Data engineer / Digitaal Archivaris - Huygens

The WaU-programme

Werk aan Uitvoering (WaU) is a government-wide programme aimed at improving public services. As part of this programme, the Huygens Institute will make its numerous and extensive digital resources on Dutch history and culture more accessible and connected to other relevant data collections. In the coming years, we aim to improve the access and the usability of our services when offered to the researchers, and to lower the threshold for all residents of the Netherlands and civil society organisations to enable them finding and interpreting historical and cultural data.

At the Huygens Institute, the WaU programme is organised as three sub-projects: (a) the provision of data in standard formats so that researchers and interested parties can more easily (re)use the data in other contexts; (b) the linking of data from different sources; and (c) the development of thematic accesses aimed at broader societal use. Together, the three projects should lead to a large open corpus of texts and data on Dutch history and culture that can be explored together and in relation to other digital information available. For more information on the project, see: https://www.huygens.knaw.nl/projecten/werk-aan-uitvoering-wau/

The following tasks are at the core of your responsibility as data engineer/digital archivist:

Coordination and documentation tasks:

• You closely follow up and monitor the data migration progress, implementing prioritisation of the tasks in consultation with research departments.
• You are responsible for compelling and regular reporting to the WaU programme manager, and you ensure clear communication with other project stakeholders. You coordinate the activities with the Digital Infrastructure department of the KNAW Humanities Cluster to plan and respect the feasible schedules and to be clear about cost estimates.
• You work on technical documentation of the migration project, in consultation with other WaU team members and colleagues from Digital Infrastructure department.

Data management tasks:

• Information extraction: implementing a strategy to extract datasets and source materials from the existing environments.
• Carrying out an HTR/OCR process, using in-house tools and pipelines, in close consultation with the Digital Infrastructure Department and converting data to standard formats.
• Data curation: applying tools and techniques for initial, basic semi-automatic curation (segmentation at document level, and where possible identifying and collecting metadata information).
• Coordinating the ingest process of the collected datasets and source materials into the KNAW Humanities Cluster sustainable storage (e-depot).

Expected technical skills:

• Your background (computer science / data management / library studies) ensures knowledge of digital archiving and provides demonstrable experience in modelling and making complex data collections accessible (e.g.: schemas, anthologies / databases / metadata standards).
• You have experience with Linux/BASH scripting and automation, as well as basic knowledge of Python, (PHP, Solr as a plus), or similar technologies.
• You have previous experience working with different data sources in research or other contexts.

Other requirements:

• You are a good collaborator and planner, and know how to combine flexibility and diligence easily.
• Affinity with Dutch history and cultural heritage is a plus.
• An appointment with different schedule is negotiable.

Depending on education and experience the minimum salary is 3.345 and the maximum salary is 5.278 gross per month for a full-time appointment (scale 10 cao Nederlandse Universiteiten/KNAW). This is exclusive of 8% vacation allowance, 8.3% year-end bonus, travel allowance, internet allowance, home working allowance and pension accrual with ABP.

The KNAW offers its staff an excellent package of secondary benefits. A package that meets the different needs of employees depending on their stage of life, lifestyle or career ambitions. For example, by working an extra two hours a week, it is possible to increase the number of days off from 29 to 41 days a year (with full-time employment).

For a complete overview of the terms of employment, please refer to the web page: werken bij de KNAW.

Applying for a Certificate of Good Conduct can be part of the employment procedure.

The Huygens Institute aims to enrich, broaden, renew and make widely accessible the research on history and culture of the Netherlands. We do this by digitally opening up historical and literary data and texts from various collections and sources, connecting them and analysing them in innovative ways - across the centuries and beyond Europe's borders.