Speech Processing and Language Accessibility Unit - Post B: Speech Technology (Brussels)

The Directorate-General for Translation and Clear Language (DG TRAD) provides the European Parliament with translation and other linguistic services in all official and working languages of the European Union.

Our mission is:

• To support the Members and administration of the European Parliament by making all content related to Parliament’s legislative, budgetary and scrutiny activities accessible in all official and working languages, ensuring transparency and legitimacy in these core functions;
• To uphold the European Parliament’s commitment to multilingualism, enabling equal treatment of all official and working languages and ensuring that all EU citizens can access and communicate with Parliament in these languages;
• To deliver high-quality multilingual communication services to the Members and administration of the European Parliament in text, audio and video formats, in a manner that is clear, inclusive and accessible to all citizens, including those with disabilities;
• To ensure that all language services provided by DG TRAD are delivered efficiently and sustainably, integrating innovative technologies while upholding our professional standards to meet the evolving needs of the European Parliament.
   

As a trainee in the Speech Processing and Language Accessibility Unit, you will have the opportunity to get involved in a range of projects related to speech-to-text technology.

You will gain practical experience working on real-world accessibility projects. You will have the opportunity to engage with state-of-the-art speech‑processing and other adaptive solutions and contribute to services that have a positive social impact. You will have a chance to assist unit members in liaising with clients requesting the services, coordinating the work of language transcription and translation evaluators, researching state-of-the-art evaluation methodologies and communicating with internal and external stakeholders.

The unit works primarily on the provision of real-time transcription and translation of parliamentary debates, meetings and events in all 24 official EU languages. Its objective is ambitious: developing and implementing ready-to-use speech-to-text applications inside the most multilingual parliament in the world.

As a prospective trainee, you:

• Have a very good knowledge of English and a good knowledge of at least one other official EU language;
• Have experience with natural language processing (automatic speech recognition and machine translation in particular), artificial intelligence and/or computational linguistics;
• Are familiar with recording, subtitling, audio editing or CAT tools;
• Are passionate about accessibility and inclusive technology, and you have experience or studied user / language / digital accessibility;
• Possess strong teamwork and communication skills, which will enable you to work as part of a team;
• Have obtained/will obtain a university degree (level 6 of EQF or higher) at least three months before the starting date of the traineeship.

If you are interested in this offer, please submit a motivation letter in English stating your reasons for applying for this traineeship. The motivation letter should not exceed 600 words. 

Please also submit the relevant supporting documents (university diplomas, transcript of records, etc.) and a copy of your CV in English. The motivation letter and the supporting documents are to be uploaded as a single PDF file.

The European Parliament is dedicated to fostering an inclusive and equitable workplace. We welcome all candidates, regardless of their geographical, racial or ethnic origin, political or religious beliefs, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, civil status, or family situation.