When Penumbra opened a new surgical tool manufacturing facility in Costa Rica, four existing Rise onboarding courses — covering Security, Workplace Safety, Hazard Communications, and Computer Safety — needed to be fully localized for a Spanish-speaking workforce before the facility could open. Localization meant more than translation: policies, procedures, and workplace practices that differed between the US and Costa Rica had to be identified and adapted, all photography, screenshots, illustrations, simulations, and short videos had to be replaced or subtitled with Spanish-language versions, and the final courses had to pass review by Costa Rican management for both content accuracy and language authenticity before deployment.

I managed the full localization process end-to-end, from making working copies of the source modules and coordinating with US and Costa Rican leadership to identify policy differences, through translation, media replacement, review cycles, and final deployment. All four courses were successfully localized within a two-month deadline. Post-deployment, all source files and media assets were cataloged and archived for future maintenance.

Role: Solo ID, end-to-end localization

Tools: Articulate Rise, Adobe Audition, Camtasia

Audience: 30 new Costa Rican manufacturing employees

Impact: Four fully localized onboarding courses delivered on a tight timeline for a new international facility; established a reusable localization workflow and archive for future updates

Training Deliverables:

Project Planning and Design: