Localization Manager, Canada

Airbnb was born in 2007 when two hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home, and has since grown to over 5 million hosts who have welcomed over 2 billion guest arrivals in almost every country across the globe. Every day, hosts offer unique stays and experiences that make it possible for guests to connect with communities in a more authentic way.

Airbnb helps anyone belong anywhere.

The Community You Will Join:
Nobody can launch a global movement alone. It takes an entire team to accomplish great things. Airbnb helps everyone feel at home, everywhere. It’s the largest community‑driven hospitality company in the world. Every day, we connect thousands of travelers and hosts online, leading to meaningful experiences in the real world. We help people live like locals in unfamiliar places while breaking down cultural barriers and bringing people together.

The Difference You Will Make:
Airbnb is expecting the biggest travel rebound of the century with COVID receding worldwide and the full reopening of international travel. Airbnb has been reinventing itself as a consequence of its IPO and the post‑pandemic world. Airbnb’s Marketing and Product strategy has evolved and is becoming increasingly sophisticated and demanding. As a result, 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:

• 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 in the target market 
• Identify and understand market expectations, crafting language strategies that offer users an authentic native experience in Canada
• 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 the 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
• Fluency in English and native knowledge of Canadian French is a must
• Experience in building market strategies informed by thorough market research and data analysis
• Strong capability to collaborate across functions, driving partnerships, and initiatives forward
• 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 resume/CV in English

Your Location: 
This position is Canada - Remote Eligible. The role may include occasional work at an Airbnb office or attendance at offsites, as agreed to with your manager. While the position is Remote Eligible, you must live in a province where Airbnb Canada, Inc. has a registered entity. Currently we can hire in the following provinces: Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. This list is continuously evolving, so please check back with your recruiter on what provinces you are eligible to work from.

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.

We also strive to provide an inclusive application and interview process for people with disabilities. If you are a candidate with a disability and require reasonable accommodation to submit an application, please contact us at: reasonableaccommodations@airbnb.com. Please include your full name, the role you’re applying for and the accommodation necessary to assist you with the recruiting process.

We ask that you only reach out to us if you are a candidate whose disability prevents you from completing our online application.

How We’ll Take Care of You:
We use automated tools to help our recruitment team efficiently screen a large volume of applications. All final hiring decisions are made by a human reviewer.

This role is newly created and does not replace or backfill an existing position.

Pay Range: $91,000 — $107,000 CAD

Departments: Localization

Offices: Canada