Ontologist / Semantic Information Modeller

=== Freelance engagement === 12+ months === Only applicants residing in the Netherlands === Hybrid

📯 Would you like to play a crucial role in the Semantic Shift?

📯 Do you like working with new technologies that challenge the status quo?

📯 Do you thrive on complexity and enjoy simplifying it?

If you share our passion for Ontologies, Semantics, Human-centricity, and all things Information, join our team! We are looking for an Ontologist / Semantic Architect / Information Modeller, and if you fit the following profile - we are looking for YOU!

🔆 About you:

• You have experience creating ontologies for complex business domains;
• You are curious, and love both learning about the business and mentoring business experts in structuring their knowledge;
• You had your fair share of Data Governance topics (and you lost your faith in traditional paper-heavy frameworks);
• You know how to maintain and present an ontology, build a taxonomy, and write a SPARQL query. Moreover, you know how to talk about all of that without boring or scaring non-technical stakeholders;
• You are no stranger to business-critical low-latency data environments;
• You feel comfortable talking to both Engineers and business stakeholders;
• You have a natural propensity to structured thinking;
• You possess the "I came, I saw, I prototyped" attitude;
• You are willing to learn and un-learn.

❇️ What you will do

• Work with us on supporting a Digital Transformation initiative for a large Trading organization by capturing and structuring business knowledge, helping in rediscovering and critically assessing business processes, defining and refining terminology, and guiding the Engineering teams in structuring and governing the data;
• Identify foundational gaps in Master and Reference Data, metadata management etc, and assist the stakeholders in understanding the risks and the benefits of tackling these gaps;
• Elicit requirements to the Data Migration teams building a Semantic Layer around the Data Lake.

✳️ What you can also do:

• Work with our R&D team to improve our product, identify new features, and define them;
• Work with our Method Lab to advance our method.

🏢 Where you will work:

• This role will require some presence on the client site in Rotterdam (easily accessible by both car and public transport). Our internal work is remote, but be ready to join us from time to time for our team days in Almere.

✅ Qualifications

• Knowledge Graphs / ontologies
• Semantic Web / RDF / SPARQL. No advanced knowledge (e.g. reasoning, semantic data integration) is required at this stage
• Data Analysis and SQL. Familiarity with Databricks platform (as a semi-technical user) is a big plus
• Business Analysis
• Master Data Management / Data Governance 
• Experience in consulting / client engagements is a plus
• Experience in Trading environments is a plus
• Fluent English

Degrees: we don't care.

💡 Who We Are

We are a deeptech innovation startup. We are creating a platform that makes information topics accessible to every user, and allows every company to discover and monetise their data and collective knowledge.

Yes, we “do AI” too. Our platform enables AI agents to talk and collaborate, and LLMs to function with full awareness of the user’s context and without hallucinations. Yet, in our world, business value comes before the hype.

We don't trade in presentations and strategy sessions. We prefer delivering the first tangible concept and evolving it over talking about the perfect solution. When we communicate, we prioritize simplicity, making our products and our delivery accessible to everyone, not just the selected few experts.

We believe in pragmatic solutions with clear return on investment, and in leaving behind fully autonomous organizations that can continue building on the success we brought.

We don't just think out of the box; we flip the box and use it as a drawing board for our ideas.

⏩ Next steps

This is what you can expect from the selection process:

• an initial interview with our CEO
• a small exercise in semantic modeling
• VOG certification (reimbursable)

🟢 The future:

We offer a 12+ month freelance contract, with possibility to transition to staff. The project starts on or around July 1st 2026. 

🔴 This is not the right opportunity at this time if:

• You do not reside in the Netherlands or require visa sponsorship
• You have never done Semantics in an applied setting for a for-profit organization 
• Your English would not suffice to fluently communicate on complex topics full of jargon and blurry definitions.