Program Manager III, Localization at rover

Who we are:  Want to make an impact? Join our pack and come work (and play!) with us. We believe everyone deserves the unconditional love of a pet—and at Rover, our mission is to make it easier to experience that love. Founded in 2011, the Rover app and website connect dog and cat parents with loving pet sitters and dog walkers in neighborhoods across the US, Canada, and Europe. We empower our community of trusted pet sitters and dog walkers to run their own pet care businesses on Rover with the tools and security of a global company to back them. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, we work closely with our teams in Barcelona, San Antonio, Spokane, and remote locations. We’ve got a reputation for being a great place to work, having been named among the 100 Best Companies to Work For in Seattle Business Magazine and Washington’s Best Workplaces in the Puget Sound Business Journal. We're an agile, fast-growing company, and our leadership comes from some of the world's most respected tech companies.  At Rover, our furry coworkers are just as important as our human ones—and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Along with making the joys of pet parenthood more accessible, we’re committed to fostering a diverse, inclusive, and welcoming community of pet people—and that starts with our employees. Your Responsibilities: • Lead the technical implementation of generative AI / LLM workflows. You will focus on building the infrastructure that enables high-velocity translation (setting up LLM connectors, automating content routing based on risk), aiming directly at cost reduction and speed, while partnering with the Localization Quality Program Manager to ensure these workflows meet linguistic standards. • Design and maintain end-to-end "zero-touch" workflows. You will deconstruct manual processes and rebuild them using smart automation, ensuring Rover can launch in new markets without proportional headcount growth. • Manage and optimize the Translation Management System (i.e. Smartling) and its ecosystem. You are the decision-maker on tool configuration, ensuring we are always using the best features available to serve business goals. • Partner closely with the Localization Quality Program Manager to operationalize their quality strategies. • Partner closely with the Localization Operations Program Manager to ensure your technical architectures translate into practical reality. While they own the daily execution of projects, you build the efficient processes they run on. Your goal is to remove administrative friction and manual steps, allowing the Ops team to focus on delivery speed and stakeholder management rather than troubleshooting tools. • Define the technical requirements for integrations between our TMS and platforms (Zendesk, GitHub, Figma, etc.). Collaborate with Engineering to ensure these connectors are robust, serving as the business owner of the integration. Your Qualifications: • 5+ years of experience in Localization Program Management, with a distinct focus on localization operations, technology, and/or AI implementation. • You have hands-on experience integrating LLMs, Machine Translation, or AI-driven quality estimation into real-world localization workflows. You understand the practical benefits and risks of AI in localization. • You excel at deconstructing complex manual tasks and rebuilding them as automated, scalable processes. You build systems that survive the test of time. • Advanced knowledge of the localization technology landscape (TMS, Connectors, MT engines). You know how to configure tools like Smartling to their limit to solve specific operational problems. • A forward-thinking leader who maintains a cutting-edge technology stack aligned with long-term business strategy. Must have the autonomy to identify obsolescence risks and drive critical transformations today to prevent technical debt tomorrow. • You can speak the language of engineers. You understand API capabilities, file parsing, and system architecture well enough to define requirements and own the roadmap. Nice to Have: • Previous experience working in a dual-sided marketplace or a high-growth tech environment. • Expertise in Smartling, Jira, and GitHub. • Practical experience with prompt engineering or fine-tuning LLMs. • Fluency in Spanish/German/French/Italian is a plus. Benefits of Working at Rover.com: • Long-term incentive plan with a company performance-based cash payout • Pension plan • Private medical insurance • 25 days PTO • Meal allowance and flexible compensation plan (transport and nursery) • Gym membership • €450 to cover the costs associated with the adoption of a pet • Annual €150 wellness reimbursement • Flexible work hours, sometimes you'll need to be in at certain times, but on the whole, we're pretty flexible when it comes to managing workload and time • Grab snacks, fresh fruit, in our kitchen to keep yourself going • Regular team activities, events, game nights, and more • Dog-friendly office Rover is an equal-opportunity employer committed to promoting a diverse, inclusive, and inventive environment with the best employees. We’re driven by seeing our people succeed and grow, and we work to ensure everyone contributes to their fullest potential. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to age, race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, disability, protected veteran status, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or any other protected status in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and ordinances.