A comprehensive guide released by recruitment company Adaptive Globalization provides detailed salary and job description information for the language service provider industry.
Adaptive Globalization has released the first comprehensive salary report for the language service provider (LSP) sector. The report details benchmark competitive salaries for an array of positions as a guide for employers seeking to attract and retain talent in the coming year. Moreover, it provides summaries of key roles in the industry, their progression paths, and their salary ranges across 18 locations globally.
Locations in the report include Austria, Belgium, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, Singapore, the UK, and the United States.
The report states that the global language service and technology industry is worth $49.6 billion, and “Understandably, for such a large industry, there isn’t one ubiquitous compensation structure. Instead it is typically determined by several factors.”
According to the report, some of the factors affecting salaries range from company type (LSP vs. client-side), to market conditions, to cost of living. Though the report does not mention how these factors, or others like gender or the COVID-19 pandemic have made an impact, they likely also play a role, as signaled by some of the LSP market movement this year. The salaries for linguists ranged anywhere from €14,000 to over €100,000 per year, depending on management level and location. Switzerland and the US rank among the higher salaries, while Poland and Italy rank among the lowest among the selected countries.
Breaking down some different departments in LSPs, the report outlines roles in sales and operations. It covers a section for linguists, which covers positions like translation checker, proofreader, interpreter, translator, transcriptionists, senior translator, language lead, language quality specialist, language service manager, head of translation, and language department director.
“Linguists are the people working directly with languages,” the report states. “They are detail-oriented people, with academic degrees in the source language. Typically they come with excellent knowledge of the most common CAT tools.”
Along with the positions for linguists, the report also includes localization management and engineering positions. It defines requirements for internationalization engineers, for example, saying they “are usually Software Engineers that specialize in designing mobile apps and incorporating the adaptation of different languages to the design,” and noting that they “are usually very experienced… and know the different nuances of each language (technically speaking).”
Adaptive Globalization specializes in language industry recruitment. Working with both language service agencies and large companies, the company recruits people working in the translation and localization industry.
