Manager, Localization - Americas

Details

Airbnb is a global, community-driven hospitality company. The Localization team has evolved from managing translations to driving international growth, partnering with product and marketing teams, and launching core capabilities such as Airbnb's specialized machine translation service. This Manager, Localization (Americas) role leads a team of Localization Managers to deliver excellent linguistic quality and native experiences across platforms.

Responsibilities

• Lead and motivate a team of Localization Managers, including team building, performance management, talent development, and change management.
• Provide linguistic and cultural expertise to develop strategy that drives international growth, collaborating with central and local teams.
• Provide localization advocacy and influence cross-functional teams (content, design, marketing, engineering) to deliver the best possible user experience.
• Proactively engage with stakeholders in the market for cultural insights and influence product changes.
• Identify and address challenges in the localization process; lead language quality improvement initiatives at the language and team level.
• Own strategy to achieve excellence in translation quality across all platforms.
• Partner with translation and QA vendors to monitor and improve quality output for Mexican Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese.
• Coordinate language feedback from both users and Airbnb employees.
• Develop and maintain linguistic and cultural standards and guidelines.
• Assist with copywriting for content marketing initiatives.
• Engage with internal and regional stakeholders to drive regional product initiatives.
• Research and understand the needs of Airbnb international users.
• Partner with the Language Lead to train vendor resources for optimized linguistic output.
• Work with Localization Program Managers and Linguistic QA Managers to ensure high-quality international product launches.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience managing language quality and localization programs at a strategic level.
• 1+ years of direct people management experience; experience managing international direct reports is a plus.
• Native/bilingual fluency in Spanish (Mexican) and English.
• Proven experience in translation, localization, and language quality management.
• Experience with online translation software.
• Experience in project/program management and partner/stakeholder management, with experience working across cross-functional teams and time zones.
• Excellent presentation, communication, time management, and organizational skills.
• Ability to show initiative, work independently, and drive initiatives at a strategic level.
• Passion for translations and languages; experience partnering with vendors and QA teams.

Compensation & Location

• Base pay range: $119,000 — $140,000 USD (actual base pay depends on factors such as training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs and market demands). This role may also be eligible for bonus, equity, benefits, and Employee Travel Credits.
• This position is US - Remote Eligible; the role may include occasional work at an Airbnb office or attendance at offsites as agreed with the manager. If remote-eligible, candidates must live in a state where Airbnb, Inc. has a registered entity.
• Offices: Brazil, Mexico, United States.

Benefits

• Eligible for bonus, equity, benefits, and Employee Travel Credits (where applicable).
• Airbnb states commitment to inclusion and offers disability-inclusive application and interview accommodations upon request.