Interoperability Project Lead DANS

What will you be doing?
In this newly established role, you will lead a national initiative to improve data interoperability in the Social Sciences & Humanities (SSH) research domain in the Netherlands. The role is at the heart of a four-year project that addresses interoperability aspects such as metadata standards, ontology adoption, and relevant broader FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data practices across SSH research communities.

You will join the Thematic Digital Competence Centre SSH (TDCC SSH) programme and work closely with our 3-person core team. Key stakeholders include the research infrastructures CLARIAH and ODISSEI, local Digital Competence Centres (LDCCs), data stewards, and international networks such as EOSC and RDA. You will be instrumental in fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and strengthening metadata and ontology practices to support open science.

A core component of this role is overseeing up to four ‘Interoperability Missions’— focused 12-18 month initiatives addressing metadata harmonisation, ontology integration, and other data interoperability challenges in SSH. Each of these missions will be led by ‘Mission Specialists’ with expertise in specific SSH subdomains. With support from the wider TDCC SSH team, you will take the lead to coordinate their efforts, ensure alignment with best practices, and support community-driven solutions. Your overall responsibilities will include:

Project Leadership & Coordination

• Lead the selection and prioritization of Missions in consultation with the TDCC SSH team, LDCCs, and other key stakeholders.
• Oversee multiple Interoperability Missions and guide the work of the Mission Specialists, ensuring alignment with project goals and SSH research needs.
• Monitor project impact and contribute to the long-term sustainability strategy to ensuring outputs remain relevant.

Stakeholder Engagement & Community Building

• Act as a liaison between stakeholders such as research infrastructures, LDCCs, data stewards and international networks to promote interoperability.
• Facilitate collaboration between SSH researchers, data stewards, and digital infrastructure providers.
• Develop guidelines, workshops, and other relevant means to advance metadata and ontology adoption.

Metadata & Ontology Development

• Help identify, refine, and promote community-supported metadata standards and ontologies across the SSH domain
• Stay informed and contribute to conversations on international developments in metadata interoperability and semantic web technologies.

What will you bring to the table?
Education & Experience

• Master’s degree in a relevant field (Information Science, Digital Humanities, Social Sciences, Data Management, Library Science, or related discipline).
• Background and/or work experience in an SSH research related environment.
• Proven understanding of (FAIR) data interoperability in technical terms, i.e. experience with relevant standards, best practices, tools, systems, structures, recommendations, terminologies, etc.
• You know the FAIR principles well and understand linked open data and semantic web technologies.

Skills & Competencies

• At least 5 years of professional work experience, with a minimum of 3 years of project management or coordination, incl. leading multi-stakeholder initiatives in externally funded projects.
• You have strong self-organisation skills and know where to go and who to ask.
• You have excellent communication and networking abilities.
• Excellent proficiency in English.

You can gain an advantage over other candidates with the following

• You know the landscape/stakeholders of (inter)national research infrastructures in SSH.
• You already have relevant connections and a growing network in the area.
• You are great at connecting with people and can rise to the challenge of engaging all stakeholders, partners and organisations.
• Excellent proficiency in Dutch.

Terms of employment
Depending on education and experience the minimum salary is €4.537,- and the maximum salary is €6.209,- gross per month for a fulltime appointment (scale 11 of the 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.

About DANS

DANS is the national expertise center and repository for research data. We help researchers make their data available for reuse. This allows researchers to use the data for new research and makes published research verifiable and reproducible. With almost 300,000 datasets and a staff of fifty, DANS is one of the leading repositories in Europe. DANS is an institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

Working at DANS means working in an informal and international environment where colleagues with diverse backgrounds collaborate to achieve goals, and where people are given the opportunity and the confidence to fulfil their roles and develop as they see fit. Internally, we apply the same principles of our service: we are accessible, reliable and innovative.