Senior Sign Language Specialist

Come be a part of our mission and make a meaningful and positive impact with the industry leading provider of language services for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing!

Full time Benefits              

• Paid Vacation Time and Paid Sick Time and Paid Holidays
• 401k 6% match with immediate vesting
• Nationwide Medical Insurance plans and coverage (Medical, Dental/Orthodontia, Vision)
• TeleDoc
• HSA company match
• 3 Medical plan options including a Low Deductible PPO Medical Plan Offering
• Employee Assistance Program
• Engaged Employee Resource Groups
• Outstanding Learning and Career Development Opportunities

Pay Range: Actual pay may vary up or down depending on job-related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location. In addition, this position may be eligible for incentive compensation.

* Applicants must be legally eligible to work in the United States to be considered. Visa sponsorship is not available for this role *

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Maintain and expand Sorenson's ASL sign dictionary — author new entries, review and update existing entries, document regional and register variants, and resolve disputed entries with the Lead.
• Annotate ASL video using advanced gloss conventions, including classifier predicates (locative, instrument, semantic, body-part, and element classifiers), non-manual markers, role shift, and prosody.
• Partner with AI/ML engineering teams to clarify linguistic requirements for training data, review model outputs for linguistic accuracy, and provide feedback on edge cases.
• Review text-to-sign avatar output for ASL grammatical accuracy, naturalness, and cultural appropriateness; document issues using standardized rubrics.
• Lead weekly linguistic calibration sessions; own gloss and classifier convention documentation and decision logs.
• Mentor Sign Language Specialists during cross-functional rotations.
• Maintain accurate records of annotation work, decisions, and edge cases in team tooling and documentation systems.

Supervisory Responsibility

This position has no supervisory responsibilities.

Travel Requirements

Travel Requirements:  Less than 25%

Education

Minimum of 4 Year / Bachelors Degree In ASL Linguistics, Deaf Studies, ASL Studies, Interpreting, Deaf Education, or related fields.

Preferred Graduate Degree In ASL Linguistics, Linguistics, Deaf Studies, Interpreting, Deaf Education, or a related field.

Experience

3 Years of substantive professional ASL work (annotation, linguistics, interpreting, Deaf education, or comparable).

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Required
• Bilingual in ASL in English, with the ability to produce and quality-assure professional English transcriptions from ASL source content.
• Deep working knowledge of ASL linguistics — gloss conventions, non-manual markers, classifier predicates, role shift, and ASL grammar.
• Active and informed participant in the Deaf community, with awareness of regional and generational ASL variation.
• Experience producing or annotating ASL content for instructional, research, interpreting, or media purposes.
• Strong written English for documentation, task specifications, and cross-team collaboration.
• Comfortable working with computer-based annotation tools and learning new software.
• Attention to detail, consistency, and a willingness to follow and improve standardized conventions.
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively with peer Specialists, the Lead, and engineering teams.
• Proficiency with standard productivity and collaboration tools (Microsoft Office, Confluence, JIRA, or equivalent).
• Positive attitude, team player, strong interpersonal communication skills, and able to work across research, engineering, and business departments.
• Preferred
• American Sign Language as a primary or native language.
• Prior experience with annotation tools such as ELAN, CVAT, or comparable platforms.
• Experience working with AI/ML teams, technology companies, or research groups that produce sign language data.
• Experience reviewing or evaluating signed avatars, animations, or generated ASL content.
• Experience writing or reviewing annotation guidelines, style guides, or convention documentation.
• Familiarity with sign language corpora, lexicography, or dictionary projects.
• Experience mentoring or training other annotators or linguists.
• Familiarity with PSE, SEE, and other North American signing varieties.

Working Conditions and Physical Requirements

• Able to travel up to 5% of the time.
• Able to sit/stand for long periods of time in an office or remote work environment.
• Dexterity of hands and fingers to operate a computer keyboard, mouse, and related tools.
• Regular and predictable attendance required.
• Positive attitude, team player, strong interpersonal communication skills, and able to work across research, engineering, and business departments.

Apply today! www.sorenson.com/company/careers/

Equal Employment Opportunity:

Sorenson Communications is an EOE, Disability/Age Employer.