Job Description for Lingo24 German-English Language Combination Controller (Translator/Editor/Reviewer)

Background

Lingo24 is one of the fastest-growing, most innovative translation companies in Europe. With small operations in the UK, New Zealand, China, France and Germany, the company’s main hub is in Romania, where it employs over 50 people in project management, account management, IT and marketing roles. Lingo24 undertakes translation projects for a wide range of clients in several different industry sectors.

It is now seeking an outstanding linguist to join its growing team as Lingo24’s clients are requesting ever more German-English translations.

Outline of LCC role

The LCC (Language Combination Controller) is tasked with ensuring Lingo24 produce high quality translations in their language combination. The LCC will help the company find and use the very best value* translators, and do lots of translation and editing themselves. A love of languages is a must!

Specific Tasks

Briefly:

Undertake translation and editing tasks.
Make decisions on which translators and editors Lingo24 should be working with for different types of project.
Help Lingo24 to constantly improve its processes and train its people to deliver consistently excellent translations!

In More Detail:

Undertake short, urgent translations personally (ongoing)
Work with colleagues in different departments to improve Lingo24’s policies and processes (ongoing)
Create initial value rankings of existing German to English suppliers on the Lingo24 database. The supplier search undertaken by Lingo24 Project Managers (PMs) will be ordered by these value rankings, so PMs will on every project be working to the LCC recommendations to guide their selection of suppliers (one-off)
Review ‘value rankings’ of existing suppliers in your language combination and make changes to the order of use instruction where appropriate (once a month)
Liaise with Supplier Managers or Project Managers on negotiating with existing suppliers in your LC to get lower rates for preferred supplier status: the implication is that preferred suppliers will get more work from us as they will always appear near the top of the search results. (initially and then quarterly review)
Check & edit translations by more recent additions to the database, providing detailed feedback and rating their work accurately on the database (ongoing)
Review test pieces from prospective translators and approve/reject based on their potential to enter the top 10 of the value rankings (ongoing)
Using feedback from PMs and sales people (if they are expecting significant orders from a particular sector), make requests for supplier managers to seek out translators who are specialists in a particular sector using the supplier listing form (ongoing)

Requirements

At least two years’ experience translating/editing professionally – experience translating a wide range of material an advantage (experience translating in one or more of the following areas is necessary: General Commercial Correspondence, Marketing, Media and Creative, Banking and Law)
Native English speaker, fluent German. Other languages would be an advantage.
Competent computer use essential; experience using major TM software would be an advantage.
Good team-working/interpersonal skills combined with ability to work independently
Ability to smile through the tough times!

Salary and conditions

The chosen candidate will work primarily from home, but will be welcome to attend regular company meetings. Normal UK working hours (9am-5pm) would be expected, but there may need to be some flexibility when urgent deadlines need to be met (such time would be compensated through bonuses and additional time off). 24 days’ holiday, pension scheme, full training, bonuses and six-monthly salary review.

Applications

Please send your CV to Lingo24’s Managing Director, Christian Arno, at Christian@lingo24.com, with the subject line ‘LCC application’.

* The best value translator will be the one we think is going to be the best choice as initial translator to achieve the right level of quality for the lowest possible overall cost for that project item; ie when both the cost of proofreading and translation are factored in. Sometimes a more expensive translator will be better value because we know that less proofreading will be required.