Metadata Specialist

We are seeking an experienced Geospatial Metadata Specialist to support the development, transformation, validation, ingestion, and management of Earth science and geospatial metadata. The successful candidate will work with NASA’s Common Metadata Repository (CMR), Spatio Temporal Asset Catalog (STAC), Unified Metadata Model (UMM), and ISO metadata standards.

This position requires a strong combination of metadata standards knowledge, geospatial data expertise, API integration experience, and technical scripting capabilities. The candidate should be able to analyze metadata from multiple source systems, develop metadata crosswalks, transform records into CMR- and STAC-compatible formats, and resolve metadata quality and ingestion issues.

Responsibilities

• Analyze, map, transform, and validate geospatial and Earth science metadata.
• Develop metadata crosswalks between source-system metadata, ISO XML, UMM JSON, and STAC JSON.
• Create and manage CMR collection, granule, service, and variable metadata.
• Create and maintain STAC Catalogs, Collections, Items, assets, and extensions.
• Support metadata ingestion, updates, searches, reconciliation, and lifecycle management within CMR.
• Develop Python scripts to automate metadata extraction, transformation, validation, and ingestion.
• Validate metadata against XML schemas, JSON schemas, UMM schemas, STAC specifications, and controlled vocabularies.
• Troubleshoot CMR ingestion errors, XML validation issues, incorrect mappings, and metadata quality problems.
• Collaborate with data providers, scientists, developers, architects, and business stakeholders to define metadata requirements.
• Develop and maintain metadata mapping documents, data dictionaries, validation rules, technical documentation, and operational procedures.

• Strong understanding of ISO 19115, ISO 19115-2, and ISO 19139 XML metadata standards.
• Nice to have - experience with NASA Common Metadata Repository (CMR)
• Experienced in Unified Metadata Model, including UMM-C and UMM-G.
• Experience with STAC Catalog, Collection, Item, STAC API, GeoJSON, and STAC extensions.
• Experience transforming metadata between ISO XML, UMM JSON, STAC JSON, and source-system formats.
• Proficiency in XML, JSON, GeoJSON, XSD, XPath, XSLT, XML namespaces, and JSON Schema.
• Strong Python scripting experience for metadata processing, validation, automation, and API integration.
• Experience working with REST APIs, OpenAPI/Swagger, Postman, curl, authentication, and JSON/XML payloads.
• Understanding of geospatial concepts, including coordinate reference systems, bounding boxes, geometries, spatial extents, temporal extents, platforms, instruments, and processing levels.
• Familiarity with tools and libraries such as PySTAC, GDAL, QGIS, GeoPandas, Shapely, PyProj, and XML editors.
• Experience using Git, GitLab or GitHub, Jira, Confluence, and Agile development practices., * Bachelor’s degree in Geography, GIS, Environmental Science, Earth Science, Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Management, or a related field.
• Five or more years of experience working with geospatial, scientific, environmental, or Earth-observation metadata.
• Three or more years of hands-on experience with ISO 19115, ISO 19115-2, or ISO 19139.
• Demonstrated experience developing metadata mappings, crosswalks, transformation rules, and validation procedures.
• Experience processing metadata at both collection and granule levels.
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, documentation, and communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and collaborate effectively with technical and nontechnical stakeholders., * Direct experience supporting NASA CMR, NASA Earthdata, NOAA, USGS, or another federal environmental data program.
• Experience with UMM-S, UMM-Var, CMR-STAC, and GCMD keywords.
• Familiarity with MongoDB, PostgreSQL/PostGIS, Elasticsearch/OpenSearch, Kafka, or Apache NiFi.
• Experience with AWS services such as S3, Lambda, API Gateway, EKS, and CloudWatch.
• Knowledge of FAIR data principles, federal data governance, metadata quality management, and controlled vocabulary governance.
• Experience working with satellite, remote-sensing, meteorological, oceanographic, or environmental datasets.

Pay: $84,506.26 - $155,770.98 per year

Application Question(s):

• Do you have experience in Metadata management?
• Are you familiar with ISO XML, UMM JSON, STAC JSON, and source-system formats?
• Are you experienced in STAC Catalog, STAC Collections, STAC API and STAC Extensions?
• Are you US Citizen?
• Are you experienced in AWS Cloud environment?

Tekraft Corporation is a technology-driven organization that provides tailored solutions and services to clients across diverse industries. The company focuses on data, software, and digital transformation initiatives that help organizations improve efficiency, accuracy, and decision-making. Tekraft values innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning, offering team members opportunities to work with modern tools and methodologies. The organization supports remote work and aims to create an inclusive environment where professionals can grow their skills and contribute to high-impact projects. Prospective applicants can expect to join a team that emphasizes quality, reliability, and long-term client partnerships.