Part-Time Project Coordinator / Proactive Virtual Assistant

BUILD WITH JOY — please begin your application with these words.

PART-TIME PROJECT COORDINATOR / PROACTIVE VIRTUAL ASSISTANT
Live co-working and creative web projects
20 hours per week · $15/hour · $300/week · 30-day paid trial at the same rate

This role has room to grow over time. I hope to find someone I enjoy working with for years rather than months.

ABOUT THE ROLE
I run several long-term web and community projects. I'm looking for someone who enjoys helping turn ideas into finished work.

My main need is not someone who waits for a complete task list. I need someone who can listen to an idea, ask useful questions, help determine what matters most, propose a practical plan, and take ownership of agreed work.

I value kindness, curiosity, honesty, and good judgment more than speed.

This is a professional project role with an unusual co-working structure.

HOW THE WEEK WILL WORK
The role is 20 hours per week across four days:
- Three days: five-hour live video co-working sessions with me
- One day: five hours of independent work

During the three co-working days, we will remain connected in a video room for most of the five-hour session, aside from normal breaks. We will usually have cameras on, but we will not talk constantly or hold a five-hour meeting. We will often work quietly alongside each other, with periodic conversations and check-ins.

On the independent day, you will move agreed work forward without waiting for me to direct every action.

The exact days and times are negotiable, but you must be able to maintain a consistent five-hour overlap with Portland, Oregon, on three weekdays.

CURRENT PROJECTS
---------- — an online music-related project. Work may include testing the website, organizing bugs and feedback, coordinating with users or testers, tracking unresolved decisions, recommending priorities, and helping move the project toward a clear milestone.

---------- — an established online drawing website. I want to explore ways to strengthen its pages, community, communication, and user experience. Work may include research, collecting and organizing user feedback, drafting page structures and copy, developing small community experiments, creating simple layouts or mockups, using AI tools to assist with writing and ideation, and helping determine which ideas are worth testing.

Community Projects — meetup and community concepts intended to create connection, creativity, delight, and positive experiences. These may eventually involve event planning, outreach, participant communication, contributor coordination, and simple organizational systems.

We will not try to work on every project simultaneously. An important part of this role is helping narrow the active priorities.

WHAT YOU WILL DO
- Help turn broad or incomplete ideas into concrete plans
- Recommend what should happen next
- Help us select one active priority and protect our focus from unnecessary switching
- Maintain a simple and reliable project board
- Keep priorities, decisions, and follow-ups organized
- Take ownership of clearly agreed project areas
- Coordinate feedback, testing, outreach, or contributors
- Draft copy, research, outlines, and simple visual materials
- Use AI tools thoughtfully to accelerate work
- Notice when work is becoming unfocused and help narrow it
- Finish each session with a useful progress summary

I appreciate thoughtful disagreement. If you think I'm wrong, I want to hear why.

WHO WILL FIT THIS ROLE
You may be a project coordinator, virtual assistant, community manager, startup generalist, or operations assistant.

The strongest candidate will be highly proficient in written and conversational English, comfortable communicating naturally on video, friendly and thoughtful, self-motivated, able to work without constant supervision, comfortable with projects that are not fully defined at the start, organized and consistent, comfortable using ChatGPT and learning new tools, and equipped with reliable internet for extended video calls.

You do not need to be a programmer or an expert designer. Initiative, judgment, communication, and follow-through matter more than a perfect list of technical skills.

COMPENSATION AND TRIAL
$15/hour · 20 hours/week · $300/week

The position will begin with a 30-day paid trial at the same rate, with the possibility of continuing as a stable, long-term role when the fit is strong.

FIRST 30 DAYS
During the initial trial, success will mean establishing a dependable co-working rhythm, creating one simple shared system for tracking our active projects, selecting a primary project, moving it toward one visible milestone, and identifying at least one area you can manage independently.

HOW TO APPLY
Please keep your application concise and begin with the words:
BUILD WITH JOY

Then include:
1. A short introduction.
2. A link to a casual video of approximately two minutes. Professional editing is not needed. Please make sure the link can be viewed without requesting access. In the video: say your name, briefly introduce yourself, explain why this working structure interests you, and describe one project you moved forward without receiving step-by-step instructions.
3. List the five-hour weekday work windows you could consistently provide. You do not need to be available every weekday; I want to understand which three recurring co-working days could work. Show each work window in Portland, Oregon local time and Philippine Time. Also state your current weekly work commitments and the earliest date you could begin.
4. Describe one previous situation in which you received an unclear goal and turned it into concrete work. What did you do first, and what was the result?
5. Imagine I tell you: "Sketchpad is an established drawing website. I think it needs a stronger community, but I do not yet know what that should mean." What are the first three actions you would recommend, and why?
6. Briefly describe your normal internet connection, whether it reliably supports extended video calls, and what backup option you have if your internet or electricity becomes unavailable.

You may use AI tools, but specific examples and your own reasoning matter more than polished wording. Please do not send a generic cover letter.

HIRING PROCESS
1. Written application and short video
2. Video interview
3. Paid working session with selected finalists
4. Thirty-day paid trial

Thank you for reading the complete posting.