Support Engineer, VIP - Automattic

[WordPress VIP](https://wpvip.com/), the enterprise division of [Automattic](https://automattic.com/), is the world’s leading agile content management platform. Our suite of open solutions and services brings the ease and agility of [WordPress](https://wordpress.org/) to the world’s largest enterprises. Our large and growing ecosystem of technologies, services, and integrations is designed to bring the freedom and power of open source to our customers, who include Meta, CNN, Salesforce, and hundreds more. The Support Engineer role is responsible for providing advanced technical support to our enterprise customers, serving as an escalation point for complex issues that require deeper investigation. In this customer-facing role, you will handle challenging debugging scenarios, troubleshoot intricate application and platform issues, and help resolve problems that go beyond standard support workflows. You’ll work primarily through Zendesk tickets, collaborating closely with Support Engineers and Customer Success Engineers to ensure timely, high-quality resolutions while building your technical expertise and customer relationships. You’ll serve as a technical resource for both customers and internal teams, bridging support and specialized engineering functions in high-impact situations. Support is provided 24/7, so scheduled weekday and weekend shifts, on-call rotations, as well as some holiday and evening availability, will be a requirement. Our customers are global and rely on our team to provide expedient support at any time of day. ## About You - You are a technical problem-solver who thrives on helping customers. You may have a background in WordPress development, technical support, or agency work, and you’re ready to take on more complex challenges while continuing to build your engineering skills. - You never stop learning. You have a willingness to rapidly learn new technologies and deepen your expertise in areas like PHP, JavaScript, and the WordPress ecosystem. - You are curious and love to dig deeper. When an issue is escalated to you, you’re driven to understand the root cause and to document what you learn. - Excellent written English communication skills. You can communicate technical concepts to customers and colleagues clearly, translating complex debugging findings into clear, actionable guidance. - Passionate about customer success and team growth. Experience in a technical support environment—especially enterprise WordPress support—is highly valued. ## Technical Requirements - **WordPress Expertise:** Solid understanding of core concepts, including themes, plugins, hooks and filters, WP-CLI, imports, and common troubleshooting patterns. Familiarity with Gutenberg and WooCommerce is a plus. - **Code Troubleshooting:** Proficient in reading and troubleshooting code in multiple languages, including HTML, CSS, PHP, and JavaScript. Comfortable navigating unfamiliar codebases and writing small patches. - **Web Technologies:** Understanding of REST APIs, HTTP, DNS, domain management, and Git. Familiarity with reverse proxies and caching layers is helpful. - **Software Engineering Practices:** Familiarity with coding standards, source control workflows, and basic testing concepts. - **Performance & Scalability:** Understanding of slow query analysis, caching strategies, and resource optimization in WordPress environments. - **Monitoring Tools:** Comfortable using platforms like New Relic or Kibana to investigate application errors and performance issues. ## Requirements - **US-Based Position:** Must be based in the United States, hold American citizenship, and undergo required background checks. - **Self-Motivated & Collaborative:** Initiative-driven problem solver who works well within distributed teams. - **Methodical Troubleshooting:** Ability to systematically break down complex problems and isolate variables. - **Customer-Facing Experience:** Background working directly with customers in a support, agency, or consulting capacity. ## What to Expect - Providing high-quality technical support and consultation through Zendesk tickets and customer calls. - Handling escalated issues requiring deep log examination, code analysis, and engineering collaboration. - Guiding customers on WordPress best practices and performance optimization. - Building internal and customer-facing documentation. - Participating in 24/7 coverage, including weekend shifts, holidays, and on-call rotations involving government contracts. ## Compensation & Benefits - **Salary Range:** $55,000 to $85,000 USD (Competitive base salary without variable components) - **Benefits:** Open vacation policy (unlimited PTO) and a fully remote work environment. ## About Automattic Automattic is the company behind WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Tumblr, Jetpack, PocketCasts, and more. We are a fully distributed company of over 1,500 people across the globe committed to making the web a better place.

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Common Interview Questions And Answers

1. HOW DO YOU PLAN YOUR DAY?

This is what this question poses: When do you focus and start working seriously? What are the hours you work optimally? Are you a night owl? A morning bird? Remote teams can be made up of people working on different shifts and around the world, so you won't necessarily be stuck in the 9-5 schedule if it's not for you...

2. HOW DO YOU USE THE DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION TOOLS IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS?

When you're working on a remote team, there's no way to chat in the hallway between meetings or catch up on the latest project during an office carpool. Therefore, virtual communication will be absolutely essential to get your work done...

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Or you may receive even more specific questions, such as: What's on your calendar? Do you plan blocks of time to do certain types of work? Do you have an open calendar that everyone can see?...

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Just like your schedule, how you track files and other information is very important. After all, everything is digital!...

8. HOW TO PRIORITIZE WORK?

The day I watched Marie Forleo's film separating the important from the urgent, my life changed. Not all remote jobs start fast, but most of them are...

9. HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A MEETING AND PREPARE A MEETING? WHAT DO YOU SEE HAPPENING DURING THE MEETING?

Just as communication is essential when working remotely, so is organization. Because you won't have those opportunities in the elevator or a casual conversation in the lunchroom, you should take advantage of the little time you have in a video or phone conference...

10. HOW DO YOU USE TECHNOLOGY ON A DAILY BASIS, IN YOUR WORK AND FOR YOUR PLEASURE?

This is a great question because it shows your comfort level with technology, which is very important for a remote worker because you will be working with technology over time...