • Manage a small team of designers and developers
  • Determine which tasks to complete on your own and which to delegate
  • Determine which plugins & tools are right for each project

“Detail Oriented”: Lots of these projects are about juggling. Where is the domain registered? Oh, we have to migrate the hosting? From GoDaddy to WP Engine, but email is at Google Apps. Does this stuff scare you? Oh, the client’s LinkedIn profile still doesn’t have the right password to connect to Jetpack’s Publicize module, we need to connect that. Yeah, I know, but this is the type of thing that can stall projects—we just need to power through it. But again, communication and expectations are key here. Still with me? Or maybe it’s just knowing who to ask or who to assign the task to. We have lots of clients and it can be juggling act to keep them all straight. WOO Themes Canvas: seeing that it’s pretty much the only theme I’d like to use to build sites in the near future, it’d be handy to at least know it. That said, I’ve built this entire site around learning WOO Themes Canvas so you could also say, “I’m a fast learner.” If you know WP, it won’t be too hard to figure out Canvas works. Education: Bachelor’s degree, doesn’t need to be in computer science.

Work Style Attributes

  • Customer Service Experience: you’ve had lots of clients and like helping them–but also know how to, for example, keep costs within a budget.
  • Experience with Budgets: is new Client Request X going to break their budget? OK, so what are our/their options?
  • Communication: keeping a clear channel open is the easiest way to prevent trouble, both you and our team but also with the client.
  • Open to Input/Feedback: this goes both ways! I’m looking for feedback on ways to improve processes, but you’re also open to ideas.

Nice to Haves

  • Design: Do you have an eye for design? Are you more of a coder or a designer? Even if just dabbling?
  • WOO Commerce: know WOO Commerce? There are more and more requests for it.
  • What else? Thoughts? Ideas?

Compensation, Hours, Benefits

  • Compensation: At first an hourly rate (based on experience) and then we can discuss further compensation as/if things progress.
  • Hours: flexible to get the job done. Hours per week? Maybe 10 or 20.
  • Benefits: this is purely a contractor job for now so no insurance, benefits, etc.