Metadata Operations Engineer

Description

Are you passionate about envisioning and delivering the next generation of digital library services? We seek a metadata expert who can work with staff across the Libraries to automate workflows, remediate existing metadata, and ensure that our metadata quality supports our vision of an API-first digital library. Our goal is nothing short of building an open, trusted, durable, interdisciplinary, interoperable content platform that provides a foundation for the entire lifecycle of information for collaborative global research and education.
As the Metadata Operations Engineer, you'll provide vision for and implementation of MIT Libraries workflows across the entire metadata lifecycle, from creation through discovery, management, and digital preservation. You’ll refactor legacy metadata scripts into maintainable automated services. You will pursue standardization of descriptive metadata practices across formats, programs, and systems, in service of high-quality interoperable metadata to underpin an open global platform.
To this end, you will:
• Streamline metadata creation and management.
• Collaboratively develop and implement metadata workflows and quality standards.
• Improve metadata interoperability across various schemas and software platforms, including homegrown systems.
• Automate and integrate workflows around metadata creation and related processes (such as reformatting and digitization).
• Develop and maintain positive relationships with staff in infrastructure, reformatting, metadata, and engineering areas to foster improved metadata practices.
• Improve the maintainability and reliability of existing metadata processing scripts.
• Migrate, remediate, and enhance legacy metadata.
• Facilitate improved metadata workflows through staff skills development.
• Define metadata migration flows to support transitions to new systems.

QUALIFICATIONS
• Bachelor’s degree in related field.
• 5 years of professional experience with scripting and data manipulation.
• Experience with one or more of the following:
o Tools for data manipulation, such as Open Refine or XSLT.
o Regex and/or data transformation work in Ruby or Python
o Distributed version control (preferably Git)
o Experience using or architecting APIs
o Managing a complex workload and shifting priorities
• Ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing (including documentation), with stakeholders at all levels of technical expertise.
• Ability to work effectively in a shared decision-making environment, as both a teammate and a project leader.
• Ability to learn new skills, tools, and methodologies rapidly.
• Familiarity with multiple metadata content and encoding standards such as MARC/MARCXML, Dublin Core, EAD, PREMIS, VRA Core, FCGD, or CCO.
• Excellent analytical and problem solving skills combined with attention to detail for complex work.
• Demonstrated commitment to values of openness, diversity, inclusion, innovation, and social justice.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
One or more of:
• Working knowledge of metadata application profiles, RDF triple-stores, SPARQL queries, JSON-LD, IIIF, linked data, BIBFRAME, and/or the Web Annotation standard
• Knowledge of non-bibliographic metadata standards such as technical, preservation, structural, packaging, and transfer metadata schemes
• Broad knowledge of library repository functions, services, and requirements
• Experience with metadata transformations and crosswalking tools
• Experience with a library systems migration
• Participation in metadata-related work through professional organizations, open source projects, and/or standards bodies
• Experience teaching technical material to audiences at a variety of skill levels

SALARY AND BENEFITS
$90,000 is minimum salary. Actual salary will depend on qualifications and experience. MIT offers excellent benefits including a choice of health and retirement plans, a dental plan, tuition assistance, and fully subsidized MBTA passes for local bus and subway service. Flexible work arrangements, including flextime and telecommuting, are considered for positions that meet established criteria. The MIT Libraries afford a flexible and collegial working environment and foster professional growth of staff with management training and travel funding for professional meetings.

Apply online at: http://careers.mit.edu/; applications must include cover letter and resume. Priority will be given to applications received by August 20, 2018; position open until filled. MIT is strongly and actively committed to diversity within its community and particularly encourages applications from qualified women and minority candidates. Professionals who enthusiastically embrace the empathy, courage, self-reflection and respect of a multi-cultural, diverse and inclusive workplace, and who strive to incorporate those values in their work and interactions are encouraged to apply.