Localization Manager

The Community You Will Join:

No global movement springs from individuals. It takes an entire team united behind something big. Airbnb helps anyone belong anywhere as the world’s largest community-driven hospitality company. Every day, we connect thousands of guests and hosts online, leading to meaningful experiences in the real world. We’re helping people live like locals in parts unknown while breaking down cultural barriers and bringing people together. 

Do you wake up everyday asking yourself how you can impact the creation of a truly local experience that delights global users? Do you love working with content, design, marketing and engineering teams? Do you want to be part of one of the teams that is actively working on bringing to life Airbnb’s mission, where everyone can belong anywhere? Do you love to work in a fast-paced, fun, fast-growing company? Do you like to work in a multicultural team? Do you love owning the localization strategy for your market?

If you answered yes to all the questions above, we would love to talk to you, as the Localization team at Airbnb is looking for an experienced Localization Manager in Germany.

The Difference You will Make:

Airbnb is expecting the biggest travel rebound of the century with COVID receding world wide and fully reopening cross-border travel. Airbnb has been reinventing itself as a consequence of IPO and the post pandemic world. Airbnb Marketing and Product strategy has evolved and is becoming more sophisticated and demanding. As a consequence the Localization team has been growing fast with the company and steadily evolving and increasing our scope, impact and influence. 

At Airbnb, Localization has transformed from traditional translation management into a key driver of international growth. Our team partners with launching teams across all content, spearheading complex core product capabilities like the Translation Engine—a specialized machine translation service tailored for user-generated content.

As a Localization Manager, you will be pivotal in our international expansion efforts, a top priority for Airbnb. You will join the core leadership team in your region, shaping local initiatives and adapting global strategies to meet market needs. Your role will encompass not only driving language strategy but also fostering collaboration with internal stakeholders and external partners to create internationalized products that resonate with local audiences.

Localization Managers serve as the linguistic and cultural expert in collaborating with local teams to develop strategy to drive business growth - adapting and developing product and services that meet local needs. You are the guardians of Airbnb’s tone, style, and voice, and the enforcers of quality and excellence in their languages. As a Localization Manager, you're not only passionate about languages and cultures, but also about giving our users a native experience across all platforms.  

If you want to shape the world of the sharing economy - Airbnb is the place to be. We work hard, we laugh a lot, we brainstorm nonstop, and we give the best high-fives in town. 

A Typical Day: 

Airbnb’s Localization Manager role and responsibility goes beyond the traditional focus of ensuring quality of translated content: 

• Partner closely with Country Manager, Marketing Manager, Legal Counsel, Business Operations, Policy and Communications Manager to devise business strategies that align with Airbnb’s goals in your market

• In addition to being the linguistic and cultural expert for the region/market, proactively share roadmap and intent behind product updates to utilize and adopt global strategy to the target market 

• Identify and understand market expectations, crafting language strategies that offer users an authentic native experience in Germany

• Provide linguistic and cultural expertise in developing strategy to drive international growth, proactively influencing stakeholders to deliver the best possible user experience to the global community

• Own and drive localization of Product naming and Creative copies, engaging and representing local teams to build Airbnb’s brand in international markets

• Initiate and drive conversations with central and local teams to influence product changes to support market needs

• Actively research the needs of Airbnb international users in collaboration with Consumer Insights and Research team

• Understand challenges in the localization process and lead localization quality improvement initiatives at the language and team level

• Take ownership of the strategy to help achieve excellence in localization quality across all platforms 

• Ensure translation and QA vendors deliver high quality service that align with Airbnb’s standards. Assess vendor metrics to identify issues or trends, and drive improvements

• Coordinate language feedback from both users and Airbnb employees

• Develop and maintain linguistic and cultural standards and guidelines

• Support content copywriting for marketing initiatives

• Work with Localization Program Managers and Linguistic QA Managers to ensure we ship top quality products internationally

Your Expertise:

• 8+ years in product localization with a proven track record of owning localization strategy in international launches addition to managing language quality and content localization

• Experience in building market strategies informed by thorough market research and data analysis

• Strong capability to collaborate across functions, driving partnerships, and initiatives forward

• Fluency in English and native knowledge of German is a must

• Ability to show initiative and work independently, and drive initiatives at a strategic level

• Outstanding experience in project/program management, partner/stakeholder management, with experience working across cross-functional teams and time-zones

• Excellent ability to manage multiple and diverse stakeholders across businesses and leadership levels with excellent communication/presentation skills

• Track record of being a self-starter, self-motivated and outcome-oriented individual who seeks ownership and accountability

• Ability to work at both strategic and tactical levels, with a proven track record to execute in ambiguous environments

• Must be able to prioritize and manage conflicting demands

Please submit your CV in English

This is a permanent role, open to working remotely in Germany. 

Our Commitment To Inclusion & Belonging:

Airbnb is committed to working with the broadest talent pool possible. We believe diverse ideas foster innovation and engagement, and allow us to attract creatively-led people, and to develop the best products, services and solutions. All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply.