About the job Digital Preservation Specialist

Digital Preservation Specialist

Safeguarding the longevity, integrity, and accessibility of digital assets across their lifecycle

Position Overview
We are seeking a highly skilled Digital Preservation Specialist to lead the implementation of strategies, systems, and standards for the long-term preservation of digital records, datasets, and multimedia assets. This role ensures that digital information remains authentic, accessible, and usable over timedespite evolving technologies, formats, and platforms.

You will collaborate with archivists, IT teams, data stewards, and compliance officers to ensure digital continuity and preservation compliance aligned with institutional policies and international standards.

Key Responsibilities
Preservation Strategy & Policy

• Develop and maintain a digital preservation strategy aligned with organizational needs, legal requirements, and international best practices (e.g., OAIS, ISO 14721)
• Define policies and procedures for digital retention, appraisal, migration, and obsolescence risk management
• Establish selection and prioritization criteria for preservation of digital objects, including born-digital and digitized content

Digital Formats & Standards

• Evaluate and recommend sustainable file formats and metadata standards for long-term preservation (e.g., PDF/A, TIFF, XML, METS, PREMIS)
• Monitor emerging formats, technologies, and obsolescence trends, and implement mitigation plans
• Ensure compliance with standards for authenticity, fixity, and provenance tracking

Preservation Tools & Systems

• Select, implement, and manage digital preservation platforms (e.g., Archivematica, Preservica, Rosetta, BitCurator)
• Configure and automate preservation workflows, including ingest, virus checking, normalization, storage, and access
• Manage storage strategies using trusted digital repositories and bit-level preservation methods
• Integrate with content management, records management, and archival systems

Access & Usability

• Ensure long-term usability and access through format migration, emulation strategies, or metadata-driven search
• Collaborate with metadata managers and information architects to enrich discoverability and usability
• Enable integration with digital catalogs, archives, and open data platforms for research or public access

Risk, Audit, and Compliance

• Identify risks to digital assets (technical, legal, environmental) and maintain risk registers
• Ensure alignment with frameworks such as TRAC, NDSA Levels of Digital Preservation, and GDPR-compliant retention practices
• Conduct regular audits, integrity checks, and preservation assessments

Required Qualifications

• +5 years experience in digital preservation, digital archiving, or records/information management
• Strong knowledge of archival and preservation standards (OAIS, PREMIS, METS, ISO 16363)
• Familiarity with digital preservation tools (e.g., Archivematica, Preservica, DSpace, Rosetta)
• Experience managing preservation metadata, checksum verification, and file format sustainability
• Ability to work across disciplinesbridging archival, technical, and legal expertise

Preferred Qualifications

• Degree in Library and Information Science, Archival Studies, Digital Humanities, or related field
• Certification or training in digital preservation (e.g., DPC, SAA, CoSA, or Digital Curation Centre programs)
• Experience with automation and scripting (e.g., Python, Bash) for preservation workflows
• Understanding of trusted digital repository frameworks and audit standards (e.g., ISO 16363, TDR)
• Experience working in memory institutions, national archives, or research data environments