Senior Semantic EngineerSee all recent Jobs

We are looking for a highly experienced Senior Semantic Engineer to join our delivery teams working on European institutional and private-sector projects. This role combines deep hands-on expertise in semantic technologies and knowledge graph engineering with technical leadership responsibilities across architecture, delivery, and client engagement.

You will work on the design and implementation of enterprise-grade semantic solutions using RDF, OWL, SPARQL, SHACL, and related W3C standards, while collaborating with multidisciplinary international teams and advising clients on semantic architecture decisions.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and implement ontologies, semantic models, application profiles, and SHACL validation frameworks for production knowledge graph environments
• Build, maintain, and optimize data-to-RDF pipelines using RML, R2RML, and custom Python-based transformations
• Develop semantic APIs and applications powered by SPARQL endpoints and triplestores
• Architect and support scalable semantic infrastructures using technologies such as GraphDB, Virtuoso, Fuseki, or Stardog
• Participate in solution architecture discussions and contribute to technical design decisions
• Lead technical workshops and client discussions in English, explaining and defending implementation approaches and architectural choices
• Mentor junior semantic engineers and perform code / ontology reviews
• Contribute to proposal writing, technical pre-sales activities, and demonstrations
• Collaborate closely with software engineers, data architects, analysts, and DevOps teams in Agile delivery environments

Required Qualifications & Experience

Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Science, Software Engineering, or a related field (Bachelor’s degree plus substantial additional professional experience will also be considered)

Minimum 7 years of professional IT / software engineering experience

Minimum 4 years of hands-on production experience with semantic web, linked data, or knowledge graph technologies

Strong expertise in:

• RDF / RDFS
• OWL / OWL 2
• SPARQL 1.1
• SHACL
• SKOS

Experience with at least one production-grade triplestore:

• GraphDB
• OpenLink Virtuoso
• Apache Jena Fuseki
• Stardog

Experience with RML and/or R2RML mapping technologies

Ontology engineering experience using Protégé and/or TopBraid Composer / EDG

Strong backend development skills in Java and/or Python

Experience designing and developing REST APIs

Familiarity with Agile methodologies such as Scrum or RUP

Fluent English communication skills (minimum C1 level), both written and spoken

Strong communication, collaboration, and stakeholder-management skills in multicultural environments

Preferred / Nice-to-Have Qualifications

Candidates with the following experience will be considered a strong plus:

Technical leadership, mentoring, or team-leading experience

Experience operating large-scale Virtuoso clusters or high-volume semantic infrastructures

Knowledge of:

• Apache Jena
• SHACL-SPARQL
• GeoSPARQL
• DCAT / DCAT-AP
• PROV-O

Experience integrating LLMs or agentic AI systems with knowledge graphs

Exposure to:

• Kubernetes
• Helm
• Azure DevOps
• GitLab CI/CD

Experience with Elasticsearch and hybrid semantic/full-text search architectures

Additional language skills in French or German (B2+)

Domain knowledge in:

• Public administration
• Transport / railway
• Scientific research
• Labour-market or statistical data systems

UpcoMinds is a dynamic IT company with 28 years of experience that provides end-to-end web and mobile solutions helping businesses to reinvent themselves in the digital world. Our team’s skills and expertise will ensure the holistic digital transformation of any organization, which will considerably improve both business operations and customer’s experience.

Our goal is to always have our end products and services reflect our deep engineering skills and elegant progressive design aesthetic. We fundamentally believe deeply in developing long term strategic partnerships with our clients by exceeding expectations and maintaining a high level of transparency.

Find out more about us at www.upcominds.com

We commit to promote Inclusion & Diversity by creating a working environment where all employees are treated with dignity and respect and where individual differences are valued. We offer equal opportunity in all aspects of employment.

Our recruitment consultants will go through your Curriculum Vitae as soon as possible and get back to you to discuss the opportunity for which you apply. If you don’t hear from us in the coming ten (10) working days, you may consider that you have not been selected for the particular job. Your CV will be retained for two years in accordance with GDPR regulations.