A best-in-class city that attracts best-in-class talent, Philadelphia is an incredible place to build a career. From our thriving arts scene and rich history to our culture of passion and grit, there are countless reasons to love living and working here. With a workforce of over 30,000 people, and more than 1,000 different job categories, the City of Philadelphia offers boundless opportunities to make an impact.

As an employer, the City of Philadelphia values inclusion, integrity, innovation, empowerment, and hard work above all else. We offer a vibrant work environment, comprehensive health care and benefits, and the experience you need to grow and excel. If you’re interested in working with a passionate team of people who care about the future of Philadelphia, start here.

What we offer

• Impact - The work you do here matters to millions. 
• Growth - Philadelphia is growing, why not grow with it? 
• Diversity & Inclusion - Find a career in a place where everyone belongs.
• Benefits - We care about your well-being.

Agency Description

The Managing Director manages and oversees the operations of the City.  Working with five Cabinet-level Deputies, operational oversight is divided into specific departmental clusters: Health and Human Services, Community and Culture, Community Services, Public Safety and Criminal Justice, and Transportation and Infrastructure.  The Community Services cluster oversees several outward-facing programs that provide services directly to the public. These offices and programs focus on enhancing quality of life and improving how citizens engage with their communities and their city government.

The Office of Immigrant Affairs (OIA) promotes and strengthens the well-being of Philadelphia’s immigrant communities. We do this by recommending and developing policies and programs, which in turn provide opportunity and access to services. We help facilitate the successful inclusion of immigrants into the civic, economic, and cultural life of the city. We also highlight the essential role that immigrants have played and continue to play in our city.

The language access program provides professional interpretation and translation in over 180 languages throughout city departments including, Health, Police, Licensing and Inspections, and Revenue, among others. We strive to not only bridge languages, but also cultures, in order to ensure that immigrant communities and Limited English Proficient (LEP) residents can communicate effectively with local government and are able to easily access city services and resources.

The Office of Immigrant Affairs seeks a detail-oriented individual with exceptional communication and project management skills to join the department as a full-time Translations Coordinator. The position will report to the Language Access Program Manager to execute a special project that will transform the translation protocols for the Phila.Gov website, including the development of standards and language assets, engagement of key stakeholders, and meetings with the Office of Innovation and Technology (OIT) to implement changes.

This position is supported by the Operations Transformation Fund (OTF). The OTF is a $10 million internal City fund which is investing in transformative municipal projects over the next two fiscal years (2022 and 2023). Across different City departments, OTF projects are implementing people-centered and sustainable solutions that focus on efficient and equitable service provision to benefit Philadelphians. OTF project teams receive ongoing support and assistance from the City’s Office of the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), which manages the OTF, and participate in activities as a cohort. More information about OTF can be found at www.phila.gov/otf.

Key Goals of the Position

• Develop a collaborative process for maintaining glossaries and language assets
• Continue to improve accuracy of translations by working closely with City agencies and key stakeholders
• Create standards for translations, including templates, taglines, and style guides
• Monitor progress of the OTF project milestones
• Make informed recommendations for continuous improvement of Phila.Gov
• Communicate with key stakeholders throughout the project lifecycle
• Document lessons learned

Essential Functions

Help in the Implementation of the OTF Project: Translation Services Expansion for Phila.gov

• Support City offices, boards, departments, and commissions in creating and reviewing glossaries
• Conduct research and gather feedback from key stakeholders for developing translation standards
• Provide consulting to City departments on content creation for translatability
• Ongoing engagement of language access coordinators for accuracy of translations
• Address concerns and challenges with the project lead to stay within scope and budget
• Suggest activities with key stakeholders that result in the improved experience of navigating Phila.Gov translated sites
• Maintain project documentation up to date
• Meet with contractors and the OTF team on a regular basis

Track, and analyze data trends of translations

• Provide monthly and quarterly metrics’ updates
• Analyze language trends
• Review translation reports each month, and keep track of OTF-related translations
• Present key findings and recommendations to the project team

Provide technical support to departments for accurate translations

• Keep departments engaged with the OTF project goals and provide technical assistance
• Develop language assets and key documents with assistance of translation providers, including glossaries, standards, taglines, and templates
• Provide and gather feedback of translated content, and work with the translation contractor to implement the necessary changes
• Develop a change management system for continuous improvement of language assets
• Develop training materials in collaboration with the Language Access Program Manager to ensure sustainability of the quality standards
• Update the intranet site and/or learning management system with key resources for translations

Liaise between the Office of Immigrant Affairs and language access stakeholders

• Maintain relationships with relevant external and internal stakeholders
• Communicate protocols and decision making for translating the Phila.Gov website
• In collaboration with the project team members, design meaningful engagement opportunities for incorporating multilingual stakeholders’ feedback on translations

Competencies, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Ability to work with InDesign, Adobe Acrobat Pro, Microsoft Suite (including Excel, Word, Powerpoint), and virtual meeting platforms including Zoom and Teams.
• Excellent organizational and proofreading skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills, maintaining tact and diplomacy in all situations
• Excellent written and oral communication
• Attention to detail, self-motivated, responsible
• Project management skills, including data monitoring
• Ability to track translation projects
• Must be bilingual in any of the following, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Arabic, or French; both written and verbal proficiency

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field
• Previous experience managing translation projects
• Previous experience working within immigrant and refugee communities
• Preference for multilingual candidates

Salary: $45,000-$48,000

Did you know?

• We are a Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program qualified employer
• 25% tuition discount program for City employees (and sometimes spouses and dependents as well) in partnership with area colleges and universities
• We offer Comprehensive health coverage for employees and their eligible dependents
• Our wellness program offers eligibility into the discounted medical plan
• Employees receive paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays
• Generous retirement savings options are available

The City of Philadelphia is an Equal Opportunity employer and does not permit discrimination based on race, ethnicity, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, marital status, source of income, familial status, genetic information or domestic or sexual violence victim status. If you believe you were discriminated against, call the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations at 215-686-4670

 For more information, go to the Human Relations website: http://www.phila.gov/humanrelations/Pages/default.aspx