Personal & Executive Assistant

This position is different from others at Automattic in that it’s based in Houston, TX. You’ll be joining the support staff of the CEO of Automattic, Matt Mullenweg, who makes Houston his home and travels frequently. Most of your time will be spent working from your location of choice around Houston: your house, coffee shop, etc. or working from his home while dealing with online, administrative, household, and miscellaneous tasks. The job will evolve and vary a lot so you should be able to learn new things quickly. You’ll be directly responsible for assisting in all business and personal matters.

To repeat, please only apply if you’re in Houston — different from other roles at Automattic in that we’re not interested in any other locations for this role. Ideally you would live inside the Loop, but anywhere in the City of Houston is ok.

Skills that will make you great in this role:

• Have great references and five years of experience as a personal or administrative assistant, estate manager, AND/OR work in technology industry.
• Have excellent communication, time management, and organizational skills, handling everything with a high-level professionalism and confidentiality.
• Be meticulous, patient, hard working, reliable, tenacious, and be a self-starter.
• Have a thick skin and appreciate receiving critical feedback even when it’s given under high stress moments.
• Be able to interact with all levels of staff from household staff to CEOs to government officials in a fast-paced, changing environment while remaining flexible, proactive, resourceful, and efficient.
• Have the skills to find anything one could imagine: locally, from afar, or on the internet.
• Have refined taste, discretion, and represent employer well as you will have to make decisions on his behalf and do so quickly and with confidence.
• Enjoy technology and learning new systems. Google Docs, WordPress, Telegram, and Wunderlist are daily apps. Preferably comfortable on Apple devices.
• Be available to travel at least 4 weeks/year (cumulative), with the opportunity for more, and sometimes with very short notice. Must have a passport or apply for one upon hire.
• Be able to handle anything thrown at you. Anything: from the most menial tasks to the seemingly impossible.
• Not be afraid to follow up aggressively to complete projects.
• Have reliable transportation and a understand how to use a smartphone.
• Be able to lift 30 lbs and comfortable in an environment with cats or dogs may be present.
• Some work environments are homes with dogs and/or cats.
• Due to the on-call nature of the job, living inside the Loop is preferred.

Skills that would be great, but are not at all required: accounting or bookkeeping experience, party and event planning, experience working with high-profile individuals, non-profit experience, investment firm experience, maintaining a blog or personal website, knowledge of wines, home decorating or remodeling experience, fluency in languages other than English, coding or scripting ability, typing in the Dvorak or Colemak keyboard layout.

You can work out of the home office of the employer, from your home, or on the road. You must be accessible and ready to work 24/7, however actual work hours are flexible. And just to repeat from earlier, you should live in Houston.

We’ll also refer to friend of Automattic, Tim Ferriss’ “downsides” description when looking for a managing editor:

Alas, I still prefer the Shackleton approach to job descriptions. Being my Managing Editor will not be easy. Rewarding? Definitely. Exciting at many times? Absolutely. Easy? Not likely. Think of it like a professional sports team. I’m not going to haze you or anything stupid, but my content works because I take it very, very seriously. […]
Here are some fair expectations:

• I’m an unrelenting perfectionist. If you’re not the same, it will probably make you insane.
• I live and die by deadlines. They are absolutely sacred, and I am merciless about this.
• You will need to be self-directed and very self-organized. Besides inflexible deadlines, I won’t provide a lot of structure. I assume you’re bringing a lot of your own process and best practices.
• You need good mental and physical stamina, and you MUST have the discipline to “turn off” and recharge during off hours. You should have a regular exercise regimen or activities for decompressing.

HOW TO APPLY

Does this sound interesting? If yes, please send a short email to jobs @ this domain telling us about yourself and attach a résumé. Let us know what you can contribute to the team. 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. If you apply for multiple positions or send multiple emails there will be one reply.

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