We improve lives

The IDB Group is a community of diverse, versatile, and passionate people who come together on a journey to improve lives in Latin America and the Caribbean. Our people find purpose and do what they love in an inclusive, collaborative, agile, and rewarding environment.

About this position

We are looking for a strategic, hands-on, and innovative Language Technology Consultant. As Language Technology Consultant, you will help strengthen the IDB Group’s multilingual technology ecosystem by improving and scaling translation and multilingual content workflows, supporting the use of CAT(Computer-Assisted Translation)/TMS(Translation Management System), machine translation, AI-enabled language tools and automation solutions, and developing practical governance guidance and guardrails for responsible use. This work will be anchored in two flagship initiatives: (i) the development of an institution-wide AI translation platform built on the IDB Group’s enterprise cloud AI services, which will leverage curated institutional language assets, including a translation memory of human translations spanning the past 20 years, to deliver high-precision translations consistent with the IDB Group’s terminology, semantics, and style; and (ii) the implementation and integration of a new enterprise neural machine translation solution into the existing CAT/TMS environment to accelerate translation turnaround times.

You will work in the Translation and Documentation Section (SEC/TRD) and support the Systems and Digital innovation Section, both part of the Office of the Secretary. SEC/TRD is responsible for multilingual document services, terminology and translation-asset management, document processing, and related guidance that support institutional communication, governance, and operations.

What you’ll do

• Assess and improve multilingual workflows, language technology solutions, language asset management practices, and quality assurance processes to enhance efficiency, consistency, and scalability.
• Curate, validate, and maintain bilingual and multilingual language datasets, including translation memories, terminology resources, and reference corpora, ensuring quality, consistency, and fitness for institutional use.
• Contribute to the development, training, and evaluation of language models, automation and technology solutions for language workflows using curated institutional data, including benchmarking against reference (“gold standard”) corpora.
• Design and implement context-augmentation techniques that enable AI models to produce translations aligned with the IDB Group’s terminology, semantics, and style, including glossary and term-base injection, fuzzy-match retrieval from the institutional translation memory, prompt engineering, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), prioritizing these approaches over costly model retraining.
• Lay the groundwork for the design and orchestration of multi-step AI translation workflows in which specialized model instances perform complementary roles, such as translation, terminology verification, revision, and quality control, including automated quality-estimation checks that route low-confidence output to human review.
• Establish and document protocols for periodic system updates, retraining cycles, and performance monitoring (including key performance indicators) to ensure sustained quality and reliability over time.
• Conduct analytical assessments and feasibility analyses of language technology solutions to inform decision-making on their suitability for different use cases, including potential adoption in high-stakes or production environments.
• Co-develop and operationalize governance frameworks for the use of language technologies, including policies, controls, and guidance related to appropriate use, human oversight, and compliance with institutional requirements.
• Develop guidance, training materials, and user support resources to promote adoption, correct usage, and compliance with established standards.
• Monitor developments in language technologies, including emerging capabilities, market trends, and associated risks, and provide recommendations to inform future investments and strategic direction.

What you'll need

• Education : Bachelor's degree or equivalent advanced degree in Translation, Linguistics, Computational Linguistics, Computer Science, Information Management, or related fields.
• Experience : At least 2 years of progressive experience in the following:
  • Language technology, translation technology, localization engineering, multilingual content operations, computational linguistics, or related fields.
  • Hands-on experience applying large language models to translation or multilingual content workflows, including prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented generation, and terminology integration, is highly desirable, as is familiarity with translation data standards (e.g., TMX, TBX, XLIFF), machine translation quality evaluation methods, and scripting for language data processing (e.g., Python).
  • Experience drafting operational guidance, governance documentation, and AI-use guidelines in multilingual environments is also highly desirable.
• Languages : Proficiency in English, spoken and written, is required. Additional knowledge of Spanish, French and/or Portuguese is preferable.

Type of contract and duration

International consultant Full-Time, 12 months (up to 48 months).

Requirements

• Citizenship : You are a citizen of one of our 48-member countries . We may offer assistance with relocation and visa applications for you and your eligible dependents).
• Consanguinity : You have no family members (up to fourth degree of consanguinity and second degree of affinity, including spouse) working at the IDB, IDB Invest, or IDB Lab.

What we offer

The IDB group provides benefits that respond to the different needs and moments of an employee's life. These benefits include:

• A competitive compensation package.
• Leaves and vacations : 2 days per month of contract.
• Health Insurance : the IDB Group provides a monthly allowance for the purchase of health insurance.
• Savings plan : the IDB Group cares about your future, depending on the length of the contract, you will receive a monthly savings plan allowance
• We offer assistance with relocation and visa applications for you and your family when it applies.
• On-site position with the occasional flexibility of teleworking
• Development support : We offer learning opportunities to boost your professional profile, such as seminars, 1:1 professional counseling, and much more.
• Health and well-being : Access to our Health Services Center that provides preventive care and health education for employees.
• Other office amenities (as available): Lactation Room, Daycare Center, Gym, Bike Racks, Parking, spouse career support, and others.

Our culture