Sports Localization SME Role – Croatian MTPE & QC in Columbus
Career & Market Insight
This role sits at the intersection of linguistics, sports domain expertise, and AI/ML data services — a niche but growing field as companies build NLP-driven sports platforms and machine translation pipelines. MTPE (Machine Translation Post-Editing) experience is increasingly in demand as generative AI expands into multilingual content.
Skills you'll develop:
- MTPE workflows — a high-demand, future-proof skill as MT quality control becomes standard in the localization industry
- Sports content localization and cultural adaptation — rare specialization with premium positioning potential
- Feedback and quality evaluation methodologies used in AI training data pipelines
Market positioning: Croatian localization is a small but specialized market. Native Croatian linguists with football domain expertise are scarce, which gives qualified candidates strong leverage. However, the lack of disclosed salary is a yellow flag — rates for MTPE and QC work on the open market can vary widely ($0.03–$0.12/word), and Welocalize is known for volume-based freelance engagement rather than salaried roles.
Green flags: Welocalize is a top-10 global LSP (Language Service Provider) — adding them to your portfolio carries weight. The role exposes you to a major enterprise client's localization stack.
Red flags: This appears to be a freelance/contract engagement, not a permanent position, so career stability and benefits are limited. Professionals seeking a full-time role with growth trajectory should clarify contract terms before committing.
As a trusted global transformation partner, Welocalize accelerates the global business journey by enabling brands and companies to reach, engage, and grow international audiences. Welocalize delivers multilingual content transformation services in translation, localization, and adaptation for over 250 languages with a growing network of over 400,000 in-country linguistic resources. Driving innovation in language services, Welocalize delivers high-quality training data transformation solutions for NLP-enabled machine learning by blending technology and human intelligence to collect, annotate, and evaluate all content types. Our team works across locations in North America, Europe, and Asia serving our global clients in the markets that matter to them. www.welocalize.com
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
MAIN PURPOSE OF THE JOB
Welocalize is seeking passionate and culturally fluent Sports Subject Matter Experts specialized in football with exceptional writing skills to join our localization team. You'll review, localize, fact check, translate, and adapt football-related content so it resonates with audiences in your market.
Project Details:
- Language Pair: English (US) > Croatian (Croatia)
- Task Type: Quality Control, Translation, Copy Edit, MTPE
- Assessment: Grammar + SME knowledge
MAIN DUTIES
- Review, localize, fact check, translate, and adapt sports-related content, mainly football, while adhering to writing style guides and guidelines
- Conduct market-specific research on local content, product and terminology trends, and best localization practices for the target audience in your market
- Provide feedback on written content
REQUIRED SKILLS
- BS/BA and/or 2+ years of work experience in the linguistic field, sports journalism, copywriting, or in copy-editing
- Extensive sports knowledge, mainly football
- Experience in translation and localization of multimedia content, preferably also machine translations and evaluations
- Native-level fluency in the target language (Croatian)
- Excellent grammar and writing skills in the native language
- Strong creative writing, proofreading, and editing skills in the native language
- Tech savvy: strong practical knowledge of computers and mobile devices, word processors, and spreadsheets
- Owning a licensed version of MS Office apps
- Ability to work independently and remotely
BONUS IF YOU HAVE:
- Published work on platforms like ESPN, The Athletic, FourFourTwo, or similar.
- Experience working with sports media platforms, live score apps, or sports streaming services.
- A flair for adapting voice and style to Gen Z, football fan culture, and pop culture audiences.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this a fully remote position?
Is this a full-time salaried role or a freelance contract?
What does MTPE mean in this context?
Do I need to be based in Croatia to apply?
What type of football content will I be working with?
