Japanese Language Lead

As the Japanese Language Lead, you will support localization delivery by providing linguistic and cultural facets for Japanese-language content. This role involves collaborating closely with cross-functional teams, driving linguistic quality assurance, terminology development, and influencing the overall linguistic strategy. 

Responsibilities

Quality Assurance:

• Conduct linguistic reviews of translated content – within the translation platform and on actual Clover devices and websites – to ensure

  terminology consistency, linguistic accuracy, cultural relevance, and natural flow across localized products (on-device apps, web dashboard, websites, email templates, and help articles).

• Comfortable working with Machine Translation Post-Editing (MTPE) to review and refine MT output for accuracy, consistency, and natural flow.

• Ensure translations are grammatically, technically, stylistically, and culturally correct.

• Establish and maintain linguistic guidelines to uphold the highest quality standards

• Provide linguistic quality feedback to the translation vendor and coordinate on linguistic changes.

• Review and reconcile vendor translations with in-country stakeholder feedback, proposing the best quality and consistent version.

• Implement ongoing improvements to the localized product.

• Communicate with PMs, engineering and QE engineering as needed.

• Provide input on internationalization or design issues and improvements.

• Develop familiarity with supported apps and devices to ensure quality of terminology, tone, and style as a Language Quality Lead.

Language Resource Development – Glossary of Terms:

• Develop and maintain language resources, including a glossary and style guide, to provide consistent and agreed-upon terminology and stylistic guidelines for the Japanese market.
• Communicate terminology changes to translation vendors and stakeholders.

Cross-functional Collaboration:

• Work closely with software developers, UX designers, and product managers to incorporate linguistic considerations into the product design and development process.
• Communicate effectively with internal teams to address linguistic challenges and contribute to strategic decision-making.
• Perform translations as needed for quick turnarounds, high-profile areas, or when not practical to send to an external vendor, including ongoing translation requests from localization stakeholders.

Cultural Sensitivity:

• Provide cultural insights and recommendations to ensure that localized content resonates with the Japanese-speaking audience.
• Stay current with linguistic and cultural trends in Japan to contribute to a culturally aware, localized product experience.

Qualifications:

• 3-5 years of related experience.
• Advanced degree or certificate in Translation, Interpretation, or a related field.
• Proven experience as a linguist or translation specialist, with a focus on Japanese – Native Japanese speaker required.
• Familiarity or past experience in the fields of payments, banking, finance, POS systems, and merchant apps is preferred.
• Strong understanding of software localization.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
• Working knowledge of translation platforms and language technology tools.
• Familiarity with Mac, Google Suite, JIRA, Adobe Acrobat, and other localization tools (e.g., TMS – Smartling, Atom text editor, screenshot annotation)