Vacancy for Freelance Metadata / Documentation Specialist with UK Antarctic Heritage Trust

Digital Preservation Coalition; United Kingdom; Hybrid; GBP 11,340 - 13,860; Full time

Job summary

The Digital Preservation Coalition is seeking a Freelance Metadata / Documentation Specialist to enhance digital data related to Antarctica heritage. This remote role may include occasional in-person meetings in Cambridge, with a project fee of £12,600 inclusive of expenses.

You will lead discussions with team members to understand the collection and produce strategic recommendations for metadata management and documentation processes. The role requires attention to detail, prior experience with digital documentation, and familiarity with metadata standards.

Qualifications

• Practical experience in managing diverse metadata.
• Experience working with large datasets and batch metadata.
• Familiarity with Spectrum guidance and digital asset management.

Responsibilities

• Enhance and prepare digital data for accessibility.
• Produce sustainable metadata templates and best practices.
• Collaborate with team through meetings and discussions.

Skills

Metadata management

Digital documentation

Attention to detail

Archival collections familiarity

Education

Experience within a museum or heritage setting

Tools

Terrestrial laser scans

Photogrammetric capture

Job description

Vacancy for Freelance Metadata / Documentation Specialist with UK Antarctic Heritage Trust

Remote, with the option to work from our Cambridge office during contracted days

£12,600, inclusive of VAT and expenses

Fixed Term

About the project

The UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT) is the principal organisation in the UK dedicated to advancing conservation, culture and education for heritage in Antarctica.

UKAHT has been collecting data and media for 30 years to support our work conserving, protecting and advocating for the tangible and intangible heritage of the Antarctic sites in our care. This includes landscape and building imagery, records of objects and personal items, and gifted media from those who lived and worked on site.

In recent years we have also embarked upon the digitisation of our heritage sites and monuments. This data has been collected through a range of methodologies: Terrestrial laser scan, photogrammetry and SLAM scan.

This grant funded project by the Heritage Science Data Service (HSDS) is an opportunity to review and improve our current metadata practices and standards, and to make a portion of this unique digital collection publicly accessible to support scientific heritage research. The primary datatypes and records you will be enhancing are several 3D datasets with a range of laser scan files and photogrammetric images, in addition to a smaller portion of curated 2D media.

About the role

We are seeking someone who is excited to lead on the enhancement and preparation of the rich digital data relating to the heritage we care for in Antarctica and make it accessible and available to a global audience.

You will be a self‑motivated freelance metadata / documentation specialist. You will join in discussions with our XR Producer, Head of Buildings and Conservation and others to understand our collection. Through discussions and collection familiarisation you’ll be well placed to help us achieve our current and future digital documentation ambitions by producing a strategic set of sustainable ‘best practice’ recommendations and collection‑specific metadata templates.

You’ll undertake practical work, applying these metadata recommendations and standards to a limited amount of data, focusing on select 3D datasets for HSDS submission and a curated number of supporting 2D media.

In this role you will have a singular opportunity to shape UKAHT’s long‑term digital documentation and metadata management processes, providing a strong foundation for ongoing metadata improvements and increased opportunities for future data use and public engagement.

Scope and deliverables

As a time limited grant funded project you will work with UKAHT and HSDS to co‑scope the project within the available time and budget to ensure it is feasible, provides good value and produces a high‑quality metadata submission for the HSDS repository.

Areas within scope and approximate % of project deliverables are:

• Collaboration and Strategic Recommendations - 15%
• Project Planning and Preparation - 15%
• Metadata Enhancement 3D Datasets and HSDS Submission - 50%

We are keen to work with someone who has practical experience in diverse metadata and digital documentation or collections management within a museum or heritage setting. It is desirable you’ll have experience of working with metadata of large datasets and batch data i.e. terrestrial laser scans or photogrammetric capture. Experience of Heritage BIM would be advantageous.

As an accredited museum with an on‑site artefact collection and a large media library, it is also desirable that you have familiarity with archival collections and Spectrum guidance, and/or digital asset management.

We’d like to talk to those who have experience or training in managing metadata or diverse digital documentation within a small team, and who understand some of the practical challenges we face as a small charity with both large and varied datasets.

You’ll need to be detail oriented, able to work independently and able to communicate with staff when needed to understand the scope of the role, achieve the project successfully, and help to embed your work into UKAHT’s working practice for long‑term digital management and preservation.

Working pattern and location

The working pattern will be agreed with the chosen candidate. You will be expected to work on a regular schedule agreed with UKAHT to ensure consistent progress and regular communication with the team. It is anticipated that the candidate will work approximately 2-3 days per week, experience and start date dependent.

The role will include online meetings, and we anticipate approximately two in‑person meetings in Cambridge to support knowledge transfer and collaboration.

Indicative timeline

• Start: As soon as possible
• July to September: Onboarding, scope agreement, strategic recommendations, preparation of templates and test HSDS metadata submission
• September to December: Metadata enhancement into agreed UKAHT and HSDS‑appropriate formats, plus quality assurance
• December: Final submission to HSDS and reporting
• January / February: contingency period
• Dates to be confirmed: Staff workshops for knowledge exchange and training on new and recommended metadata processes

Fee and payment

This is a set project fee of £12,600, inclusive of personal expenses, travel and equipment. The appointee will be responsible for paying their own tax and national insurance contributions.

UKAHT is committed to access, equality and social inclusion. We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all suitably qualified people regardless of race, sex, disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation or age.