Head of Ontology

Technology is central to everything we do, and a key aspect of the evolving technology organization is to be aware of the emerging technologies and their applications to Argus services. The Head of Ontology leads the strategy, design, and implementation of semantic data models, knowledge graphs, and taxonomies to enable AI, data integration, and search capabilities. You will bring a passion for data in all its forms, a pragmatic approach to achieving demonstrable results, and the ability to adapt to different perspectives and levels of data maturity.

This executive role involves overseeing ontology governance, collaborating with stakeholders (data engineering, machine learning), and driving the adoption of industry standards (RDF, OWL) to solve complex, unstructured data challenges. Leading a small, focused team, you will collaborate with technology, data, and business functions across the company to establish a solid, interoperable data foundation for all.

What Will You Be Doing

• Strategy & Roadmap: Define long-term (12-18 months) ontology and semantic data strategies, aligning them with business goals.
• Ontology Development: Lead the development, maintenance, and governance of enterprise-level ontologies, taxonomies, and knowledge organization systems.
• Leadership & Collaboration: Coordinate the efforts with editorial teams and other subject matter experts in the business to create and maintain the Argus ontology. Collaborate with AI/ML, data science, and product teams to integrate semantic insights into products.
• Semantic Governance: Establish standards, best practices, and validation workflows (e.g., using RDF, OWL, SHACL) to ensure data quality.
• AI Integration: Leverage ontologies to enhance LLMs (Large Language Models), knowledge graphs, and automated tools.

Skills And Experience

• Extensive experience in data modelling, data governance, and ontology design.
• Proven ability to successfully execute data alignment initiatives across working operational databases.
• Proven ability to mentor, engage and collaborate with technical and non-technical teams to translate business and operational models into formal definitions and data structures.
• Experience developing, maintaining, and expanding ontologies using W3C standards (RDF, OWL, SKOS, SHACL) to organize both structured and unstructured data.
• A solid grounding in the data lifecycle and best practices around long-term data management, metadata, and lineage.
• Skilled with the toolsets of semantic, graph, and relational data modelling and management, and familiar with modern data platforms.
• Familiar with machine learning or generative AI use cases in metadata and modelling.
• A strategic mindset with the ability to design long-term data architecture roadmaps and execute on them.
• A passion for structure, clarity, consistency, and data quality.
• Experience with commodity or related industries, and a curious mind.
• Enthusiasm for emerging trends in data modelling, ontology engineering, and knowledge management.
• Previous team management experience. Great communication skills and the ability to work with both technical and non-technical people. Leadership that empowers teams, encourages innovation, and sets high standards.
• Databases: Experience with graph, SQL and NoSQL (e.g. Neo4j, Amazon Neptune, Stardog, GraphWise, Oracle, SQL Server, DynamoDB).
• Data Lake: AWS Data Lake and Lake Formation.
• Languages: Expertise in semantic modelling (OWL, RDF, SKOS, SHACL), graph and SQL dialects, relational modelling, data-oriented programming languages (e.g. python).
• Emerging Tech: Familiarity with LLMs, RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation).

What’s In It For You

Our rapidly growing, award-winning business offers a dynamic environment for talented, entrepreneurial professionals to achieve results and grow their careers. Argus recognises and rewards successful performance and as an Investor in People, we promote professional development and retain a high-performing team committed to building our success.

• Competitive salary and company bonus scheme.
• Group healthcare and life assurance scheme.
• Hybrid working environment (currently one day in office).
• 25 days annual holiday with incremental increase up to 30 days.
• Subsidised gym membership.
• Season ticket travel loan.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Flexible benefits platform (ability to buy additional medical cover, life assurance, dental cover, holiday, critical illness, travel insurance & health screening).
• Extensive internal and external training.

Argus is the leading independent provider of market intelligence to the global energy and commodity markets. We offer essential price assessments, news, analytics, consulting services, data science tools and industry conferences to illuminate complex and opaque commodity markets. Headquartered in London with 1,500 staff, Argus is an independent media organisation with 30 offices in the world’s principal commodity trading hubs. Companies, trading firms and governments in 160 countries around the world trust Argus data to make decisions, analyse situations, manage risk, facilitate trading and for long-term planning. Argus prices are used as trusted benchmarks around the world for pricing transportation, commodities and energy. Founded in 1970, Argus remains a privately held UK-registered company owned by employee shareholders and global growth equity firm General Atlantic.