Position: French Language Proofreader (Assignment based - Consultant)Minimum Education and Experience: BA/BS and 2 years of relevant experience.Substitutions and Equivalents: Masters and 0 years of relevant experience, OR 4 years of experience in lieu of a Bachelor’s degree.Anticipated Start Date: o/a December 15, 2023Location: Virtual Project: Partnerships IncubatorReports to: Translation Project ManagerUnit:WorkwithUSAID.gov Web & Communications Unit Project Director: Donna Vincent Roa, Ph.D., ABC, CDPMⓇ Level of Effort: 15 hours per week (total 390 hours)
Initial Term: 6 months

About Kaizen

The Kaizen Company is an incubator for innovative, scalable solutions that address emerging market challenges and opportunities. Our proven solutions catalyze locally driven, organizational, and institutional performance improvements and shift the development model into one that is bottom-up and ongoing. We leverage existing knowledge, new technologies, and innovative business models. 

The Kaizen Company is seeking applications for a consultancy as a French Language Proofreader (Assignment based - Consultant) for the USAID-funded Partnerships Incubator, a five-year project that started in October 2019. 

About the Partnerships Incubator

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) aims to diversify its partner base by removing barriers to engagement and creating avenues for new and underutilized partners to work with the Agency. The Partnerships Incubator was set up as a global service hub to address this need by amplifying USAID’s external communications efforts to strengthen and diversify the Agency’s partner base, expanding Agency capacity for partnerships, and supporting partner organizations working with USAID. The Partnerships Incubator works with USAID headquarters and Missions to identify and engage new and local partners, provide training and capacity-building assistance, and develop tools, resources, and models to advance USAID’s partnership goals. The project launched WorkwithUSAID.gov, a free, USAID-funded resource hub designed to connect partners to peers and experts, improve their organizational readiness, and prepare them to receive USAID funding. 

Position Overview

The role of the French Language Proofreader (Assignment based - Consultant) will involve meticulously reviewing written content translated from English into French (occasionally in the opposite directly) with primary objective to refine the text making it error-free and suitable for publication or dissemination, and produce a final translation that is coherent and culturally appropriate. To accomplish this objective, the proofreader is responsible for ensuring that French terminology is accurate and consistent with previous usage, that the glossaries of official terms are being used properly within the context, and that the translation is easily understood. The proofreader is also responsible for a translated text that consistently represents the Source Text” accurately and is free from errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, and formatting. 

The proofreader will receive notifications of proofreading assignments by email only and should respond to them confirming assignments they accept as soon as possible and within one (1) business day. The role requires willingness to work on assignments that may vary in quantity and volume from week to week, or month to month, availability for at least three (3) hours every business day (if needed) to finish work assignments, and ability to work without receiving assignments on a frequent or routine basis since assignments may have lengthy lapses of time between each other.

The proofreader is expected to read and follow all written work instructions in English language and follow all guidelines and training materials received before, during and after working on any assignment. The proofreader must be willing to start working on assignments even if contacted at a much later time from the date of passing the proofreader screening.

Principal Responsibilities 

• Proofread and make necessary edits to artificial-intelligence (AI) or external human translations of a range of French content for use with various channels and audiences in the field of international development. 
• Ensure French terminology is accurate and consistent with previous usage, in addition to glossaries in use.
• Follow all work instructions and guidelines. 
• Translate, when needed, various supporting materials into French.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications 

• Bachelor’s degree in English, French, interpretation and translation, journalism, marketing, public relations, or related field, and at least two (2) years of proven experience working as a writer, editor, and/or translator, in the French language, preferably in the international development sector. This can be substituted by a Master’s and 0 years of experience, OR 4 years of relevant experience in lieu of a Bachelor’s degree. 
• Native proficiency in French language both in reading and writing.
• High-level skills in French grammar and syntax.
• Excellent attention to detail, strong evidence of delivering high-quality products, and temperament suitable to working in a deadline-oriented environment.
• Clear, concise, and effective written and spoken communication skills in both English and French languages.
• Proactive as well as self-motivated and self-directed.
• Good team skills and the ability to thrive in a virtual, performance-based culture. 
• Familiarity or experience with USAID and/or the USAID-implementing partner paradigm is highly desired.

Qualified applicants should (1) respond to the online proofreading screening (approx. 30 min effort) found on the link below and (2) upload a resume/CV.

[Screening Link Here]

May require you to sign in to your Google Account

Candidates who pass the screening may be required to take a secondary more-detailed screening. Applicants who do not submit all requirements will not be considered for the position. Applications will be evaluated on a rolling basis. 

No phone calls, please. Only finalists will be contacted.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by individuals assigned to this position. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, and skills required of personnel so classified

For candidates applying for positions based in Kaizen's office in Washington, DC, we utilize career.place to mitigate bias in the recruitment process. Upon submitting an application, candidates will receive an email from career.place, prompting them to go through the anonymous screening. In order to be considered for a role, candidates must respond to career.place and proceed with the application. We do not currently use career.place for project positions outside of the United States.

At Kaizen, A Tetra Tech Company, we find strength in our diversity. We are committed to creating and sustaining an inclusive working environment in which everyone has an equal opportunity to fulfill their potential. We know that we can only do development differently if we are open to and inclusive of new and unique perspectives. We encourage candidates of all abilities, ages, gender identities and expressions, national origins, races and ethnicities, religious beliefs, and sexual orientations to apply. Further, we urge parents and non-parents, married and unmarried, those from different or non-traditional educational backgrounds, and persons of all other diverse identities or experiences to apply. Kaizen is an equal opportunity employer.