Our financial services client is seeking a Content Manager / Taxonomist to work a 12-month assignment in Austin, TX. (40hrs/week). Candidates must be able to work onsite in Austin, TX 3 days/week (can work from home remaining days).
Role Summary
We are seeking an experienced Taxonomy and Ontology Engineer to lead the design, development, and governance of enterprise taxonomies, controlled vocabularies, ontologies, and knowledge models that enable scalable search, discovery, analytics, and AI-driven experiences. This role will partner closely with data management, engineering, product, machine learning, search, and content teams to establish semantic frameworks, metadata standards, and knowledge architectures that improve the organization, classification, retrieval, and reuse of information across the enterprise.
The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in taxonomy design, ontology engineering, knowledge graphs, metadata management, and Semantic Web technologies, with a proven ability to design and govern enterprise-scale semantic frameworks that support both business and technical objectives.
Top Must Have Skills
5-7+ years of experience in taxonomy design, ontology engineering, knowledge management, information architecture, or related disciplines
Demonstrated experience designing, implementing, and governing enterprise-scale taxonomies and controlled vocabularies
Strong expertise with Semantic Web technologies and standards, including RDF, RDFS, OWL, SKOS, SPARQL, and SHACL
Experience developing, managing, or contributing to knowledge graphs and ontology-driven data models
Strong understanding of metadata standards and schema design, including Dublin Core, Schema.org, BIBFRAME, or equivalent frameworks
Experience with data modeling methodologies, including conceptual, logical, and physical modeling approaches
Hands-on experience with ontology and taxonomy management platforms such as PoolParty Semantic Suite, Protege, TopBraid Composer, TopQuadrant products, or Palantir Foundry
Ability to translate complex semantic concepts and governance decisions to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
Experience establishing taxonomy and ontology governance processes, standards, versioning, and change management practices
Additional Qualifications
Bachelor's or Master's degree in Library and Information Science, Computer Science, Linguistics, Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience
Experience implementing or governing taxonomy and ontology programs within financial services, healthcare, or large enterprise environments
Familiarity with AI-related knowledge representation approaches, including knowledge graph integration with large language models, retrieval-augmented generation architectures, and semantic search solutions
Experience designing multilingual or localized taxonomies across global markets and multiple locales
Knowledge of authority control, entity resolution, and identity management concepts
Experience building taxonomy or ontology programs from inception, including defining scope, governance frameworks, tooling strategies, and stakeholder adoption plans
Exposure to Agile, DevSecOps, or modern data platform development practices
Familiarity with industry ontology frameworks such as FIBO and ISO 20022
Working knowledge of Python, R, SQL, GraphQL, GraphDB, Git, CI/CD pipelines, JSON, and structured data formats
Experience working with content management systems, digital asset management platforms, and enterprise knowledge management systems
Responsibilities
Taxonomy and Controlled Vocabulary Design
Design, develop, and maintain enterprise taxonomies, controlled vocabularies, and hierarchical classification systems across content and data domains
Conduct content inventories, stakeholder interviews, gap analyses, and requirements gathering activities to inform taxonomy structure and scope
Define vocabulary standards, preferred and alternate terms, hierarchical relationships, associative relationships, and cross-references aligned with industry standards
Develop and maintain metadata schemas, tagging standards, and classification guidelines to ensure consistency across platforms and business functions
Train and enable stakeholders on taxonomy application, metadata governance, and best practices
Ontology and Knowledge Graph Engineering
Design, implement, and maintain ontologies using Semantic Web standards, including RDF, RDFS, OWL, and SKOS
Develop and manage knowledge graphs that integrate taxonomies, ontologies, and enterprise data to support search, analytics, automation, and AI use cases
Create, review, and govern ontology change requests while driving continuous improvement in ontology management processes and tooling
Perform authority control, entity management, and relationship modeling across organizational entities, products, concepts, and business domains
Apply ontology validation and reasoning standards to ensure semantic consistency, quality, and integrity
Knowledge Management and Information Architecture
Define and evolve enterprise knowledge architecture frameworks that support knowledge creation, classification, retrieval, discovery, and reuse
Collaborate with data management, engineering, machine learning, product, and search teams to implement semantic models and standardized vocabularies within data products and customer experiences
Map unstructured content and data assets to structured semantic models that integrate with enterprise data platforms and AI initiatives
Establish metadata standards, semantic modeling guidelines, and data lineage documentation in partnership with governance and engineering teams
Facilitate knowledge organization and taxonomy alignment workshops across business functions
Governance and Stakeholder Enablement
Develop and administer taxonomy and ontology governance programs, including review cycles, version control, change management, and approval workflows
Conduct audits of information architecture, metadata quality, and classification effectiveness to ensure compliance and continuous improvement
Create governance documentation, implementation standards, training materials, and operational procedures
Serve as a subject matter expert and strategic advisor on taxonomy, ontology, metadata, and knowledge management initiatives
Communicate semantic modeling strategies, design decisions, and governance recommendations to technical teams, business stakeholders, and senior leadership
Drive cross-functional alignment between taxonomy design, data engineering, content strategy, product development, and governance organizations to support enterprise information management objectives.
In this position, you may have access to client or customer systems, confidential and/or proprietary information or data, including financial information. This position is onsite and requires you to work closely with other individuals in a collaborative team environment.
Benefits
Creative Circle's Freelance Employee benefits package includes eligibility for Minimum Essential Coverage (MEC) medical plan, dental/vision/term life package, discount prescription program, critical illness, accident, tele-behavioral health, and 401(k) plan. Sick leave is provided to Candidates whose assignment work location is in a state or city subject to sick leave laws. A Minimum Value (MV) PPO medical plan, Employee Stock Purchase Plan, and paid holiday eligibility are based on length and dates of service.