Translation Project Manager

Volanno•Washington, DC

36d

About The Position

The Translation Project Manager oversees the coordination, execution, and quality control of all translation and localization activities to ensure accurate, culturally appropriate, and accessible communications across English and Spanish audiences. This role supports WMATA's commitment to inclusivity and compliance by managing translation workflows, vendor partnerships, and internal review processes. Key responsibilities include conducting and preparing precise written translations of documents, materials, brochures, and signage in both hard copy and electronic formats. The Translation Project Manager ensures faithful translation from English into Spanish, maintaining the tone, context, and intent of the original material. This includes converting content such as brochures, web pages, and other customer-facing materials, as well as proofreading and editing translated text to achieve clarity, consistency, and linguistic precision. The role also requires writing and editing customer-facing communications in both English and Spanish, coordinating with the Procurement team to develop translation solicitations, managing contracts, and ensuring vendor compliance with WMATA's quality and performance standards. The Translation Project Manager oversees all translation processes, partnering with professional translation services, performing final quality reviews, and ensuring the timely delivery of materials. Additional responsibilities include creating and leading internal language review teams for WMATA's most frequently translated languages, managing member recruitment, performance evaluation, and retention. The Translation Project Manager maintains and updates communication standards, terminology databases, and style guides to ensure linguistic consistency across all materials. This role collaborates closely with project staff to meet deadlines, ensure accuracy, and provide linguistic support during customer-facing events in both English and Spanish. The position also supports the preparation of correspondence, reports, and other documents for internal and external audiences, contributing to a unified, accessible, and multilingual communication strategy across the organization.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree, certificate, or similar in translation studies, Spanish studies, Linguistics, Communications, Public Administration, Social Sciences, etc.
Minimum of five years of experience in project management, preferably in a large organizational setting.
Certified Interpreter and/or Translator - documentation should indicate the certifying assessment body (ILR, ATA, etc), any subject matter expertise, the proficiency level, specific language combinations, and proof of valid certification, and direction of translation permitted (e.g. Spanish to English, English to Spanish) for translator certification only
Knowledge of and experience with integrating/teaching CAT Tools, Translation Memories or Translation Workflow Experience to new users.
Experience working with or in a large organization, ability to develop and maintain working relationships with internal and external customers.
Thorough knowledge of the principles and practices of customer service, customer events, and customer communication.
Knowledgeable about, or possess the ability to learn, public transit terminology quickly—high proficiency in the Microsoft Office suite.
Bilingual in Spanish is required. Must be bilingual, possess the ability to read, write, and speak Spanish fluently.
Strong communication skills and organizational skills, and ability to manage and lead projects.
Fluent in Spanish as well as strong Spanish writing and grammar skills, including notions of Spanish typographical conventions (punctuation, capitalization) and different varieties of Spanish (e.g. regionalisms), as well as "standard" Spanish.
Ability to work well under pressure and manage multiple projects while adhering to strict deadlines.
Ability to deduce complex information into simple, customer-friendly materials.
Ability to serve as an interpreter as needed.
Possess an understanding of different minority, ethnic and religious groups.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with Adobe Creative Suite, including InDesign and Illustrator, as well as MS Project and SharePoint, is a plus.

Responsibilities

Conducting and preparing precise written translations of documents, materials, brochures, and signage.
Ensuring faithful translation from English into Spanish, maintaining the tone, context, and intent of the original material.
Converting content such as brochures, web pages, and other customer-facing materials.
Proofreading and editing translated text to achieve clarity, consistency, and linguistic precision.
Writing and editing customer-facing communications in both English and Spanish.
Coordinating with the Procurement team to develop translation solicitations.
Managing contracts and ensuring vendor compliance with WMATA's quality and performance standards.
Overseeing all translation processes, partnering with professional translation services, performing final quality reviews, and ensuring the timely delivery of materials.
Creating and leading internal language review teams.
Managing member recruitment, performance evaluation, and retention.
Maintaining and updating communication standards, terminology databases, and style guides.
Collaborating closely with project staff to meet deadlines and ensure accuracy.
Providing linguistic support during customer-facing events in both English and Spanish.
Supporting the preparation of correspondence, reports, and other documents for internal and external audiences.