Role Description
Are you an experienced English-to-Japanese Language Lead with a passion for hospitality, tourism, and marketing content? We are looking for a talented professional to support one of our most valued global clients and play a key role in ensuring high-quality, culturally relevant communications for Japanese audiences.
As a Language Lead (Language Captain), you will serve as the linguistic and cultural expert for the Japanese market, playing a critical role in ensuring exceptional translation quality, consistency, and cultural relevance across all projects. You will act as a key point of contact between the client, project teams, and linguists, helping to drive localization excellence and maintain the highest quality standards.
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Serve as the primary linguistic liaison for the Japanese language team.
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Develop, maintain, and optimize Style Guides, glossaries, and linguistic instructions to ensure consistency across all deliverables.
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Oversee linguistic quality management activities, including quality reviews and continuous improvement initiatives.
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Manage linguistic queries and provide expert guidance to translators, reviewers, and project stakeholders.
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Lead, mentor, and coordinate a remote team of freelance translators, editors, and LQA testers, offering constructive linguistic feedback, onboarding support, and ongoing training.
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Collaborate closely with Project Managers and client stakeholders to streamline localization workflows, mitigate risks, and resolve complex linguistic or technical challenges.
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Monitor, analyze, and report on linguistic quality metrics, resource performance, and project delivery timelines to support project success and continuous improvement.
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Ensure translated content accurately reflects the client's brand voice while meeting the linguistic and cultural expectations of the target audience.
Qualifications
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Bachelorβs degree in Translation, Linguistics, or a related field.
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5+ years of hands-on experience in translation/localization industry, with at least 2+ years acting in a Language Lead, Reviewer, or LQA Specialist capacity.
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Strong background translating hospitality, hotel, tourism, and marketing content.
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Native fluency in Japanese with an impeccable, professional command of source English.
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A deep sensitivity to local tech terminology vs. regional variants is mandatory.
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Must be currently living and working in Japan with an established, reliable remote setup.
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Deep proficiency in advanced translation management systems and CAT tools (e.g., Trados Studio, Phrase, memoQ) alongside automated Quality Assurance tools (e.g., Xbench).
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Exceptional communication, organizational, and conflict-resolution skills, with a demonstrated ability to manage concurrent pipelines and tight release schedules.
Benefits
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Flexible Remote Work: Based in Japan, managing your own hours around project deadlines.
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Long-Term Collaboration Opportunities: We aim to build lasting partnerships with our freelance linguists; successful candidates will become part of our preferred talent pool for ongoing, periodic project assignments.
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Cutting-Edge Tech: Gain experience working with advanced localization workflows, AI-driven translation tools, and global brand content.
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Elite Projects: Build your portfolio by working on software utilized by millions of global users daily.