Swahili Audio Transcription Expert

About the role

We are looking for an expert Swahili audio transcriber to convert recordings of native speakers into accurate, time‑aligned transcripts. The work supports speech‑recognition and evaluation systems for leading AI labs.

Key responsibilities

• Transcribe audio recordings into precise, conventionally formatted text following the project style guide.
• Apply correct conventions for speaker identification, overlapping speech, disfluencies, fillers, false starts, and non‑speech events such as laughter or background noise.
• Make orthographic decisions for dialectal, colloquial, and code‑switched speech, flagging ambiguous segments.
• Self‑review each submission against quality standards before delivery.
• Collaborate with QA reviewers on edge cases, calibration sessions, and style‑guide updates.

Required profile

• Native fluency in Swahili with lifelong residence or deep immersion in an East African country.
• Mastery of standard Swahili orthography and ability to distinguish Tanzanian, Kenyan and other regional varieties.
• Comfortable transcribing Swahili‑English code‑switching, including Sheng.
• At least two years of professional transcription, captioning, court reporting, broadcast, translation or linguistic annotation experience.
• Reliable high‑speed internet, quality headphones and a quiet workspace.

Required skills

• Proficiency with web‑based annotation platforms and variable‑speed audio playback.