Finnish Football SME Translator at Welocalize | Grow in NLP in Columbus
Career & Market Insight
This is a freelance/contract specialist role that sits at the intersection of sports expertise and language services — a niche but growing field as sports media platforms expand internationally.
Compensation signals: No salary is disclosed, which is common for per-project localization roles. Market rates for MTPE and translation QC typically range from $0.03–$0.10 per word, or $20–$45/hour depending on specialization. Sports SME roles command a premium over general translation due to domain expertise requirements.
Skills developed:
- Machine Translation Post-Editing (MTPE) — a high-demand, fast-growing skill as AI translation scales up
- Sports localization and cultural adaptation — niche expertise valuable to media companies, gaming platforms, and sports betting services
- Working within professional style guides and QC frameworks — transferable to any enterprise localization role
Green flags: Welocalize is a well-established global LSP (Language Service Provider) with Fortune 500 clients. Working with them builds a credible portfolio reference. The mention of NLP/ML training data also signals exposure to AI-adjacent work.
Red flags to note: No salary transparency, no mention of benefits or contract volume guarantees — typical for freelance gig structures. This is likely project-based rather than a steady full-time income stream.
Best suited for: Finnish-speaking sports journalists, translators, or content editors looking to diversify into tech-adjacent localization work or build a freelance portfolio with a reputable global brand.
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) > Finnish (Finland)
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 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
- 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.
After your application is reviewed, shortlisted candidates will be contacted by our team to complete the application process.
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