Localization Lead, 97 Languages Before Lunch

The localization team used to translate the app into 12 languages over six weeks, and every release reverted three of them to English by mistake. The Localization Lead translates 97 languages per commit and keeps the button labels short enough to survive German.

You'll also adapt dates, currencies and jokes for each market, and explain to the product team why 'Get started' can't be translated literally into Finnish. Freelance translators have been thanked in 97 languages.

What you'll do

• Translate 600,000 strings per release, including the ones in the error log
• Fit a German compound noun into a 90-pixel button
• Check that the new slogan doesn't mean something rude in Portuguese
• Keep 97 glossaries consistent with each other
• Explain right-to-left layouts to a designer, again

Requirements

• Native speaker of 97 languages, conversational in the other 7,000
• Translates a legal disclaimer faster than the lawyer can reword it
• Never needs a dictionary, having read all of them
• Knows the formal and informal 'you' in every language that has one
• Spells 'Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaft' correctly on the first try

Nice to have

• Can say 'per my last email' politely in Japanese
• Can localize a pun without killing it

Perks

• A welcome message in every language
• Your own Unicode block
• Never lost in translation, only in the release queue