James Grierson

About James Grierson

As the Head of Global Expansion for Automattic, I am a member of the executive leadership team and my focus is on driving global growth and innovation across all our business units. Building on my previous experience leading the Jetpack Business Unit of Automattic as CEO, my role has expanded to encompass the entire Automattic ecosystem, leveraging our strengths to unlock new opportunities for sustainable growth and collaboration worldwide.With a fully distributed workforce spanning multiple countries, I foster a culture of personal empowerment and trust. I believe in a people first leadership approach, recognizing and leveraging each team member\'s unique strengths to further their own success and that of the organization.I specialize in SaaS businesses and have worked in B2B, B2C and mixed product environments. This includes high performing recurring revenue models that thrive in both traditional as well as online marketing models including SEO, PPC, Affiliate, paid placement and Influencer growth drivers. Previously, I led Bluehost as both CEO and COO, and managed a 250M+ P&L and 850+ employees across multiple locations. I advise pre-series B startups in their early stages of product market fit on strategic planning, recurring revenue growth and effectively scaling their team and operations. I’ve mentored multiple startups from bootstrapped ideas to capital raises between $2-10M. As an entrepreneur, I co-founded and exited a SaaS business in under two years with over 1M active users.

Experience

1. Head of Global Expansion

   Automattic

   Dec 2024 — Present · Orem, UT, US

   As the Head of Global Expansion at Automattic, I focus on identifying the best opportunities for our business to grow internationally and building the go-to-market (GTM) strategies and teams to make it happen. My goal is to ensure we successfully translate languages, localize content & marketing, develop compatible user experiences and integrate preferred payment types for key markets world wide. I work with the marketing, product and leadership teams across our flagship products, including WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Jetpack, Day One Journal App, Beeper.com and many other products in the Automattic portfolio. I also lead the Educational Program for Automattic bringing more opportunities for students and educators to participate in events and curriculum including credentials for WordPress.In this role, I’m responsible for- Developing and executing a cohesive global expansion strategy that aligns with Automattic’s mission- Building high-performing, cross-functional teams to support growth in target markets- Partnering with teams across the organization to deliver market-specific solutions that drive engagement and adoption- Identify and propose solutions for complex regulatory and payment requirements that vary by country.By focusing on scalability and impact, I aim to bring our products to more people worldwide, helping Automattic fulfill it\'s mission to democratize publishing, commerce and messaging.

Education

• Brigham Young University

  BS, Geography, Business Management

  1998 — 2004

• Utah Valley University

  Master of Business Administration (MBA), Management, Marketing, Finance

  2014 — 2016

Skills

• Affiliate Management
• Business Development
• Strategic Partnerships
• Management
• Affiliate Marketing
• Partnerships
• SEO
• Software Development
• Marketing
• E-Commerce
• Program Management
• New Business Development
• Entrepreneurship
• Strategy
• Blogging
• Web Development
• Contract Negotiation
• Marketing Strategy
• Apache
• Online Marketing
• Ppc
• Email Marketing
• Online Advertising
• Start-Ups
• Cxo
• Leadership
• Sales
• Lead Generation
• Software as a Service (Saas)
• Enterprise Software
• Social Media Marketing
• Product Management
• Strategic Planning
• Customer Relationship Management (Crm)
• Web Analytics
• Social Media
• Team Leadership
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)