Welcome to “Building Localization from Scratch”, the series where we speak to founding localization leaders about what it really takes to build localization departments from the ground up.
This week we’re chatting with Monique Flageul Márquez, localization leader at Deel, an AI-powered, all-in-one global people platform covering payroll, HR, benefits, mobility, performance, and device management across 150+ countries.
From language engineer to localization leader
Originally from the United States, Monique has been living in Europe (France and Germany) for 12 years now. Perhaps unusually, she does not have a background in localization, but in computer science, having previously worked as a language engineer. Seeking a more cross-functional challenge, she moved into localization a few years ago and has since worked in various localization roles across four companies.
Originally brought in as the website localization manager at Deel, Monique quickly rose to become the Localization Program Manager for the entire company.
Joining a not-so “localized” company
Localization existed at Deel before Monique arrived, despite her being the first localization hire. The website was live in 13 locales, and the product in over 30. But there was a catch: it was being managed by one person with limited localization experience, and it was almost 100% AI-generated, with no framework or unified approach across departments:
💡“There was no connection between product and marketing. Product was doing its own thing, marketing was doing its own thing.”
Operating with a “global first” mindset, Deel rapidly expanded into new markets by adding on AI-translated languages rather than formally launching each one. The person overseeing localization recognized both the limitations of this approach and the need for support. This led to Monique’s hire.
Working at “Deel speed”
Navigating a 7,000-person, fast-moving, KPI-driven company as the single localization contact remains an ongoing challenge.
Monique was hired with a clear expectation: own the website in non-English locales and grow those markets. The bottom line was to increase conversion rates.
What makes her position unique is that she inherited markets that were already live, but built on AI-generated translations. Instead of launching new locales from scratch, Monique’s work began with repair, at scale. Her challenge has been retroactive: going back and making existing content fit for each market.
Setting up foundations before growth
Monique’s first priority was to lay down the foundations. She focused on building core assets first, before even thinking about growth and conversion rates:
- Compiling style guides.
- Building glossaries.
- Adding termbases.
- Assembling a team of human reviewers.
Monique stresses that localization at Deel is still very much in the building stage. The focus isn’t yet on workflow optimization, revenue impact, or conversion; it’s on improving quality and creating a foundation. This wasn’t what she expected:
💡“I came in with this whole notion of ‘I’ve watched a lot of webinars, I’ve done a lot of training, I know what KPIs to focus on, how to talk to leadership and get them to care about revenue and business impact.’ I had to let a lot of that go. Because I’m not in a position right now to increase anything or remove friction.”
Making the case for humans
While many in localization today face budget cuts due to AI, Monique had the opposite challenge. She needed to convince Deel to invest in people after relying heavily on automation.
💡“It wasn’t that hard to get buy-in because the translations were quite poor. And they knew this was a contributing factor as to why we weren’t growing in these markets.”
In this case, localization wasn’t a hard sell. Stakeholders already saw that it was failing. Poor-quality AI translations were the rock bottom that they could only go up from. Instead of raising the profile of localization in general, Monique needs to raise the profile of her program and show that it’s working in core markets, so it can be rolled out across new locales in the future.
Auditing and aligning
Low-quality content meant a full audit was essential. Core pages had to be reviewed to understand priorities across the website, marketing campaigns, asset management, and product.
From there, alignment became the next hurdle.
Getting teams to use the same glossary and ticketing system has been challenging. While Monique aims to build an agnostic localization program, it still needs to be flexible enough for each department to hit its own KPIs. It’s a constant balance between neutrality and tailoring the message to different stakeholders.
Build vs. buy: Working with an internal TMS
Monique didn’t have to make any decisions about a TMS (Translation Management System) when she joined Deel: they had already decided to build one internally. While it wouldn’t have been her first choice, she embraced the situation:
💡“I’m just trying to ride that wave. I have no choice but to help build it as the key stakeholder. So I told myself, let me just learn new skills, build this TMS the best way I can, and see if it works.”
Despite initial reservations, she sees clear advantages. Building a TMS forces you to really think about what you need and what you’re trying to achieve, and it can be heavily customized.
Bridging the gap between engineers and localization
It’s also been a significant professional challenge. Monique isn’t just the project manager for the TMS implementation; she’s also a key stakeholder.
The engineers building the TMS don’t have a localization background, so she has to be very specific. Every request needs to be backed by clear reasoning and data. This has led to rethinking traditional workflows and, in some cases, removing unnecessary layers.
The TMS was initially built on a developer platform, making it highly technical and inaccessible to external linguists. As a result, the team had to create workarounds for content auditing.
A key shift has been redefining the user persona; moving from an engineer-centric product to one that serves localization managers and translators.
Letting go of perfection
When asked what she would do differently, Monique said she would let go of some of the smaller details and instead focus on the bigger picture.
Translation thrives on nuance, quality, and human touch. But in fast-moving environments, focusing too much on the little things can be counterproductive.
As a self-described perfectionist, she initially wanted everything to be flawless. Deel, however, operates differently. She quickly realized the need to prioritize impact over perfection.
Why public speaking matters in localization
💡“So many people around the world and in your company will have little information on the nuances of localization and how the details can really matter.”
Monique’s top advice for fledgling program managers is to learn how to speak publicly:
- Present demos.
- Join all-hands meetings.
- Talk about what you’re doing.
So many people inside and outside your organization will have no idea of the complexity and importance of localization. Public speaking is a great way to advocate for it.
Even if you hate talking in front of people, she recommends trying to push yourself for the sake of your program, and talk about it as much as possible in a public forum.
Following her own advice, Monique is delivering a speech on “The Internal Pitch: Sealing the Deal in the Modern Localization Landscape” at LocWorld Dublin in June. Make sure you catch it!
Scaling quality and alignment in fast-paced localization
Monique’s experience shows that building localization from scratch doesn’t always mean slowing down or starting again.
At Deel, everything is happening at pace. Markets were already live, and content was already flowing. The challenge wasn’t to pause and rebuild, but to introduce structure, quality, and alignment with the machine still running.
This extends to tooling, too. With a TMS being built in parallel, Monique had to help shape the system while actively using it, working closely with engineers, and adapting workflows in real time. It wasn’t a case of selecting the “right” tool and rolling it out neatly, but of building and refining it alongside the program itself.
That meant making pragmatic decisions, letting go of perfection, and focusing on what would have the biggest impact in the moment.
In that sense, building localization isn’t a clean, linear process. It’s messy, fast, and often reactive. The real skill is learning how to build the foundations while keeping up with the speed of the business.
This interview is the fifth in our “Building Localization from Scratch” series, where we sit down with 10 localization industry leaders to pull back the curtain on what it actually takes to build a localization department from the ground up.
Every hard-won lesson, workflow, and strategy from the series is distilled into our White Paper: The Blueprint for Founding Localization Managers, a practical guide for localization leaders building their function from the ground up.
📢The White Paper launches in June 2026. Register your interest here, and we’ll send it straight to your inbox when it’s ready!