Customer Support Specialist
Be the friendly, fast face of HMD Publishing during UK evening and US client hours. Night shift based in the Philippines — $600/month USD, with a fully-paid 2-week daytime training period.
About This Role
We're a UK-based self-publishing agency that helps authors take their books from manuscript to bestseller — formatting, cover design, editing, KDP publishing, and Amazon Ads management for clients across Fiverr, Upwork, and our own website. Our team spans the UK, Pakistan, and Indonesia. We're expanding into the Philippines to give our clients near-24/7 support, and this is that hire.
You'll be the friendly, fast, professional face of HMD Publishing during UK evening and US client hours — the window when our UK and Asia teams are offline. Your job is to make sure no client message sits unanswered.
For your first 2 weeks, you'll work daytime Manila hours so we can train you live alongside the UK team: 3:00 PM – 11:00 PM Manila (8:00 AM – 4:00 PM UK). You'll get direct overlap with our UK and Indonesia trainers, join our daily 9:30 AM UK standup, shadow real client conversations, and be properly onboarded into our tools (Slack, Asana, Fiverr, Upwork, our CRM). Pay during training is the same: $600/month, pro-rated for your start date.
From Week 3, you transition to night-shift hours: Monday–Friday, 12:00 AM – 8:00 AM Manila (4:00 PM – 12:00 AM UK). One weekend in four, you'll work Wed–Sun instead, with Mon + Tue off — this rotation is shared fairly across the whole team. We'll plan the schedule so you have a recovery weekend between the two patterns. As the team grows, we may adjust shift windows or coverage rotas — we give plenty of notice when that happens, and we look for people who are genuinely flexible rather than locked to a single fixed pattern.
We move fast, write clearly, and care about doing right by our authors. We're not a call centre — every CS hire matters here. Strong performers have a clear path into team lead, account management, or specialist roles (Amazon Ads, KDP recovery) within 12 months.
To apply, fill out the form below and include four things. A short cover note (max 200 words) on why this role, why HMD, and what your Fiverr/Upwork experience looks like. Your CV or resume as a PDF. A 100–150 word written answer to this scenario: a Fiverr client messages at 2 AM Manila — they're upset because the book cover delivered yesterday has the wrong subtitle, they've left a 3-star review, and they're threatening to cancel. The designer is offline until 9 AM Manila. How do you reply? And finally, a 30-second voice note introducing yourself via Vocaroo, Loom, or a WhatsApp voice note link — we want to hear your English and your energy.
What You'll Do
The role is built around precision, consistency, and production quality from raw manuscript through final delivery.
- Monitor and respond to client messages on Fiverr, Upwork, website live chat, and email — no message sits unanswered during your shift
- Answer questions about our services: book formatting, cover design, editing, Amazon Ads, and KDP publishing
- Handle order confirmations, file deliveries, revision requests, and project status updates
- Spot upsell opportunities — e.g. a client buying formatting who might also want a cover design
- Escalate complex issues to the right team member with a clear, useful summary
- Document recurring questions to improve our FAQs and response templates
- Hand off open conversations cleanly to the morning team in a daily handover note
What We're Looking For
These are the baseline skills and habits we expect from someone stepping into this role.
- Prior experience working on Fiverr or Upwork — as a freelancer, a seller's CS person, or in a similar capacity. You understand platform messaging, how reviews and ratings matter, and the rhythm of order management. This is the most important requirement.
- Excellent written English — clear, warm, professional, no awkward phrasing
- 1+ years of remote customer support experience in a B2C or B2B setting
- Reliable setup: stable internet (minimum 25 Mbps), backup power or backup location, quiet workspace, working webcam for occasional team calls
- Genuine comfort with night-shift hours and flexibility with scheduling — shift windows and rotas may evolve as the team grows. We give advance notice of any changes, but this role suits someone who adapts well rather than someone who needs a locked, never-changing schedule.
Nice to Have
Useful depth that can help you stand out, but not a hard blocker if your core formatting work is strong.
- Knowledge of book publishing, Amazon KDP, or the self-publishing industry
- Experience with Slack, Notion, Asana, or similar collaboration tools
- A natural sales instinct — you spot when a client is open to spending more
Hiring Notes
Show how you approach the work, not just what tools you use.
Bring relevant examples and make your thinking easy to review. The strongest applications usually show both craft and good judgement, not just a list of tools.
Start your applicationWhat you'll get
- $600/month USD, paid monthly via Wise or Payoneer — full pay from day one
- Proper paid training — 2 weeks of daytime Manila hours with live UK team support, not thrown in the deep end
- 28 days paid annual leave (UK statutory standard), including Philippine public holidays
- Fair weekend rotation — 1 weekend in 4, never more
- Predictable hours — no surprise calls outside your shift, no graveyard rotations without notice
- A real team, not a sweatshop — we use Slack, we celebrate wins, we don't micromanage
- Growth path — strong performers move into team lead, account management, or specialist roles (Amazon Ads, KDP recovery) within 12 months
Apply for Customer Support Specialist
Fill out the form below to submit your application