African Development Bank Group (AfDB) - Established in 1964, the African Development Bank is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 80 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries). The Bank’s development agenda is delivering the financial and technical support for transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth.
The Vice-Presidency, Human Resources and Corporate Services Complex ensures the delivery of efficient, people-centered, client-oriented, corporate services to guarantee overall institutional effectiveness in all aspects of the Bank’s corporate services.
The Complex leads efforts to ensure the competitiveness of the Bank as the employer of choice and is responsible for providing leadership in the formulation and implementation of the Bank’s people, IT, general services and institutional procurements, language services, business continuity, and health and safety strategies.
The Hiring Department
The primary role of the Language Services Department is to ensure the accessibility in the two working languages of the Bank (English and French, and on occasion Arabic and Portuguese) of all issues and documents submitted to the Senior Management and governing bodies of the Bank, for efficient decision-making aimed at the achievement of the Bank's mission.
In this regard, the Department seeks to ensure an accurate and effective flow of communication within the Bank, and also between the Bank, its shareholders, development partners and the public, by providing the highest quality of translation, interpretation and terminological services to the Institution.
The Position
The Document Control Officer coordinates document control activities in the Language Services Department, sets up and runs a document control system aimed at facilitating the management of the workflow and preventing non conformity with Bank procedures.
Duties and Responsibilities
Under the supervision and guidance of the Director of the Language Services Department, the Document Control Officer will ensure the conformity of translation requests with Bank rules and procedures and maintain control and traceability of documents from reception to delivery. In particular, he/she shall:
Technical advisory role:
Ensure technical supervision of the document control section
Advise colleagues on new developments in document control activities
Coordinate all document control initiatives in the Department
Keep abreast of developments in document control and translation project coordination.
Operational role:
Set up and run an efficient document control system in the Department
Ensure established rules are followed and that documents are in accordance with agreement conditions; identify processing problem and recommend corrective actions
Supervise all stages of document control of a translation project, from receipt of a job request to delivery of the completed job, including negotiating with the requesting unit, ensuring the conformity of the request with corporate rules, consulting with internal and external services providers, preparing files, resolving complex issues relating to language combinations, and providing quality assurance at exit
Receive and review client requests for quality and completeness of submissions, clarify client expectations and resolve coordination and operational issues
Run and regularly monitor the translation workflow (Hermès)
Manage workflows of documents either in electronic form or on paper support
Advise clients on full range of services, production techniques and technology options and responds orally or in writing to routine and complex inquiries
Collect information and analyze any trends related to the document processing and present the related report to management
Track and monitor requests against service standard turnaround times, handle client requests for changes and communicate impact on budget and timeline
Provide detailed time and cost estimates to clients and negotiate mutually beneficial cost and delivery details
Monitor translation progress in cooperation with clients and service providers and report on the progress of translation projects
Ensure all documents and reference materials are correctly identified and distributed
Undertake translation-related assignments at the request of Management
Produce monthly reports and prepare input for the Department’s KPIs.
Partnership:
Engage with requesting units to agree on deliverables, key expectations and service level agreements
Engage with internal and external service providers to monitor progress, identify issues and resolve them
Drive innovation, by introducing and promoting new approaches to document control and management activities across the Department
Engage with the Office of the Secretary General to meet Board expectations on document distribution.
Selection Criteria
Hold at least a least a Master's Degree or its equivalent in Translation, Languages, Linguistics or related discipline. Qualifications in any other discipline relevant to the Bank’s activities such as business administration, management or accounting would be an added advantage.
Have a minimum of four (4) years of practical experience in document control or translation related activities, at least 2 of which (for external candidates) should have been spent working in or with an international organization.
Ability to set up and run an efficient document control system at Departmental level.
Ability to run the language workflow and generate relevant statistical data
Sound knowledge of emerging document control systems and language workflow software
Ability to use translation tools and other language software
Proven ability to work independently, while displaying team spirit.
Good negotiation skills and capacity to secure stakeholder buy-in.
Ability to work with standard Microsoft software used in the Bank including SAP.
Ability to communicate excellently (written and oral) in English and French.