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Principal Ontologist

Red Arch Solutions
Reston, VA Full Time
POSTED ON 1/13/2026 CLOSED ON 3/20/2026

What are the responsibilities and job description for the Principal Ontologist position at Red Arch Solutions?

About Us
Red Arch Solutions empowers mission-driven organizations by delivering innovative, scalable, and secure technical solutions. Our team thrives on collaboration, technical excellence, and accelerating our customers' growth goals.

Position Overview
Principal Ontologist
We are seeking a Principal Ontologist to support the deployment and integration of Progress Semaphore, a semantic AI platform, within a large-scale enterprise data modernization initiative. This role will focus on developing and applying ontologies to unify and enhance data across mission support domains such as human resources, logistics, acquisitions, and IT governance.
The ideal candidate will bring deep expertise in knowledge representation, semantic technologies, and ontology engineering, and will collaborate with data architects, software engineers, and business stakeholders to ensure semantic consistency and interoperability across diverse data sources.
Responsibilities
  • Lead the design, development, and implementation of ontologies to support enterprise data integration and semantic enrichment.
  • Collaborate with stakeholders to elicit domain knowledge and translate it into formal ontological models.
  • Support the configuration and deployment of Progress Semaphore, including taxonomy and ontology management, semantic annotation, and rules-based classification.
  • Ensure alignment with enterprise data governance frameworks and standards.
  • Work closely with software engineering teams to integrate ontologies into data pipelines, knowledge graphs, and semantic search applications.
  • Provide guidance on semantic modeling best practices and mentor junior ontologists or data modelers.
Qualifications
  • Proficiency in OWL2, RDF(S), and SPARQL.
  • Experience with ontology editors such as Protégé or TopBraid Composer.
  • Demonstrated ability to build domain ontologies based on upper ontologies (e.g., CCO, BFO).
  • Familiarity with triple stores, graph databases, and knowledge graph architectures.
  • Experience applying ontologies to support data normalization, integration, and semantic search.
  • Strong communication skills and ability to work across multidisciplinary teams.
  • Experience supporting enterprise data initiatives in mission support domains (HR, logistics, etc.).
Desired Skills
  • Experience with Progress Semaphore or similar semantic platforms.
  • Familiarity with W3C standards such as SOSA/SSN, Time Ontology, or SKOS.
  • Background in natural language processing, data classification, or semantic enrichment.
  • Coursework or experience in data structures, algorithms, logic, or software engineering.
  • Understanding of data governance, metadata management, and enterprise architecture.
Eligibility Requirements
  • U.S. Citizenship
  • Ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret clearance with SCI access with polygraph. #CJ

Other work locations maybe available for this opening. Apply directly to connect with the recruiting team or reach out to [email protected] for more information 

The Red Arch Solutions pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Determination of official compensation or salary relies on several factors including, but not limited to, level of position, job responsibilities, geographic location, scope of relevant work experience, educational background, certifications, contract-specific affordability, organizational requirements, alignment with local internal equity as well as alignment with market data.

Red Arch Solutions Benefits Snapshot:

  • 100% paid employee healthcare premiums. CareFirst Advantage Best in Class Benefits.
  • HaloScripts Concierge prescription medication service
  • Generous PTO.
  • 10 % 401K 6% match vested day one and up to 4% profit sharing contribution.
  • Annualized bonus compensation.
  • Spot bonuses for hard work.
  • Tuition reimbursement.
  • 529 College Saving Plan.
  • College Loan Pay Back Program.
  • 11 Paid Federal Holidays
  • Generous Referral Bonuses.

Red Arch Solutions provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

Have more questions about Red Arch? Email us at Careers@RedArchSolutions.com

Salary.com Estimation for Principal Ontologist in Reston, VA
$113,366 to $148,694
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