The Role
Build and extend ontology schemas, SHACL validation shapes, knowledge graph data models, and derivation pipelines. Develop PySpark and Databricks workflows, efficient SPARQL queries, reusable Python code, entity matching and ontology alignment solutions, and graph data quality checks. Collaborate with data engineering, product, and operations teams to translate use cases into schema updates while developing expertise in semantic web standards, RDF-native databases, and identity resolution.
Summary Generated by Built In
Samba connects the advertising industry. Today, a trillion dollars of media flows through platforms that don’t talk to each other, and each one measures its own results. We built the independent alternative: consented first-party data and AI that give the world’s biggest advertisers, publishers, and platforms one clear view across all of it.
The next era of advertising will run on AI agents, and those agents will need data they can trust. We’re building that foundation, and the agents that act on it. Join us and help build what the industry runs on.
You build and extend the knowledge graph schemas, derivation pipelines, and graph data models behind Samba's measurement and audience intelligence products, working with the Senior Ontologist and peer data scientists. It's a hands-on role: you own well-scoped work streams and grow your depth in semantic modeling.
- Implement Ontology Schemas: Implement and extend RDF, RDFS, and OWL ontology schemas under the Senior Ontologist's direction, adding classes, properties, and constraints, and support versioning and consistency checks.
- Validate the Graph: Build and maintain SHACL validation shapes, validating derivation outputs before graph load, and triage data quality issues and schema violations.
- Build Derivation Pipelines: Build PySpark and Databricks pipelines that aggregate raw TV viewership and web events into graph attributes such as genre, brand, and topic affinity, with incremental refresh.
- Write Production Code: Write efficient SPARQL queries and graph traversals and clean, tested, reusable Python, contributing to team tooling and documentation.
- Match and Align Entities: Apply embedding-based approaches, including semantic similarity and vector search, to entity matching and ontology alignment tasks.
- Partner Across Teams: Partner with data engineering on pipeline design and data quality, work with product and operations to turn use cases into schema updates, and join ontology design reviews.
- Grow Your Expertise: Develop expertise in World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) semantic web standards, RDF-native graph databases, and entity resolution under the Senior Ontologist's guidance.
What You Bring
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Science, Mathematics, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience; a Master's is preferred.
- 2+ years of hands-on experience in knowledge graph development, semantic data modeling, ontology engineering, or a closely related field.
- Working knowledge of W3C semantic web standards (RDF, RDFS, OWL, SPARQL) with practical experience in at least one triplestore or graph database, and familiarity with SHACL or equivalent validation frameworks.
- Strong Python skills with clean, production-quality code, testing, and documentation, plus solid data modeling fundamentals: entity-relationship design, taxonomies, and hierarchies.
- Familiarity with entity resolution and data matching concepts, and a detail-oriented, proactive approach to flagging data quality issues and schema inconsistencies.
- Strongly preferred: hands-on experience with Amazon Neptune, Stardog, or an equivalent RDF-native triplestore (data virtualization a plus), PySpark and Databricks, and embedding models or vector search.
- Also strongly preferred: large language model (LLM) or retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) experience for information extraction or entity disambiguation, media or adtech domain knowledge, and exposure to identity resolution or device graphs.
Compensation
$150,000 - $180,000 a year
Samba expects to offer a base salary of $150,000 - $180,000 per year for roles to be performed in New York; actual base salary offered will depend on various factors, including but not limited to, location, experience, and performance. Base salary is just one component of Samba's total compensation package for employees. Other rewards may include bonuses, short-term incentives, and long-term incentives. In addition, Samba provides health insurance, wellness offerings, life and disability insurance, a retirement savings plan, paid holidays and paid time off (PTO), and other employee benefits.
Samba is an equal opportunity employer.
Your personal information
We collect personal information directly from you when you apply. Where the law permits, we may also receive it from third parties, such as through background, employment, or reference checks. For details, see Samba’s Applicant Privacy Policy. For EU residents, Samba Inc. is the data controller.
Use of AI in hiring
We may use AI tools to help review applications, analyze resumes, or assess responses. These tools support our recruiting team. People make every hiring decision. To learn more about how we process your data, please reach out.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Science, Mathematics, a related field, or equivalent practical experience
- Master's degree
- 2+ years of hands-on experience in knowledge graph development, semantic data modeling, ontology engineering, or a closely related field
- Working knowledge of RDF, RDFS, OWL, and SPARQL, with practical experience in at least one triplestore or graph database
- Familiarity with SHACL or equivalent validation frameworks
- Strong Python skills, including production-quality code, testing, and documentation
- Data modeling fundamentals, including entity-relationship design, taxonomies, and hierarchies
- Familiarity with entity resolution and data matching concepts
- Hands-on experience with Amazon Neptune, Stardog, or an equivalent RDF-native triplestore
- Experience with data virtualization
- Experience with PySpark and Databricks
- Experience with embedding models or vector search
- LLM or retrieval-augmented generation experience for information extraction or entity disambiguation
- Media or adtech domain knowledge
- Exposure to identity resolution or device graphs
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The Company
What We Do
Samba is a media-intelligence company that combines consented first-party viewership data from streaming, linear TV, the web, and video games with AI to map content, audiences, and outcomes. Its platform gives advertisers, publishers, and media platforms insight into audience behavior and supports campaign planning, targeting, measurement, and optimization across channels. Samba’s data and analytics help clients understand audiences and make marketing decisions.
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