Freelance Metadata / Documentation Specialist

Fee: £12,600, inclusive of VAT and expenses
Contract length: 6 months
Location: Remote, with the option to work from our Cambridge office during contracted days
Application deadline: 15 June 2026
Interviews: Online, weeks commencing 22 and 29 June 2026
Start date: As soon as possible
Lead contact: Lesley Johnston, XR Producer
Project brief: View here (PDF)

About UKAHT

The UK Antarctic Heritage Trust is the principal organisation in the UK dedicated to advancing conservation, culture and education for heritage in Antarctica.

We care for six historic sites on the Antarctic Peninsula, deliver creative public programmes in the UK and work with Antarctic policymakers on matters relating to heritage conservation. Through sharing the remarkable stories of science, exploration and human endeavour embedded in Antarctica’s history, we help people discover, understand, value and protect this precious wilderness.

About the project

UKAHT has been collecting data and media for 30 years to support our work conserving, protecting and advocating for the tangible and intangible heritage of the Antarctic sites in our care. This includes landscape and building imagery, records of objects and personal items, and gifted media from those who lived and worked on site.

In recent years we have also embarked upon the digitisation of our heritage sites and monuments. This data has been collected through a range of methodologies: Terrestrial laser scan, photogrammetry and SLAM scan.

This grant funded project by the Heritage Science Data Service (HSDS) is an opportunity to review and improve our current metadata practices and standards, and to make a portion of this unique digital collection publicly accessible to support scientific heritage research. The primary datatypes and records you will be enhancing are several 3D datasets with a range of laser scan files and photogrammetric images, in addition to a smaller portion of curated 2D media.

About the role

We are seeking someone who is excited to lead on the enhancement and preparation of the rich digital data relating to the heritage we care for in Antarctica and make it accessible and available to a global audience.

You will be a self-motivated freelance metadata / documentation specialist. You will join in discussions with our XR Producer, Head of Buildings and Conservation and others to understand our collection. Through discussions and collection familiarisation you'll be well placed to help us achieve our current and future digital documentation ambitions by producing a strategic set of sustainable ‘best practice’ recommendations and collection specific metadata templates.

You’ll undertake practical work, applying these metadata recommendations and standards to a limited amount of data, focusing on select 3D datasets for HSDS submission and a curated number of supporting 2D media.

In this role you will have a singular opportunity to shape UKAHT’s long-term digital documentation and metadata management processes, providing a strong foundation for on-going metadata improvements and increased opportunities for future data use and public engagement.

Scope and deliverables

As a time limited grant funded project you will work with UKAHT and HSDS to co-scope the project within the available time and budget to ensure it is feasible, provides good value and produces a high-quality metadata submission for the HSDS repository.

Areas within scope and approximate % of project deliverables are:

Collaboration and Strategic Recommendations - 15%

Project Planning and Preparation - 15%

• Develop metadata templates with HSDS standards and appropriate to our specific collection

• Ensure templates adopt appropriate metadata guidance, ontologies, terminologies, vocabularies or fields for the datatype etc. I.e., 3D datasets: HSDS/ADS or Historic England, archive collection: Spectrum

• Identify metadata fields, or formats etc that may need adaptation for our specific collection or for public display (e.g. sensitive content, technical terms).

Metadata Enhancement 3D Datasets and HSDS Submission - 50%

• Work with us to finalise the number of 3D datasets to be made HSDS ready within this project period (est., 2-4 sites currently considered), more may feasible dependent on existing metadata

• Enhance, prepare and submit agreed 3D metadata and datasets to HSDS, prioritising clarity, consistency, and readability

Metadata Enhancement of 2D Media - 15%

• Create or enhance metadata records for a curated selection of approximately 300-400 additional media records. Any outstanding project time will be used to further create individual metadata records

• Where 2D media provides additional history or context to our 3D datasets, these will also be included within the HSDS file and metadata submission

Knowledge Transfer & Reporting - 5%

• A short handover report outlining the approach taken, any reusable tools or templates not already provided, and any recommendations for future digital document work

• Group workshops with the team to help your on-boarding, and to help the team adapt to the produced templates

About you

We are keen to work with someone who has practical experience in diverse metadata and digital documentation or collections management within a museum or heritage setting. It is desirable you’ll have experience of working with metadata of large datasets and batch data i.e. terrestrial laser scans or photogrammetric capture. Experience of Heritage BIM would be advantageous.

As an accredited museum with an on-site artefact collection and a large media library, it is also desirable that you have familiarity with archival collections and Spectrum guidance, and/or digital asset management.

We’d like to talk to those who have experience or training in managing metadata or diverse digital documentation within a small team, and who understand some of the practical challenges we face as a small charity with both large and varied datasets.

You’ll need to be detail oriented, able to work independently and able to communicate with staff when needed to understand the scope of the role, achieve the project successfully, and help to embed your work into UKAHT’s working practice for long-term digital management and preservation.

Working pattern and location

The working pattern will be agreed with the chosen candidate. You will be expected to work on a regular schedule agreed with UKAHT to ensure consistent progress and regular communication with the team. It is anticipated that the candidate will work approximately 2-3 days per week, experience start date, and planned non-work weeks dependent.

The role can be delivered remotely. Candidates based in or near Cambridge may also work from our office during contracted days by prior agreement. The role will include online meetings, and we anticipate approximately two in-person meetings in Cambridge to support knowledge transfer and collaboration.

Indicative timeline

• Start: As soon as possible

• July to September: Onboarding, scope agreement, strategic recommendations, preparation of templates and test HSDS metadata submission

• September to December: Metadata enhancement into agreed UKAHT and HSDS-appropriate formats, plus quality assurance

• December: Final submission to HSDS and reporting

• January / February: contingency period

• Dates to be confirmed: Staff workshops for knowledge exchange and training on new and recommended metadata processes

Fee and payment

This is a set project fee of £12,600, inclusive of personal expenses, travel and equipment. The appointee will be responsible for paying their own tax and national insurance contributions.

A payment schedule will be agreed alongside a programme of deliverables. UKAHT operates 30-day payment terms, and payments will be made by BACS.

How to apply

Please submit:

• Your CV

• A cover letter of no more than two pages, detailing your suitability for the role and including examples of previous work

• An indication of your proposed working pattern and any known non-working weeks

• Details of two referees, who will only be contacted if you are shortlisted

The deadline for applications is 15 June 2026.

Interviews will be held online during the weeks commencing 22 and 29 June 2026, by arrangement.

Please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments at interview.

UKAHT is committed to access, equality and social inclusion. We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all suitably qualified people regardless of race, sex, disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation or age.