- Location: Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa
- Work Type: Full-Time, on-site (flexible work arrangements)
- RWS Language Services: Recognized as the world’s largest provider of language services, RWS helps clients create and distribute content in over 250 languages. Our global team of linguists, project managers, localization specialists, and other professionals work closely with clients to ensure the relevance, accuracy, and consistency of their multilingual communications and content.
SENIOR LANGUAGE MANAGER – LANGUAGE SERVICES
At RWS, we are dedicated to providing exceptional language services that bridge cultures and connect people. We are currently seeking a dynamic and experienced Senior Language Manager to lead our Language Services team in our Cape Town office, South Africa. If you have a knack for people management and a drive for excellence, join our team!
As the Senior Language Manager, you will lead a talented team of Language Line Managers, Project Coordinators, and linguists. You will drive the production of language services delivered by external language specialists, ensuring a diverse and comprehensive range of services across all African languages. You will be responsible for the overall development and quality of our language services. By leveraging your leadership, business and professional expertise, you’ll empower your team to excel and provide outstanding language services and support.
Key Responsibilities
Operational Management
- Manage the overall operation of a multi-department organization to deliver top-quality language services and ensure customer satisfaction.
- Oversee a team responsible for a broad range of services and projects, including complex accounts.
- Ensure the development and final quality of language services, achieving the highest standards.
- Collaborate with project management to monitor productivity, quality, and resolve issues.
- Manage account outcomes and KPIs (e.g., quality, budget, resourcing, client satisfaction) and adjust strategies, plans, and tactics to ensure the best possible outcomes for the client.
People Management
- Lead and manage an internal team of Language Line Managers, Project Coordinators, and linguists, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and strategies.
- Help the team succeed by setting clear goals, explaining their alignment with business strategy, and showing team members their contributions.
- Guide project teams on handling new, large, and complex requirements
- Act as an escalation point for resolving issues with stakeholders.
- Actively boost employee engagement, utilize team skills and expertise fully, promote growth, and celebrate achievements.
- Remove barriers and obstacles, address performance issues, and encourage collaboration and excellent customer service with other teams and stakeholders.
- Focus on team improvement and skills development, building organizational capability.
Strategic Partnerships/Relationship building
- Build strong relationships with team members, senior management, and stakeholders, ensuring business context, customer requirements and expectations are understood and proactively addressed.
Actively collaborate with senior management to:
- Work on the development of goals and plans relating to language services and provide input on implementation and results.
- Continuously improve quality, practices, processes, procedures, tools, and technology to enhance overall results.
- Develop and implement strategies and tactics that contribute to the overall growth and success of Language Services.
- Address challenges and any complex business-related issues and contribute to solving them.
- Provide support on decision-making processes.
Skills & experience
- Working experience in the translation/localization industry required
- Min. of 4 years of experience in leading and managing teams
- Excellent communication, relationships agility and interpersonal abilities
- Demonstrated ability to manage conflicts and drive continuous improvement
- A team player who can work effectively with a diverse group of individuals
- Customer-focused mindset with a commitment to quality and details
- Ability to inspire and motivate others
- Strong organizational and planning skills
Why Join Us?
- The South African team is the newest addition to the RWS Group bringing together a group of young, enthusiastic and highly motivated individuals with a passion for Africa and African languages.
- Thrive in a smart, engaged team within a global culture that values diversity, innovation, and opportunity.
- Enjoy a dynamic, warm, informal, and international work environment.
- Access a wealth of opportunities for training, professional development, and personal growth.
- Contribute to the growth and success of our Languages Services in South Africa.
- Seize the exciting opportunity to play a key role in expanding our Language Services across the entire African continent.
About RWS
The RWS Holdings plc is a unique, world-leading provider of technology-enabled language, content and intellectual property services. Through content transformation and multilingual data analysis, our combination of AI-enabled technology and human expertise helps our clients to grow by ensuring they are understood anywhere, in any language.
At RWS, we’re here for one purpose: unlocking global understanding. By combining cultural understanding, client understanding and technical understanding, our services and technology assist our clients to acquire and retain customers, deliver engaging user experiences, maintain compliance and gain actionable insights into their data and content.
We work with over 80% of the world’s top 100 brands, more than three-quarters of Fortune’s 20 ‘Most Admired Companies’ and almost all of the top pharmaceutical companies, investment banks, law firms and patent filers. Our client base spans Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa and North and South America. Our 65+ global locations across five continents service clients in the automotive, chemical, financial, legal, medical, pharmaceutical, technology and telecommunications sectors.
Over the past 20 years we’ve been evolving our own AI solutions as well as helping clients to explore, build and use multilingual AI applications. With 45+ AI-related patents and more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, we have the experience and expertise to support clients on their AI journey.
Founded in 1958, RWS is headquartered in the UK and publicly listed on AIM, the London Stock Exchange regulated market (RWS.L).
If you like the idea of working with smart people who are passionate about breaking down language barriers and giving back to their communities, then you’ll love life at RWS. Our work fundamentally recognizes the value of every language and culture. So, we celebrate difference, we are inclusive and believe that diversity makes us strong.
We want every employee to grow as an individual and excel in their career. In return, we expect all our people to live by the values that unite us: to partner with colleagues and clients, to adopt a pioneering spirit, to be positive in progressing the work we do, and always to deliver what we promise.
For further information, please visit: www.rws.com