WordPress & SEO Technical Assistant

Offshore Virtual Assistants; Newcastle City Council; Hybrid; AUD 55,000 - 83,000; Part time

Job summary

Offshore Virtual Assistants is seeking a technically strong WordPress specialist to own maintenance and security across a growing client portfolio. You will manage updates, fix vulnerabilities, perform backups, and ensure site integrity while supporting staging and deployment workflows.

Based in Australia, this independent contractor role is remote with 20 hours per week, Monday to Friday 10:00 AM–2:00 PM Sydney time, offering exposure to WordPress, Shopify, and SEO tasks as you grow within the

Qualifications

• Solid, demonstrable experience maintaining and securing WordPress websites at scale.
• Experience diagnosing and resolving malware infections and security vulnerabilities.
• Confident troubleshooting WordPress core, theme and plugin conflicts after updates.
• Good understanding of HTML and CSS language and hosting platforms.

Responsibilities

• WordPress maintenance & security across multiple client sites.
• Manage updates, backups, and rollback processes; monitor for vulnerabilities.
• Troubleshoot emergencies and respond to site outages promptly.
• Collaborate on development setup, staging, and deployment checks.
• Assist with content updates, site analytics, and basic on-site SEO.

Skills

WordPress maintenance

Security troubleshooting

Troubleshooting

HTML CSS knowledge

Hosting & DNS management

Analytics experience

Independent worker

Tools

cPanel

Cloudways

Cloudflare

ModularDS

Synergy

DNS management

Job description

At Offshore Virtual Assistants, a well-respected Australian outsourcing company, we are looking to expand our virtual professional team to support our client, a Newcastle-based digital agency specialising in website design and development, digital strategy, branding, content, SEO, and ongoing website support.

The business works with service-based businesses and growing eCommerce brands to create and improve websites that are functional, scalable, and built to support long-term business growth. The team works primarily across WordPress and Shopify and provides ongoing website optimisation, maintenance, and organic marketing support.

About the Role

We’re looking for a technically strong WordPress specialist who can genuinely own the maintenance and security side of a growing portfolio of client websites, not just update plugins, but understand why a site breaks, spot a vulnerability before it becomes an incident, and act fast when something goes wrong. The priority of the role is built around managing WordPress updates, plugin conflicts and vulnerabilities.

Beyond the technical core, there’s room to grow into supporting website development setup, content updates, and SEO tasks across both WordPress and Shopify.

Location: Work-from-home (Independent Contractor) Contract Type: Contractor, Part-time, 20 hours per week Schedule: Monday to Friday, approximately 10:00 AM–2:00 PM Sydney time

Key Duties & Responsibilities

WordPress Technical Maintenance & Security (Priority)

• Perform weekly WordPress core, theme and plugin updates across a portfolio of client sites
• Monitor for and respond to security vulnerabilities, malware, and suspicious activity
• Troubleshoot and resolve website emergencies (site down, hacked, broken after an update) promptly
• Manage backups and rollback processes when an update or change breaks a site
• Work within our maintenance systems and hosting environment, including cPanel, Cloudways, Synergy, Cloudflare, ModularDS, and manage domain/DNS settings
• Proactively flag recurring or high‑risk issues across the client portfolio rather than fixing the same thing repeatedly

Development & Launch Support

• Set up development and staging websites
• Test websites thoroughly before launch
• Assist with website launches and post-launch checks
• Assist with general WordPress page updates and website changes

Content & Analytics

• Upload and update client website content, including blog posts
• Maintain and update the company’s own website, portfolio, and other content
• Assist with Google Analytics and Google Search Console
• Complete basic on‑site SEO updates and assist with local SEO where required

Industry-Related Experience & Qualifications

• Solid, demonstrable experience maintaining and securing WordPress websites at scale (multiple client sites, not just one or two)
• Direct experience diagnosing and resolving malware infections and security vulnerabilities
• Confident troubleshooting WordPress core, theme and plugin conflicts, including after failed updates
• Good understanding of HTML and CSS language
• Experience with managed hosting platforms (e.g. cPanel, Cloudways) and Cloudflare or similar DNS/security layers
• Familiarity with domain/DNS management
• Familiarity with staging environments, website testing, and launch processes
• Experience using Google Analytics and Google Search Console
• Good understanding of onsite SEO
• Strong attention to detail when testing and updating websites

Highly Advantageous

• Shopify experience
• Experience designing or editing WordPress websites using Elementor, Divi, or WPBakery
• Experience with local SEO

Personal Qualities

• Genuinely enjoys solving technical problems, not just following a checklist
• Excellent communication and response time during work hours
• Calm and methodical under pressure when something breaks
• Able to work independently and prioritise across multiple client sites
• Reliable, organised, and proactive about flagging risks before they become incidents
• Good written skills, able to explain a technical issue in plain English
• Comfortable learning new tools and systems (we use Cloudways, Cloudflare, ModularDS, and Synergy, Slack and ClickUp for communication and task management)