Library Systems Engineer (Alma & Data Workflows)

Library Systems Engineer — Alma & Data Workflows

Employment Type: Full-Time with Benefits
Employer: Eigennet LLC
Contract/Customer: U.S. Government customer — National Agricultural Library (NAL), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Work Location: Hybrid
Place of Performance: Rockville, MD
Travel/Onsite Requirement: Periodic onsite presence may be required for agency meetings, training, or other activities requiring physical presence. Where practicable, advance notice will be provided.

Position Overview

Eigennet LLC is seeking a Library Systems Engineer with experience supporting Ex Libris Alma and Python-based library data workflows.

The position will support library systems and data-production activities for a U.S. Government customer. The successful candidate will provide a combination of Alma systems administration, workflow automation, data integration, operational support, and technical documentation.

The role will work closely with library systems, metadata, acquisitions, information technology, data production, and external vendor teams. The government customer retains authority over applicable program requirements, policies, security requirements, business processes, change approvals, and acceptance of deliverables.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Configure, manage, secure, and maintain Ex Libris Alma system components, including roles, permissions, profiles, integrations, normalization rules, and authentication/SSO behavior.
Monitor Alma jobs and troubleshoot workflow disruptions involving ingest, indexing, publishing, and related library-system processes.
Participate in the full change-management lifecycle, including impact analysis, testing, deployment planning, implementation, post-deployment verification, and rollback procedures.
Support incident reporting and emergency-change procedures.
Develop, maintain, and enhance Python workflows supporting automated ingest, transformation, indexing, synchronization, error handling, and secure credential management.
Support data-quality and reconciliation activities involving bibliographic, holdings, and item data.
Maintain appropriate operational logs, documentation, monitoring artifacts, and system-support records.
Participate in Agile/Scrum activities, including sprint planning, backlog refinement, standups, retrospectives, and work decomposition.
Coordinate technical work with project managers, systems librarians, data-production teams, information technology personnel, metadata and acquisitions teams, and external vendors.
Support release planning and coordination for Alma and related integrations, including applicable change-freeze periods and vendor release windows.
Prepare required operational and project documentation, including status reports, metrics, issue and change logs, operational reports, and release notes.
Support operational continuity, backup verification, recovery procedures, and related readiness activities.
Maintain configuration-management and version-control practices and assist with identifying and resolving configuration drift.

Required Qualifications

Demonstrated experience administering the Ex Libris Alma Library Services Platform, including roles, permissions, metadata configuration, job monitoring, and troubleshooting.
Professional experience developing or maintaining Python-based workflow automation, data-ingestion/transformation scripts, or system integrations.
Experience diagnosing data-flow, indexing, schema, or integration issues involving relational or cloud-based databases.
Experience working in an Agile/Scrum environment, including sprint planning, standups, retrospectives, and work decomposition.
Experience working with formal change-management or change-control processes, including testing, documentation, approvals, deployment, and rollback procedures.
Ability to document technical procedures, configurations, issues, and operational activities clearly and consistently.
Ability to work collaboratively with technical, library, data, project-management, and vendor teams.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience supporting U.S. Federal Government library, information-management, cataloging, or data-production programs.
Familiarity with Library of Congress cataloging practices.
Experience supporting accessible library services or accessible-media workflows.
Knowledge of MARC21 and related library metadata practices.
Experience with metadata quality assurance and validation.
Experience preparing production reports, operational reports, or project-status documentation.
Experience working under Firm Fixed Price (FFP) or production-based delivery models.
Familiarity with RDA cataloging standards.
Knowledge of BIBFRAME concepts and contemporary library metadata practices.
Experience supporting large-scale audiobook or digital-media collections.
Familiarity with National Library Service (NLS) workflows or NLS-specific metadata requirements, where applicable to the assigned work.

Knowledge and Skills

Knowledge of library metadata standards and schemas, including MARC21, Dublin Core, RDA, MODS, and related standards.
Strong understanding of Alma metadata tooling, including normalization rules, templates, and mapping tables.
Ability to translate documented governance and business requirements into appropriate system configurations.
Ability to diagnose cross-system issues involving metadata, ingest processes, indexing behavior, databases, and downstream integrations.
Ability to produce clear technical documentation in approved repositories.
Understanding of security controls, audit logging, credential management, and secure integration practices.
Familiarity with configuration management, version control, and configuration-drift detection and remediation.
Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Education Required: Bachelor’s degree or higher in Information Science, Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Science, Library/Information Science, or a related technical field.

Work Authorization

Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States.

Government Customer and Security Requirements

This position supports a U.S. Government customer. The selected candidate may be required to comply with applicable government information-handling, records-management, security, privacy, and training requirements associated with the assigned work.

Any applicable background investigation, access authorization, records-management training, or other government requirements will be communicated during the hiring and onboarding process.

These requirements are based on the position and contract requirements and will be applied consistently to candidates for the position.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Eigennet LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made without unlawful discrimination based on applicable protected characteristics.

Qualified individuals with disabilities and protected veterans are encouraged to apply.

Reasonable accommodations are available to qualified individuals with disabilities throughout the application and employment process, consistent with applicable law. Candidates who require an accommodation to participate in the application process may contact [HR/Recruiting Contact].

[Legal Company Name] maintains employment practices consistent with applicable federal, state, and local employment laws.

Application

Interested candidates should submit a resume and, where requested, information demonstrating how they meet the required qualifications.

Only qualifications relevant to the position and applicable contract requirements will be considered in the selection process.

Tagged as: Alma