Introducing Bernardo Santos, Head of the WEMEA Hub

Continuing our Sales Hubs introduction series, we’re excited to introduce Bernardo Santos, Head of the WEMEA Hub at memoQ. In this interview, Bernardo talks about his path from translator to team leader, his vision for the hub, what drives him every day, and a few fun facts, from gaming with his son to building epic LEGO sets.

When and why did you join memoQ?

I joined memoQ back in June 2012 (I guess...). I came from one of the largest Portuguese LSPs at that time, where I was wearing too many hats. When I left, I was the Team Leader for the in-house English Translators. I was the Quality Manager, the Machine Translation Manager, and the Technologies Manager. I also oversaw everything related to memoQ, including workflows, issues, teaching, etc. That left me with little time to do what I liked, which was translating. A funny story is that my tipping point was a Friday that was quite calm, nothing was rushed, and no big projects were to be delivered that day. I decided to pick a small unassigned translation project. It was only 300 or 400 words. I created the memoQ project, started working, and then things started happening. All hell broke loose, and I had to put out multiple fires. This meant that eventually I completely forgot about the project until that project’s PM asked me how it was going since the delivery was in 5 minutes...

What does your current position entail?

I’m currently Head of WEMEA Hub. I oversee the sales operations in Western Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. I also handle all inbound requests within this geographical area.

I manage the WEMEA Hub team, which includes a Customer Success Manager, a Business Development Manager, and a Solution Engineer.

Managing the Hub and also being in sales means that I do a little bit of everything:  sales, account management, people management, talent management, coaching, etc.

What I love the most about my job is simply the small “WOWs” when doing a demo with the Solution Engineer, onboarding a new customer whose feedback is “memoQ is amazing and the support I received to get started was awesome”, and also bringing out the best in my team members so they can shine.

What is your vision for the WEMEA Hub?

My vision is always one of growth. Growth as people, growth as a company, and growth as software in the translation industry. Being at the company and in this industry for so long gives me a long-term perspective. I can see things happening now that can be linked to past developments in the industry.

Ours is a very competitive market, and making sure we not only reach our targets but actually surpass them at all times is what gets me out of bed every morning.

What do you like most about the translation industry?

I’ve been around for a long time, and I usually say, “Once a translator, always a translator”. I even have a tattoo to prove that I’m a translator.

Jokes aside, translation is a very peculiar industry because it keeps the world spinning, and that’s all I have to say about that.

How would you describe the memoQ team?

memoQ, the company, should be very proud of the many people who make up this memoQ family, both now and also all the talent from the past who have left their mark on the company. It’s great to hear from newcomers, after they were onboarded, that the team spirit is amazing. That they had never seen so many people genuinely wanting to be helpful, and that they were surprised by the number of times people told them, “Just ask, there are no stupid questions”.

What has been your greatest achievement so far at memoQ?

I can’t say that there has been one single big achievement; there have been so many. There have been many big deals that have left me proud. Small deals that also gave me much joy for genuinely helping a small company get their translation needs under control. Managing my team and watching how they grow into their position and responsibilities, solving issues, finding solutions, and ultimately, being a “constructive complainer”.

What are your hobbies?

I read a lot of high fantasy or epic fantasy, and I still have the dream of writing a fantasy novel. I’m also a gamer, even if I don’t have much time to dedicate to this. I end up having some quick plays of FC25 online with friends or Fortnite with my 13-year-old hyperactive son, who is much better than me. We also build LEGOs together, and we love Star Wars (I’m running out of space at home with so many sets). We love to watch TV shows (our current favorite is The Big Bang Theory and passing on all the nerdy lore to my kid). Also, I’ve been trying to teach my kid to play pool like a pro. I have a dog, a brindle Bull Terrier, who is fierce-looking but soft-hearted and afraid of any car that drives up the road. I mean this literally because he is terrified of going out for a walk and goes into panic mode when I open the front door (so typical of dogs, right?...)