Taxonomist/Metadata Specialist (100% Remote)

Our Customer is an American financial services mutual organization based in Milwaukee. The financial security company provides consultation on wealth and asset income protection, education planning, retirement planning, investment advisory services, financial planning trust and private client services, estate planning and business planning. Its products include life insurance, permanent life insurance, disability income, and long-term care insurance; annuities; investments; and investment advisory products and services. Our customer is looking for a Taxonomist/Metadata Specialist on a contract basis to help support their business needs. This role is 100% remote. The Taxonomist/Metadata Specialist role is the lead specialist and SME for the initiative to standardize and govern metadata across strategic HR content platforms and the core HR management system. The role is responsible for ensuring a consistent, trusted data foundation for AI-driven experiences. This hands-on, execution-oriented role balances theory with delivery to define and operationalize metadata practices for the HR domain that materially improve findability, reuse, and AI and search experience outcomes in production systems. Responsibilities • Analyze existing metadata structures across HR systems and content platforms to identify gaps, overlaps, and inconsistencies • Define and implement metadata, taxonomy, and ontology strategies to support AI-driven search and user experiences • Develop and operationalize a scalable metadata framework for HR content and data • Establish governance standards including templates, approval workflows, and rules to maintain metadata integrity • Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to define cataloging, lineage, and classification standards • Collaborate with business, content, and technology teams to build and sustain taxonomy and classification systems • Align metadata frameworks with AI infrastructure and enterprise technology requirements • Facilitate workshops with stakeholders to co-create and validate taxonomy and metadata models • Drive documentation, training, and best practices for metadata usage and tagging standards • Elicit domain knowledge from subject matter experts and apply insights to metadata design • Analyze content, search logs, and usage data to refine and optimize metadata models • Establish governance processes that balance control with usability and adoption • Serve as a lead taxonomist, driving standards, templates, and repeatable processes independently Skills And Qualifications • Bachelor’s degree in Information Science, Library Science, Semantics/Ontology, or related field (or equivalent experience) • 2+ years of experience in taxonomy, metadata, ontology, or related fields • Hands-on experience designing and implementing metadata frameworks in enterprise environments • Experience working with CMS or enterprise search platforms for metadata standardization • Strong experience facilitating stakeholder alignment and reconciling differing perspectives • Ability to operate independently and deliver production-ready outcomes in less mature environments • Strong communication, facilitation, and decision-making skills • Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to influence cross-functional teams • Experience applying metadata strategies to support AI-enabled search and discovery Preferred Qualifications • Experience with knowledge graphs, graph databases, and semantic technologies • Familiarity with metadata management tools such as Collibra, Informatica, or Atlan • Understanding of data management concepts, including cataloging, lineage, and classification • Experience using analytics such as search logs and content audits to optimize metadata models • Experience working within enterprise search or content management ecosystems • Experience operating in both mature and evolving organizational environments We offer a competitive salary range for this position. Most candidates who join our team are hired at the median of this range, ensuring fair and equitable compensation based on experience and qualifications. Contractor benefits are available through our 3rd Party Employer of Record (Available upon completion of waiting period for eligible engagements) Benefits include: Medical, Dental, Vision, 401k. An Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.