Expert Audio Transcriber, North Levantine Arabic

THE ROLE

We are hiring expert North Levantine Arabic transcribers to convert audio recordings of native speakers into precise, conventionally formatted written transcripts. The work powers speech recognition, dialogue, and evaluation systems for major AI labs. Audio ranges from clean studio recordings to natural conversational speech in real-world acoustic conditions.

You will be working at the level of expert linguistic judgment. This is not data entry. Decisions about orthography, code-switching, speaker attribution, disfluencies, and non-speech events shape the quality of every model trained on your output.

DIALECT AND SCOPE

North Levantine Arabic (Shami) as spoken across Syria and Lebanon, with the major Damascus and Beirut urban standards alongside regional and rural variations. Project audio includes natural code-switching with French (especially Lebanon) and English.

Primary speaker regions: Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Latakia, Beirut, Tripoli (Lebanon).

WHAT YOU WILL DO

• Transcribe audio recordings into accurate, time-aligned written text following Perle's project-specific style guide
• Apply correct conventions for speaker identification, overlapping speech, disfluencies, fillers, false starts, and non-speech events such as laughter, background noise, and music
• Make principled orthographic decisions for dialectal, colloquial, and code-switched speech
• Flag ambiguous segments, uncertain speakers, and audio quality issues using project conventions
• Self-review every submission against Perle's quality bar before delivery
• Engage with QA reviewers on edge cases, calibration sessions, and style guide updates

MUST HAVE

• Native fluency in Syrian or Lebanese Arabic with lifelong residence or deep immersion in the Levant
• Strong command of Modern Standard Arabic for orthographic decisions on Levantine speech
• Ability to distinguish Syrian and Lebanese varieties and major urban-rural splits
• Comfortable transcribing Levantine code-switching with English and French
• At least two years of professional transcription, captioning, court reporting, broadcast, translation, or linguistic annotation experience
• Demonstrated accuracy at the word level under deadline pressure
• Comfortable with web-based annotation platforms and variable-speed audio playback
• Reliable high-speed internet, quality headphones, and a quiet workspace
• Ability to commit to defined volume per week during active project phases

NICE TO HAVE

• Background in Levantine linguistics, translation, journalism, or broadcast media
• Prior experience annotating Levantine or pan-Arab speech datasets
• Working knowledge of French for Lebanese code-switching
• Familiarity with IPA or other phonetic transcription systems
• Experience with verbatim versus clean-verbatim transcription conventions

HOW WE WORK WITH YOU

• Paid pilot task before full onboarding so both sides can calibrate
• Per-task or per-minute compensation, with rates tied to audio complexity and turnaround
• Flexible scheduling, with volume scaling up and down based on active client projects
• Direct working relationship with Perle's linguistic leads and QA team
• Eligible for invitation to additional Perle expert projects across related domains

HOW TO APPLY

Apply through Winnow, Perle's job portal at winnow.perle.ai. Find the role for your language under Open Jobs, set up your candidate profile, and complete the fully automated interview, which takes about 25 minutes. We review applications within 24 hours and invite passing candidates straight to the project.

Apply here: https://winnow.perle.ai/jobs/d73296de-965e-469d-82a1-b20e09bb7a23