Language Services Coordinator

ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN FINANCE BOARD The Campaign Finance Board is a nonpartisan, independent city agency that empowers New Yorkers to have a greater impact on their elections. Our mission is to make local democracy more open, transparent, and equitable by removing barriers to participation. ¿ We make it easier for New Yorkers to vote, meaningfully support candidates for city office, and run for office themselves. NYC Votes, our voter engagement initiative, meets people where they are to share trustworthy election information and help New Yorkers make a plan to vote. We publish the citywide Voter Guide, which delivers information about candidates directly to voters’ doors. Our public matching funds program ensures small contributions can make a big difference, allowing regular people to run for office by relying on the support of other regular people, not just wealthy donors and special interests. And we lift the veil on how candidates raise and spend money, increasing transparency and accountability in local government.

We believe that when every New Yorker is empowered to participate meaningfully in elections, candidates will better reflect the communities they serve, elected leaders will be more accountable to the public, and New Yorkers will have a democracy they can truly trust.

About the Department

The Public Affairs division promotes the agency’s key role in equipping all candidates and voters to power a fairer and more open democracy in New York City. We engage New Yorkers, inform them about elections, and boost their civic participation in the democratic process. Within Public Affairs, the Language Access Unit is responsible for ensuring that meaningful and intentional language access is provided to NYC voters, candidates and contributors. The unit renders languages services (translation, localization, transcreation, spoken interpretation, over-the-phone and video-remote interpretation, and ASL & CART), and it leads the agency’s language access implementation strategy. The unit also is responsible for the compliance of language access mandates, such as Local Law 30, the Voting Rights Act, and Local Law

48.

Job Description

Reporting to the Language Services Manager, the Language Services Coordinator will support the agency’s mission to provide meaningful, accessible, and linguistically appropriate information to New York City voters, candidates and campaigns who speak and write languages other than English. This role will manage the coordination and delivery of translation, localization, and interpretation services, maintain language services systems and resources, and contribute to programmatic strategies and goals. The Language Services Coordinator will work closely with internal teams and external vendors to ensure high quality, timely, and compliant language services are rendered.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: Language Services Coordination

• Coordinate end-to-end translation, transcreation, and localization requests across multiple formats and languages.
• Prepare project files, compile instructions, develop workflows, and manage assignments through translation management systems (Trados, Smartling).
• Coordinate virtual and in-person spoken interpretation requests, including equipment distribution, interpreter supervision, and troubleshooting.
• Coordinate American Sign Language (ASL) and CART services.
• Support over-the-phone (OPI) and video remote interpretation (VRI) services.
• Process client and community feedback on translated materials and incorporate improvements.
• Assist in developing strategies that improve service delivery processes, workflows and timelines.

Language Services Operational Support

• Support the maintenance of project tools and trackers.
• Maintain and archive multilingual project materials, reference files, and communications.
• Support maintenance of translation management systems and linguistic resources (translation memories, glossaries, and style guides).
• Contribute to the creation and yearly auditing of standard operating procedures.
• Assist with vendor management, including invoice reconciliation and budget tracking.
• Produce reports on language services indicators.

Language Access Programmatic Support

• Support implementation of the agency’s language access strategies.
• Support compliance with language access mandates, such as Local Law 30, the Voting Rights Act, and Local Law 48
• Advocate for and embed meaningful language access practices across agency workflows.

ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, ABILITIES & OTHER BEHAVIORS (KSAOs) We're seeking individuals eager to make an impact, even if they don't tick every box on our job description. We believe in the power of diverse perspectives and the unique blend of lived experiences, non-traditional education pathways, practical know-how, and a variety of skills and abilities that each candidate brings to the table. If you're ready to learn and grow with us, we encourage you to apply and be part of our dynamic team.¿ Knowledge

• Knowledge of translation, localization, and transcreation processes, including workflows, quality assurance, and language industry standards.
• Knowledge of interpretation modalities (simultaneous, consecutive, in person, virtual), ASL and CART services, and equipment requirements.
• Knowledge of translation management systems, such as RWS Trados, MemoQ, Phrase, and/or Smartling.
• Knowledge of project management tools, such as Monday.com, Asana, etc.
• Knowledge of file management best practices.
• Knowledge of glossaries, style guides, translation memory, and terminology management.
• Native fluency in at least one of the following languages: Arabic, Bangla, Chinese (any spoken or written variant), French, Haitian Creole, Korean, Russian, Spanish or Urdu.

Skills

• Strong project management skills, including task tracking, scheduling, prioritization, and workflow coordination.
• Skill in using translation management systems and project tracking tools.
• Excellent organizational skills for file maintenance, archiving, and version control.
• Strong vendor coordination skills, including communicating instructions, providing reference materials, and supporting invoice reconciliation.
• Skill in data tracking, reporting key indicators.
• Effective project management and event coordination troubleshooting skills.
• Strong communication skills for working with internal stakeholders, translation vendors, interpreters, and community members.

Abilities

• Ability to manage multilanguage translation and interpretation pipelines and deliver projects on time.
• Ability to synthesize and incorporate internal and external feedback to improve the quality of multilingual materials.
• Ability to maintain accuracy and quality under differing timelines, especially for large multilingual projects, such as large print projects, ad campaigns, and website localization deployments.
• Ability to support implementation of agencywide language access initiatives and embed best practices in team workflows.
• Ability to staff and support in-person and virtual events where interpretation services are rendered.

Other

• Understanding of and commitment to language justice.
• Commitment to equity, inclusion, and meaningful language access for NYC voters, campaigns and contributors who speaker and write languages other than English.
• Initiative to research improvements, propose solutions, and contribute to process optimization.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS - 2-3 years’ experience coordinating or managing language services.

• Experience providing language services in the public sector.
• Experience working with immigrant communities in New York City.

Minimum Qualifications

A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college including or supplemented by at least twelve-semester credits (or the equivalent of twelve-semester credits) in accounting, auditing, business or public administration, computer science, economics, finance, statistics, graphic design, personnel or human resources administration, user experience design, or a closely related area of study and one year of satisfactory full-time experience in accounting, auditing (including compliance or investigative auditing), business or public administration, business analysis, computer science, database administration, economics, finance, fiscal or economic management or research, statistics, graphic design, personnel or human resources administration, user experience design, or a closely related field; or A four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent and five years of experience as described in “1” above; or Education and/or experience equivalent to “1” above.

Residency Requirement

New York City residency is generally required within 90 days of appointment. However, City Employees in certain titles who have worked for the City for 2 continuous years may also be eligible to reside in Nassau, Suffolk, Putnam, Westchester, Rockland, or Orange County. To determine if the residency requirement applies to you, please discuss with the agency representative at the time of interview.

Additional Information

The City of New York provides generous medical benefits (including dental and vision through respective unions or funds), retirement, tuition reimbursement, and additional ancillary benefits. CFB offers a flexible and hybrid work schedule, opportunities for career development, learning & development (leadership training and coaching), wellness programs, and much more! As a prospective employee of the City of New York, you may be eligible for federal loan forgiveness programs and state repayment assistance programs. For more information, please visit the U.S. Department of Education’s website at¿StudentAid.gov/PSLF.

The CFB is an equal opportunity employer firmly committed to diversity. All individuals are encouraged to apply. If you anticipate needing any type of reasonable accommodation to apply for an employment opportunity, please contact access@nyccfb.info or (212) 409-1800. The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.