Lead Data and Ontology Engineer
Core
Lead the design, development, and governance of enterprise ontologies, semantic layers, and knowledge graphs to serve as the intelligent backbone for a modern federated data platform, enabling rapid discovery and utilization of vast data assets across the Disney enterprise.
Role type
Senior IC data and ontology engineer (semantic layer & knowledge graphs)
Builds
Enterprise ontologies, semantic models, knowledge graphs, entity graphs, and a unified data access layer
Domain
Enterprise data architecture, semantic technologies, and federated data platforms
Deliverable
production ML models | product features | dashboards & analysis
Required skills
Ontology modeling (OWL, RDF, SKOS, SHACL), Graph database development (Neo4j, Neptune), Vector database implementation, Federated data architecture design, Data Catalog management, Python, SPARQL, Cypher, GraphQL, SQL, Data governance and security (RBAC/ABAC)
Preferred skills
Generative AI and LLM integration, RAG architectures, Agentic systems, Data marketplace platforms, Apache Iceberg, Trino/Presto, Semantic web tools (Protégé, TopBraid, Stardog), Formal knowledge representation
Technologies
Neo4j, Amazon Neptune, Qdrant, Snowflake, Databricks, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, S3, Kafka, AWS
Responsibilities
Design and build enterprise ontologies and semantic models aligning business objectives with technical implementation; Lead the creation and maintenance of semantic layer graphs, knowledge graphs, and entity graphs; Develop strategies for using vector and graph databases to enable LLM-augmented search and reasoning; Partner with data engineering, AI, and business teams to translate business goals into ontological models; Design and evolve the enterprise Data Catalog with rich semantic metadata, lineage, and governance capabilities; Contribute to the development of a unified data access layer supporting querying across multiple sources; Implement and enforce enterprise security models through the ontology and semantic layer; Collaborate on AI integration initiatives including building ontology-driven agents and RAG pipelines; Establish ontology governance processes, versioning, and lifecycle management; Mentor team members on semantic technologies and best practices
Seniority
Senior, hands-on IC
