Idil Birben
Hoddesdon,Hertfordshire
Summary
Senior Localisation & AI Dubbing Professional with experience delivering complex programmes across enterprise clients and high-growth startup environments. Proven track record of leading cross-functional teams, partnering with Product, ML and Engineering to operationalise AI-driven workflows, and scaling localisation operations at speed and volume across global content markets.
Overview
10
10
years of professional experience
Work history
Senior Project Manager
Papercup
LONDON
2022.11 - 2025.05
- Led end-to-end AI dubbing and localisation programmes across YouTube, social, FAST and broadcast platforms for major media clients including broadcasters and OTT platforms.
- Grew monthly client invoicing from £9k to £50k by scaling production workflows, expanding language coverage and introducing subtitling and video editing services.
- Secured ~£500k enterprise contract renewals for 3 consecutive years through workflow optimisation and cross-functional operational leadership.
- Reduced long-form content turnaround by up to 80% by partnering with Product and Engineering on AI dubbing pipeline and tooling improvements.
- Operationalised AI dubbing, voice-cloning and LLM-driven localisation workflows with Product and ML teams, translating operational requirements into product improvements under tight delivery timelines.
- Led Papercup's first live voice-cloning deployment, coordinating across ML, Engineering, linguists and Operations from pilot to production.
- Collaborated with Product teams on operational rollouts such as XLPT (Cross-Lingual Prosody Transfer) across multilingual dubbing programmes and freelancer production teams.
- Managed 3 strategic POCs end-to-end, including testing cycles, workflow rollout and structured feedback loops to accelerate product and platform improvements.
- Facilitated cross-functional feedback workshops with linguists and engineers to improve synthetic voice quality, localisation accuracy and production tooling.
- Managed post-production teams of 40+ freelancers, building operational infrastructure, QC frameworks and documentation needed to scale AI dubbing delivery.
- Led freelancer enablement and training on newly deployed AI localisation technologies, workflows and tooling, ensuring consistent adoption across production teams.
Senior Project Manager
Toppan Digital Language
LONDON
2019.10 - 2022.11
- Line managed and developed a team of project managers, fostering a high-performance and collaborative team environment
- Owned delivery and growth of key accounts, achieving 15% revenue increase and maintaining ~50% gross margin across projects
- Led end-to-end project delivery across multiple concurrent work streams (up to 10 projects), ensuring consistent on-time delivery and KPI adherence
- Owned key client relationships end-to-end, acting as primary point of contact and leading performance reviews and strategic initiatives to drive account growth
- Designed and implemented scalable client workflows and onboarding processes, increasing team efficiency by 30%
- Managed project scoping, quoting and delivery planning across 200+ projects, coordinating with cross-functional teams, freelancers and agencies
Localisation QA Tester /Turkish Team Leader
SEGA Europe
LONDON
2018.02 - 2019.04
- Led Turkish LQA for major AAA titles (e.g. Total War, Football Manager), ensuring linguistic quality and consistency
- Coordinated with product and development teams to deliver localisation projects within tight deadlines
- Performed localisation QA, subtitle translation and glossary creation to support high-quality releases
Public Affairs and Communications Intern
The Coca-Cola Company
ISTANBUL
2015.07 - 2016.07
- Supported PR and communications activities through cross-functional coordination, agency collaboration and content creation, contributing to influencer campaigns, press operations and broader business planning initiatives
Education
Postgraduate Diploma - Media and Communications
City University of London
LONDON2018-01
Bachelor of Arts - Translation and Interpreting Studies
Yeditepe University
ISTANBUL2016-06
Skills
- AI Dubbing & Localisation Workflows
- CAT Tools: SDL Trados Studio, MemoQ
- MAM Platforms: Iconik
- Project Tracking: ClickUp, Trello, Asana, Notion
- AI Tools & Platforms
- Microsoft Office, Mac OS, Windows
- End-to-end Localisation Programme Management
Technical & Platform Skills
Product & Delivery
- POC & Product Testing Lifecycle Management
- QC Framework Design & Localisation QA
- Process Optimisation & Scaling Operations
- SDLC Familiarity & Agile Delivery
- English (Fluent)
- Turkish (Native)
- Spanish (B2)
Languages
Timeline
Senior Project Manager
Papercup
2022.11 - 2025.05
Senior Project Manager
Toppan Digital Language
2019.10 - 2022.11
Localisation QA Tester /Turkish Team Leader
SEGA Europe
2018.02 - 2019.04
Public Affairs and Communications Intern
The Coca-Cola Company
2015.07 - 2016.07
Postgraduate Diploma - Media and Communications
City University of London
Bachelor of Arts - Translation and Interpreting Studies
Yeditepe University