[Hiring] Ontology Specialist @Bold Penguin

Role Description

As the Ontology Lead on the Coverage Intelligence team, you own the formal knowledge model that our AI systems use to understand insurance coverage inside the Digital. You will transform it into a governed, scalable model that engineers can build on and agents can reason against consistently and explainably. This role suits someone who has built and governed ontologies in a complex, language-heavy domain, ideally legal or insurance, and who enjoys making expert knowledge precise.

What You'll Do

• Take ownership of our existing coverage ontology and evolve it into a governed, scalable model of concepts, relationships, taxonomies, and rules.
• Serve as the authority on the model of record, making final decisions on what concepts mean and how they relate, in partnership with the engineers who implement it.
• Partner with coverage experts to capture how policies are read and interpreted, and represent that knowledge accurately and consistently.
• Establish governance for the ontology as a living asset, including versioning, change control, and quality standards.
• Work with data and AI engineers to carry the ontology into schemas, data contracts, and agent reasoning, keeping the product aligned with the model of record.
• Align the model with existing enterprise data dictionaries and industry standards so that concepts stay consistent across products.
• Measure the model’s quality by how well it supports accurate extraction, classification, and coverage analysis, and refine it based on evidence.
• Extend the model as new lines of business, document types, and use cases are added, from standard forms to non-standard and bespoke wording.
• Help the wider team understand and use the ontology, so knowledge does not depend on one person.
• Other duties and responsibilities as assigned.

Location

This is a fully remote role, with the exception of onboarding and optional in-office events.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Science, Linguistics or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years’ experience designing and maintaining ontologies, taxonomies, or knowledge graphs in production, not just at launch.
• Strong command of knowledge representation, from formal standards (OWL, RDF, SKOS, SHACL) to schema-based models (JSON Schema, typed data models) and property graphs, and the judgment to choose between them.
• Experience eliciting knowledge from subject matter experts and translating it into precise, testable structure.
• Experience governing a model over time, including versioning, change management, and backward compatibility.
• Comfortable working hands-on with data models and schemas alongside engineers.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain modeling decisions to experts and engineers alike.
• Works autonomously with minimal direction, sets a clear path through ambiguity, and holds a high bar for quality.
• Thrives on the energy of a startup: comfortable with pace, changing priorities, and building the function while running it.
• Experience designing knowledge models consumed by LLM or AI systems, such as grounding, retrieval, and schema-constrained output (strongly preferred).
• Understanding of legal or insurance concepts, such as contract structure, coverage grants, exclusions, conditions, and endorsements (strongly preferred).
• Experience with legal, insurance, or financial ontologies, e.g., FIBO, ACORD (preferred).
• Python (preferred).

Physical Requirements

• Must be able to sit/stand/walk for prolonged periods of time (up to 8 hours per day), at a desk working on a computer.
• Must be able to use standard office equipment for extended periods of time, including but not limited to, a mouse, keyboard, phone, and video conferencing.
• Must be able to travel to the Bold Penguin office in Dublin, Ohio for New Hire Onboarding & Orientation (2 days, 2 nights); travel costs are covered by Bold Penguin.
• Must be able to travel occasionally (up to 10%) for corporate events and team planning sessions.

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, and Vision
• Flexible PTO Policy
• 401(k) with a company match
• Employee Assistance Program
• Parental Leave
• Disability and Life Benefits
• Stay connected to the Glacier with great SLACK channels for work and play.
• Video conferencing and regular all-hands "Waddles".
• Swag themed after a certain Antarctic bird.