Language Lead – Japanese

Cartesia

Japanese Language Lead evaluating annotation quality, pronunciation, prosody, and naturalness for Cartesia’s voice AI. Coordinating annotators, guidelines, calibration, QA reports, and linguistic data audits.

Posted 8/5/2026contractRemote • 🇺🇸 United StatesSenior💰 $25 - $35 per hourWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates native-level proficiency in Japanese and strong written English proficiency, with a solid foundation in linguistics. Capable of evaluating TTS pronunciation and developing annotation guidelines while managing data projects and providing actionable feedback.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Native-Level Proficiency In JapaneseExperience With Data AnnotationStrong Foundation In LinguisticsAbility To Write Clear InstructionsExperience With Audio Evaluation

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Data AnnotationTranscriptionLanguage Quality AssurancePhoneticsProsodyIntonation ConceptsInter-Rater Agreement ScoresAudit SpreadsheetsStructured Feedback TemplatesAnnotation Guidelines

Soft Skills

Self-DirectedClear CommunicationMentoringTraining

Tools & Technologies

TTSSTTQA Reports

Industry Keywords

Linguistic AccuracyQuality AssessmentCalibration MeetingsRemote TeamsCustomer-Reported Issues

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Serve as the primary language resource and trusted point of contact for Japanese voice AI work
Coordinate with the Human Evals Manager on project deliverables and timelines
Answer annotator questions about guidelines, edge cases, and language-specific issues
Cascade feedback, instructions, and rubric updates to annotators
Audit annotator-rated audio and assess alignment with rubrics
Prepare written quality assessments with examples and recommendations
Evaluate TTS pronunciation, prosody, and naturalness in Japanese
Update and expand annotation guidelines for gaps and edge cases
Run calibration meetings and office hours for annotators
Develop onboarding materials for new annotators
Write QA reports on annotation quality and calibration outcomes
Review production audio and flag quality issues
Investigate customer-reported language-specific issues and identify root causes
Audit datasets for linguistic accuracy, completeness, and consistency

Requirements

What you’ll need

Native-level proficiency in Japanese as spoken in Japan
Experience with data annotation, transcription, or language quality assurance
Strong foundation in linguistics or a related field
Ability to apply phonetics, prosody, and intonation concepts when evaluating speech and writing guidelines
Strong written English proficiency
Ability to write clear, structured instructions and deliver actionable feedback
Comfort working with data and metrics such as inter-rater agreement scores, audit spreadsheets, and structured feedback templates
Self-directed ability to manage feedback cycles, QA reviews, and data projects without close oversight
Availability roughly 40 hours per week with scheduling flexibility
Availability during some US Pacific business hours for coordination meetings and real-time support
Must be authorized to work in your country of residence
Preferred: experience writing or maintaining annotation guidelines or rubrics
Preferred: experience training, mentoring, or managing annotators
Preferred: experience with audio evaluation, TTS, or STT
Preferred: conversational spoken English proficiency for meetings and calibration syncs
Preferred: experience working with distributed, remote teams

Benefits

Comp & perks

Ongoing contractor engagement, renewable by mutual agreement
Flexible scheduling
Control over methods for completing assigned work
Remote work arrangement
Competitive base salary
Attractive equity package (listed under US Employees Only and not applicable to this 1099 contract)
Fully covered medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and family (US Employees Only; not applicable to this contract)
9 weeks paternity leave and 12 weeks maternity leave (US Employees Only; not applicable to this contract)
401(k) (US Employees Only; not applicable to this contract)
Monthly commuter allowance (US Employees Only; not applicable to this contract)
Flexible PTO (US Employees Only; not applicable to this contract)
Lunch, dinner, and snacks provided daily (US Employees Only; not applicable to this contract)
Your own personal Yoshi (US Employees Only; not applicable to this contract)