Translator / Project Assistant

Join our Growing Team at Waste Japan as a Translator / Project Assistant! 

Waste is a leading creative agency in the video games industry, and we’re looking for talented individuals to join our team. If you are a native Japanese speaker with an interest in project management and translation, this could be the perfect opportunity for you! We’re seeking a reliable, responsive, and versatile professional to support our Project Managers and translate key marketing documents from English to Japanese 

This role offers a fantastic gateway into marketing in the video game industry, perfect for those looking to gain project management experience while working on exciting projects under tight deadlines. 

About Waste Creative:

Waste is a fan-first creative agency founded in 2006. We connect entertainment brands with their fans, to drive creativity, culture and commercial success.

We recently became part of the Keywords family, the largest technical and creative services provider to the gaming industry. We employ 87 wasters globally, covering strategy, creative, social, experiential, OOH, and TV. Our HQ is in London, and we’ve recently opened up a new office in Tokyo, Japan.

About Waste Japan & Wizcorp Inc

Please note that "Waste Japan" is our trading name that represents the marketing side of the business. All legal documentation such as contracts, pay slips, and insurance policies will be under "Wizcorp Inc."
This difference is strictly for administrative and legal reasons, and it does not affect the quality or nature of our services.

The Waste Way:

At Waste, we live by four key cultural pillars and expect ALL Waster’s to live up to these principles. This is what Waste was founded on:

• Be Brave - We look for fresh ways to solve problems and encourage diversity of thought.
• Take ownership - We value actions over words and empower Wasters to make things happen.
• Make it Better -We’re always looking for ways to improve our work, agency and ourselves.
• Be Kind - We’re a team. Win together, lose together, learn together.

Roles and Responsibilities 🛠️🧪✨

• Project Management: 
• Create and assign tickets following our PMs lead. Ensure everything is done according to specs and on time. 
• Assets management. Download and organize assets sent by our external partners according to our internal process. 
• Translation: 
• Translate internal and external documents from English to Japanese. 
• Review Japanese assets to make sure that the language, grammar, tone of voice etc. are according to client’s requirements. 
• Most of the documents you will be working on are confidential, which means you will not be able to rely on AI translation for most of your work. 
• Many requests for translation come from other Keywords Studios, many of whom are based in the UK. Due to the time differences with the UK team, you may need to work on a later shift than most members on some days (e.g. 11:00 am - 8:00 pm) 
• Reliability and independence: 
• Everyone at Waste Japan works fully remotely. We need all our staff to be professionals and to be able to work on their own with minimum supervision. 
• Previous freelance experience is a plus, independence and proactivity are key soft skills for this position. 

Application process 🈸⚙️😊

① Online selection 

We review resumes from all applicants within 2 weeks. If your profile matches our requirements, we will send you tests and challenges. Based on the results, we will contact you again to schedule the first interview. 

② Interviews 

We conduct three interviews to assess your character, passions, skills, and interest in what we do. We also take the time to share our vision and values, as we believe you are interviewing us as much as we are interviewing you. 

③ Background check and test 

We will ask you to provide several contacts at your previous places of employment, to confirm your past job experience and results. We will also ask you to complete a simple test to verify your skills. 

⑤ Offer 

After the background checks have been completed and test results are positive, we will make our decision within 2 weeks to a month after your last interview and send a detailed offer. 

Onboarding process 🈴🗼🌅

We strive to make the onboarding process as smooth and worry-free as possible.

Upon acceptance of our offer, you will receive our working agreement and our rules of employment.

Ideally, we want you to join us within a month, but we can adjust to your current work situation.

On your first day, your manager will introduce you to your team and will set a schedule for reviews over the 6 month probation period. We will give you all the support you need to complete it successfully.

Senior staff will support you and provide mentorship. You will also have access to digital learning material, and your manager will help you define a training curriculum based on your career aspirations.

⭐ Experience requirements ⭐

• Native level Japanese. 
• 2+ years of experience as a professional translator. Previous experience of Marketing related projects and/or gaming related projects is a plus. Provide a portfolio with examples of previous English to Japanese translations, or references to previous works. 
• Fluency in English (reading/writing/speaking). All internal communications are done in English, over email, instant messengers and video chat. 

Good to have

• Good general IT literacy: 
• You are familiar with Office365 and/or Google Suite.
• You can adapt to the latest technologies and adjust to new IT tool sets easily. 

📍 Business hours and Location 📍

⏲ Flexibility in time

We all have different creative clocks, and you know yours better than we do.

We will expect you to work 8 hours per day from Monday to Friday with core hours between 11:00 and 16:00 (excluding a 1-hour break). The rest will be up to you.

🌎 Flexibility in location

Waste Japan fully embraces telework, and most of us work from home. Office space is also available for your convenience, and you will have access to meeting rooms and hot desks.

We may require you to work onsite in specific occasions when using highly specialized equipment.

Offices are located at 1 Chome-22-19 Izumi 8~9F, Suginami City, Tokyo 168-0063 (🗺 map)

You must reside in Japan during your employment at Waste Japan. We offer legal support for visa applications. Depending on your situation, we may allow you to work outside of Japan during your probation period.

🈷️ Additional benefits 🈷️

• Monthly allowance for home office equipment and supplies (15,000 JPY/month)
• Private language tutoring (Japanese and/or English)
• Commute fees (however, train passes are not reimbursed)

♨️ Holidays and vacations ♨️

• Weekends and national holidays
• Summer/winter vacation: 5 days per year (paid, applicable after the probation period)
• Annual Paid Leave: 10 days per year (first year, following the probation period)
• Bereavement/funeral leave
• Sick leave: 5 days per year (paid, applicable after the probation period)

🤝 Welfare 🤝

• Social insurance
• Parental leave (learn more here)