Team Manager – In-House Interpreting

About The Role

You will lead our in-house interpreting team of 30+ interpreters across Romania and the UK, covering 15 languages. This is a live, multilingual service where availability, interpreting quality and customer experience matter every day. You will be visible and accessible to the team, creating clear priorities, a respectful and inclusive environment, and consistent follow-through.

This role combines people leadership with hands-on operational ownership. You will balance service and people KPIs, plan coverage across languages and demand, coach performance, support quality assurance, and act as the first point of escalation when operational or technical issues affect interpreters. You will work closely with Operations, Quality, Recruitment, People and Product/Tech teams to turn performance data and team feedback into practical improvements.

We are looking for someone who combines empathy with accountability: a calm, fair and credible leader who communicates change early, invites constructive challenge, makes evidence-led decisions and represents the team with maturity while delivering business outcomes.

Main Duties & Responsibilities

People leadership and team culture

• Set clear priorities and expectations, ensuring team members know where to obtain support.

• Build trust and psychological safety so people feel comfortable asking questions, raising concerns and respectfully challenging decisions.

• Hold regular one-to-ones, team meetings and coaching conversations, agreeing clear actions and following them through.

• Recognise strong performance and address performance, conduct or attendance concerns promptly, fairly and consistently.

• Support wellbeing in an emotionally demanding service and signpost appropriate support when needed.

Service performance and resource planning

• Own balanced performance across answer and acceptance rates, occupancy, productivity, interpreting quality and customer satisfaction.

• Plan shifts and language coverage according to demand, absences and service peaks, coordinating across Romania and the UK.

• Analyse performance by individual, language and trend; explain variances and implement measurable action plans.

• Evaluate the scope, capacity and KPI impact of ad-hoc requests before committing the team, escalating trade-offs with evidence and practical alternatives.

Quality, capability and compliance

• Support the recruitment, selection and onboarding of interpreters in partnership with the other departments.

• Maintain effective training, coaching and knowledge materials covering interpreting standards, confidentiality, processes and systems.

• Support quality monitoring, calibration, feedback, retraining and documented corrective action.

• Identify recurring quality or process risks and turn lessons learned into preventive improvements.

Operational and technical support

• Act as the team’s first operational and technical escalation point, resolving issues locally where possible and escalating with clear evidence, impact and required action.

• Lead interpreter engagement during system testing and service changes, coordinating participation, capturing issues, communicating workarounds and monitoring adoption.

• Ensure in-office and remote team members have the access, information, tools and support needed to work effectively.

Communication, change and stakeholder management

• Communicate priorities, decisions and changes early and clearly, explaining the rationale, impact, next steps and ownership.

• Listen to concerns without defensiveness, respond respectfully and close the feedback loop—even when the decision cannot change.

• Represent employee concerns constructively while balancing customer, colleague, commercial and operational needs.

• Provide concise, data-led updates and maintain effective working relationships across all interactions.

About You – Essential

• Proven experience leading and developing people in interpreting, contact-centre operations, customer operations or another live service environment.

• A track record of creating clarity, trust and accountability across an on-site, hybrid or remote team.

• Strong coaching and performance-management skills, including the confidence to handle difficult conversations fairly and consistently.

• Sound operational judgement and the ability to balance multiple KPIs rather than optimise one measure in isolation.

• Strong data literacy, with the ability to interpret trends, identify causes, communicate insights and track actions to completion.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with English at C1 level or above.

• Calm, structured problem-solving and appropriate escalation during service or technical issues.

• High standards of fairness, confidentiality, professionalism and follow-through.

Strongly preferred

• Experience in telephone or video interpreting, language services, or another regulated or quality-sensitive live service.

• Previous experience working as an interpreter or closely supporting interpreters.

• Experience with workforce planning, quality assurance, service improvement or technology rollout and user testing.

• Multilingual capability and experience working effectively across cultures or locations.

A degree in languages, translation or business may be useful, but equivalent relevant experience and a strong record of people leadership are equally valued.

What’s In It For You?

Working for a language services company with over 20 years of experience delivering first-class translation and interpreting services and enabling providing expert support to both private and public sectors in over 500 languages and dialects. Moreover, every single day through your role you will be contributing to reduce language barriers every single day and enable our customers to have a great experience.

Additionally, we offer the following benefits:

• New starters welcome package

• Hybrid work set up (4 days in the office, 1 day from home)

• Private Medical & Mental & Dental insurance (Regina Maria)

• Meal Vouchers

• Yearly public transportation reimbursement %

• Yearly Eyeglasses Replacement Budget (600 RON)

• 22 Annual leave days, with +1 annual leave day per year worked

• Seniority bonus starting 2nd year of employment (2%), increasing exponentially until 5th year;

• Game/Recreation Room

• Roof top terrace

• Brand new modern office centrally located

• Monthly & Yearly Employee awards

• A collaborative, dynamic and growth-focused team

• Engagement and fun events throughout the year

• Training and career development opportunities within a new and rapid growing business

• Flexible Hybrid work set up (as planned with the team management)

• Summer & Xmas party

• Daily Breakfast in the office

• Coffee & Tea

• Fruits & Sweets

About Dals

Everyone Understood

At Dals, we enable people and organisations to tackle the critical language challenges they face every day. Our first-class interpreting and translation services cover more than 500 languages, including BSL and other non-spoken languages. We connect clients and their service users with crucial expertise, whenever and wherever they need it. Because the world is a better, fairer place when everyone is understood.

Our People are our future. We take care of them.

Through community partnerships and social value initiatives, we continuously work to ensure Dals is having a positive impact on the world.

• Disability Confident Committed employer

• Armed Forces Covenant pledger

• Ministry of Defense Employer Recognition Scheme Awardee

• Mindful Employer

• Able Futures Member

• Accredited Real Living Wage Employer

• Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion member

If you believe you possess the qualities outlined above and can bring enthusiasm, tenacity, and a professional approach to work, we encourage you to apply today!

Applicants must be Romanian residents and by the start of employment, have permission to work in Romania. In addition, you are required to undertake a basic criminal record check for this role.

Dals is committed to eliminating all forms of discrimination, whether direct or indirect. We actively work with our staff and clients to ensure equal treatment for all individuals, irrespective of age, gender, marital status, race, ethnic origin, nationality, disability, sexuality, or religion.

• https://dals.co.uk