Shopify E-Commerce, SEO & Automation Specialist

Shopify E-Commerce, SEO & Automation Specialist

Remote — Philippines | Full-time preferred | Part-time considered
Compensation: Approximately ₱40,000–₱60,000 per month equivalent, paid hourly in Philippine pesos.

About Us
Maikai Wood Hawaii is a Japan-based specialty wood company established in 2000. We manufacture and sell Hawaiian Koa and other specialty woods for guitars, ukuleles, woodworking, furniture and architectural applications.
We already serve customers internationally and are preparing to expand our Shopify operation beyond its initial focus on Japan.
Many of our products are unique pieces or sets of wood, each with its own photographs, dimensions, grade, weight and price. Our immediate priority is getting substantially more inventory online while improving data accuracy and helping customers find suitable products.

About the Role
We are looking for someone who can help build, operate and improve our entire product-listing process:
Inventory information → Excel → AI-assisted preparation → validation → Shopify → SEO → search and filters → related products → quality control.
This is more than a product-upload position. We want someone who can organize data, identify repetitive work, develop practical improvements and think about how customers shop.
Website design and Shopify theme development are not the primary focus.

Main Responsibilities

Product Data and Shopify Operations

• Organize product information and photographs with our Japan team.
• Maintain accurate Excel records for SKUs, species, product types, grades, dimensions, weights, prices and inventory.
• Prepare, validate and manage bulk product imports.
• Maintain Shopify products, metafields, tags, collections and product categories.
• Ensure photographs and specifications correspond to the correct products.
• Verify published listings and resolve errors.

Excel, AI and Automation

• Help develop a repeatable inventory-to-Shopify workflow.
• Use ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot or similar tools to assist with data preparation and content creation.
• Validate AI output against source information and flag missing details rather than guessing.
• Identify opportunities to reduce repetitive manual work.
• Document processes so other team members can follow.

SEO and Product Discovery

• Research the terminology customers use when searching for our products.
• Improve product titles, descriptions, SEO titles, meta descriptions and image alt text.
• Improve collections, search, filters and navigation.
• Help establish appropriate related products, complementary products and alternatives.
• Review results and suggest further improvements.

For example, a customer seeking a Concert ukulele wood set might be able to use a larger Tenor set. We want to show that alternative without incorrectly labeling Tenor products as Concert.
Similarly, someone buying a Koa ukulele set should be able to discover an appropriate matching headplate or other useful components.

What We Are Looking For

• Strong Excel or spreadsheet skills and confidence working with structured data.
• Shopify experience or a strong practical foundation with demonstrated ability to learn.
• Understanding of product SEO and customer search intent.
• Experience using AI tools with careful verification of their output.
• Strong attention to detail, especially with SKUs, measurements, prices and inventory.
• Clear written and spoken English.
• Initiative ability to investigate unfamiliar problems and communicate when blocked.
• Initiative, propose improvements and follow agreed priorities.
• Interest willingness to learn our products and business processes.

Approximately 1–4 years of relevant experience would be useful, briefly, but demonstrated ability matterspm matters more than years. Strongiagn recent recent graduates are welcome to apply, including relevant.
You do not need previous wood or musical-instrument material knowledge, and do not need to be expert in every tool listed below.

Additional Useful Skills

• Shopify CSV imports, metafields and metaobjects
• Shopify Search & Discovery, filters and complementary products
• Keyword research and e-commerce merchandising
• Excel Power Query or advanced formulas
• Microsoft Copilot or Power Automate
• Make, Zapier or APIs
• Python, VBA or JavaScript

Compensation and Working Schedule

Full-time compensation is approximately ₱40,000–₱60,000 per month equivalent. Payment is hourly, in Philippine pesos, based on actual working hours.
The hourly rate will depend on experience, demonstrated skills and performance during the interview and practical evaluation. Exceptional candidates may be considered above the advertised range.

Preferred full-time schedule:
Monday–Friday, 8:30 AM–5:30 PM Philippine time, corresponding to 9:30 AM–6:30 PM Japan time.
This provides direct working overlap with our Japan staff.

Part-time applicants:
Strong part-time candidates may be considered. You must normally be available for at least four working hours within the 8:30 AM–2:30 PM Philippine-time window. Additional hours outside that window may be agreed upon, although daytime overlap is preferred.

Remote Working Arrangements
Microsoft Teams is our central communication and file-sharing platform. You will work directly with our Japan team and business owner.

Time Doctor Doctor is required during all Maikai working time. Employees start tracking when beginning Maikai work and stop tracking when they stop. It provides activity reports, monitors computer activity, including keyboard/mouse activity levels, and periodically captures screenshots.
Recorded Maikai working time must be devoted exclusively to Maikai work. Applicants must be comfortable with this system.

Our calendar generally follows Japanese business holidays, with some variation. Requests for Philippine holidays can be arranged through advance communication. Holiday and time-off arrangements will be explained before hiring, subject to applicable requirements.

We offer a long long-term working opportunity, periodic compensation reviews and additional benefits for established full-time staff. Eligibility and timing will be discussed during the hiring process.

How to Apply
Please send your CV, relevant work samples and brief answers to these questions. University and personal projects are welcome.

1. Shopify: What have you personally done with Shopify? Include experience with bulk imports, metafields, collections, filters or product recommendations.
2. Excel and automation: Describe a spreadsheet or repetitive process you built, automated or significantly improved. Which tools did you use?
3. AI and accuracy: How would you use AI to help prepare 300 unique products for Shopify? How would you prevent incorrect SKUs, specifications, prices or invented information?
4. SEO: How would you research the words customers use to find our products and apply that research to listings?
5. Product discovery: How would you show potentially suitable Tenor sets to someone seeking Concert sets without mixing them into the Concert filter? How would you show appropriate headplates as add-ons?
6. Availability: Are you seeking full-time or part-time work? What hours can you work in Philippine time, and when could you start?
7. Compensation and monitoring: What hourly rate in Philippine pesos are you seeking? Are you comfortable with the Time Doctor requirements above?

Please explain your own experience and reasoning. If you have not done something before, say so and explain how you would investigate it.

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to complete a small paid practical test using sample product information. We will assess both the finished result and the process used to produce it.
We value accuracy, initiative, technical curiosity, customer thinking and practical problem-solving.