TEAM DESCRIPTION

The Localization team at Booking.com ensures that the company’s products, content, and customer experiences are tailored to global audiences. They develop and implement localization strategy, manage relationships with translation vendors, set and uphold rigorous quality standards, and collaborate with internal partners like Marketing and Product. The team leverages automation and internal/external expertise to deliver culturally relevant, high-quality translations at scale across multiple languages and regions. Their work enables Booking.com to connect with users worldwide, drive engagement, and support strategic initiatives like the Connected Trip, all while maintaining consistency, accuracy, and effectiveness across diverse markets.

ROLE OVERVIEW

The Localization Manager - Berlin oversees a portfolio of languages - managing a team of Localization Leads and Sr Localization Specialists responsible for the strategic delivery of localization requirements - with a focus on quality, efficiency and cost-effectiveness. They work with multiple vendors to ensure excellence in all localisation streams, including translation, quality assessment and product testing.
They are responsible for key business-focused metrics in their portfolio, identifying systemic issues across multiple languages and solving or escalating to ensure smooth resolution, performing root cause analyses and implementing improvement plans where necessary. Working closely with the Central Localization Team and their peers, they are key contributors to the overall Localization strategy and support the move to automation of certain workstreams and content types, as well as the flawless execution of high-impact transcreation/native copywriting for business-critical content assets.
In addition, they act as an ambassador for localization in their markets, providing guidance on opportunities for Booking.com to provide a more locally-relevant and customer-centric experience.

KEY JOB RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES

• Evaluate, drive and optimize localization performance against all KPIs for a portfolio of languages
• Implement strategic delivery plans to optimise for KPIs
• Monitor, evaluate and guarantee vendor performance across all languages in the portfolio
• Support the implementation of new localization solutions for key content types, working closely with the Central Localization Team
• Implement - via a team of Localization Leads - localisation strategy at language/market level, identifying, recommending and implementing changes to our platform that create a more culturally-adapted and locally-relevant user experience
• Mentor, coach and sponsor Localization Leads and Sr Localization Specialists, finding or creating career growth opportunities to support their professional development
• Build strong working relationships with central and regional leadership teams
• Advocate for and promote localization opportunities in and for the group of languages; function as our regional Localization ambassador to bridge central strategy with execution to meet the needs of our customers

ROLE QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS

• Masters Degree in language, translation, localization or related field
• 8+ years of experience in a management function
• Extensive background in Localization (e.g. managing operations, projects or vendors in a translation environment)
• Experience leading and coaching international teams
• Experience managing external localization vendors
• Strong communication skills, interpersonal skills and presence; ability to manage and influence stakeholders.
• Deep knowledge of localization technology, incl. CATs, TMSs, MT and post-editing
• Deep understanding of internationalization, with experience in product testing and bug reporting
• Experience with e-commerce product localization and marketing and creative content translation and transcreation
• Proactive and initiative taker, both when working independently and in collaboration with a team
• Ability to operate effectively under pressure and in ambiguous, agile environments.
• Experience analyzing complex data sets and interpreting them to make business decisions.