Technical Account Manager, Automattic Special Projects Team
Automattic
Hirezar Summary for South African Applicants
This fully remote full time position at Automattic is open worldwide, so South Africans can apply. As a remote position, you can work from anywhere in South Africa — whether you're based in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, or a smaller town.
Job Description
<p>As a Technical Account Manager (TAM) on the <a href="https://automattic.com/">Automattic</a> Special Projects team, your primary responsibility will be to ensure our partners have an excellent experience with <a href="https://wordpress.org/">WordPress</a> and <a href="https://automattic.com/about/">Automattic products</a>, from initial partner onboarding through the entire support and maintenance lifecycle of a website. Your role involves close collaboration with site owners, designers, and developers to actualize partner requests, while also providing valuable feedback for product improvement to Automattic’s teams.</p>
<p><strong>Your key responsibilities will include: </strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Driving our partners’ adoption of WordPress and other Automattic products and services.</li>
<li>Working closely with our partners to resolve their incoming requests with high precision.</li>
<li>Drawing on your technical acumen and verbal and written communication skills to represent Automattic.</li>
<li>Collaborate with partners to define website functionality in ambiguous contexts, and take ownership of delivery, timelines, and outcomes.</li>
<li>Diving into WordPress and WooCommerce configurations, setup, and site building.</li>
<li>Leading high-touch deployments or launches, including DNS configuration, domain transfers, data migrations, and integrations.</li>
<li>Acting as the “voice of the customer” for our product teams, championing areas for opportunity, and surfacing bugs.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Other responsibilities:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Developing close relationships with our partners in order to understand their business/operational needs and technical challenges, and help them achieve the greatest value from our products—particularly (but not limited to) <a href="https://wordpress.com">WordPress</a>, <a href="http://woocommerce.com/">WooCommerce</a>, <a href="http://jetpack.com/">Jetpack</a>, and <a href="https://www.mailpoet.com/">MailPoet</a>.</li>
<li>Troubleshooting technical and editor-facing issues as they arise, resolving the root causes where possible, and liaising with engineers where more in-depth support is needed.</li>
<li>Translating partner requests into concrete, WordPress-focused requirements.</li>
<li>Writing up clear, detailed tasks for team members to execute.</li>
<li>Responding to urgent incidents on our partner sites (such as fatal errors or workflow-blocking bugs) with speed, care, and attention to detail.</li>
<li>Continuously looking to improve and share processes that increase active project capacity. </li>
<li>Communicating confidently with third parties about partner needs, integration requirements, and WordPress best practices.</li>
<li>Demonstrating ownership of the quality of our partners’ sites by advocating for their needs, verifying solutions we've delivered, and having a high attention to detail.</li>
<li>Sharing knowledge, tools, and tips to help team members.</li>
<li>Communicating clearly and effectively to a diverse set of partners with varying levels of technical aptitude.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>About you:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>You display a demonstrable understanding of how AI can multiply your productivity and have examples that prove it.</li>
<li>You have an obsessive need to provide “beyond the expected” customer service to the folks you work with.</li>
<li>Your project management approach will strike a balance between thoroughness and momentum, keeping complex initiatives moving forward while maintaining quality and meeting deadlines.</li>
<li>An advanced level of WordPress admin expertise, including:</li>
<ul>
<li>Ability to understand how plugins and themes interact with the site and with each other.</li>
<li>Comfort using the Site Editor to modify patterns and page templates.</li>
</ul>
<li>A strong background with general web technologies, including: DNS, web accessibility, site performance, technical SEO, and ecommerce.</li>
<li>Excellent English written and verbal communication skills, with an aptitude for taking technical language and making it understandable.</li>
<li>Ability to triage requests, escalating needs outside the skillset/scope of the role to other team members.</li>
<li>Demonstrated ability to manage assigned work independently while adjusting to new and competing priorities.</li>
<li>Comfortable creating structure in ambiguous situations and pursuing a clear path forward.</li>
<li>Effective problem solving, conflict resolution, and context-switching.</li>
<li>Distilling goals and wishlists into concrete next steps.</li>
<li>Remaining undaunted by managing risks in high-stakes situations.</li>
<li>An eye for detail, and an innate desire to close out all items on a project checklist.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Bonus points if you have:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Contributed to an open source project.</li>
<li>Used <a href="https://linear.app">Linear</a> as a project or product management tool.</li>
<li>Read <a href="https://www.unrea
Tips for South African Applicants
Timezone Advantage
South Africa (SAST, UTC+2) overlaps well with European business hours and has a few hours of overlap with US East Coast. Mention your timezone flexibility in your application.
Salary in Context
Even without a listed salary, international remote roles typically pay 2-3x more than equivalent local positions in South Africa due to the exchange rate advantage.
Application Tips
Tailor your CV to international standards — use a clean format, highlight remote work experience, and include your English proficiency. Many SA applicants succeed by emphasising their strong work ethic and cultural adaptability.
Load Shedding Preparedness
If you're applying for a remote role, having a backup power solution (UPS, inverter, or generator) and mobile data as a backup internet connection shows employers you're prepared for South Africa's infrastructure challenges.
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About Automattic
Automattic is a company in the Account Executive industry that hires remote workers from South Africa. They currently have 16 open positions on Hirezar. View all Automattic jobs →